ICA San Jose.

Last week I went to the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Jose.  It’s not a Class A or Class B, maybe not even C gallery institution… but I’m more interested in the smaller institutions sometimes.

Because I do like the more classical, formal things… but sometimes I get bored, to be honest.  Art for art’s sake or for the sake of the aesthetic bores me; because after a while, they all start looking the same.  I’m more interested in art’s context.   I want to see art that’s drenched in vision; I want a piece to speak of truths, all those political, sexual, economic, social things bleeding together.  I want it to reflect humanity, not just a bunch of pretty forms on a medium.

I want to, hopefully, be a Photojournalist – which is an artist, but it’s a different kind of artist.  Not ALL artists are concerned with the voices of others.  Sometimes they’re just concerned about THEIR voice.  Which is fine, but I want to cater to voices that aren’t heard; I want to help THEM be heard.  & the “Chico & Chang” exhibit really spoke to me because it was just about that – providing an outlet to the voices that are commonly left out of society.  Many pieces spoke to the need to unify people, to prove that they’re not alone in the daily struggles that they face.  & all the pieces showed truths that are commonly ignored & forced down out of the mainstream media.

The exhibit itself is described as “a look @ the impact of Latin@ & Asian cultures on California’s visual landscape.”  & the pieces ranged from sculptures, to videos, to a sketchbook that you’re encouraged to flip through while listening to a mix of music, to a 3D space with furniture that you’re encouraged to interact with.  By sitting down on the furniture & handling everything & anything in that space.  So it’s far from some of the more “traditional” galleries just with paintings on the wall & you’re forced to stand how many feet back & if you even as much as breathe too hard, they kick you out of the establishment.

In the free booklets you have descriptions of the artist & the work that was on the walls.  Some of the pieces are influenced by things Mencher went over in his art history class, like the Rene Magritte painting Ceci n’est pas une pipe & Theodore Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa.  So the artists in there have a rich background of art history.

But it’s a lot more about politics than form.  Although some may spit on the forms of the pieces exhibited.  In Untitled [Club Lido], there’s a sketchbook with more “comic” stylized figures.  But by focusing on the “lesser” nature of their forms, you miss out on the importance of context – how it’s essential that Vietnamese & Mexican populations flocked to San Jose to create their own communities & how their subcultures mixed together.

Of course not all states can show shows like this.  Not all places are as accommodating to movements having to deal with the intersectionality of race, politics, & art.  We’re all lucky to have shows like this in the Bay Area to help artists who aren’t always provided with avenues to voice their stories of struggle.  Of course it’s not perfect in the Bay Area, but it helps those like Favianna Rodriguez.  Her piece DREAMers, & a lot of the latin@ pieces, deal with the DREAM Act & other “controversial” matters dealing with “illegals.”

Rodriguez helps shed light on the undocumented movement, with people coming out as undocumented, like you would if you were gay or trans*.  & it takes just as much, if not more, power to do so.  & in her piece she shows all of these humans [again in a more stylized “comic” way]  – because they ARE humans, not just criminalized statistics .  Instead, they are “Undocumented & Unafraid.”  & it’s great to see the immigration & sexuality mix.  Because we don’t see these faces in the mainstream LGBT* campaign – even though they live the lifestyle just as much as their white counterparts, although not in ways that are easily marketable.

 The video room really hammered the entirety of the pieces home.  Various videos from various groups were showed on a loop, most of which focusing on the DREAM Act & others just on the reality of undocumented people being held back, stifled, & discriminated because of their supposed “illegal” status.  It dealt with the reality of people just living.  The “legal”ness of someone, defined by a slip of paper, should not define them as a person.  & in 67 Sueños’ piece, it exposed the unfair spectrum of undocumented people only showcasing the extremes of valedictorians & villains; most people reside in the middle.  They are the 67% who are left out of the equation. 

Other videos dealt with the shame many children have had to overcome, having to get over the taunts from classmates & the blame they placed on their parents from coming over, hoping to get a new life following the American Dream.  It showcases hope to believe in the American Dream, even though social mobility for them is near impossible.  It shows that they are unafraid of change, even though those who are against the DREAM Act seemed to have won.  Yet they have not.  There is a unified younger generation stirring, ready to strike – made very apparent in the various videos.   They’re of ALL races, not just Mexicans, as we’re led to believe in the media.  & they want to break out of their invisible prison cells; they want to break out & be a part of our society, fully.  They are the TRUE 99% demanding for change from the bottom up; because the labor of our society truly comes from people of COLOR, not just white college students who showed up @ Occupy.  POCs are the ones holding down 3 jobs, hoping to just graduate college.  & their parents are working even mores & prevented even further from jobs in education; they’re all forced to take up manual & medial jobs, working nearly as slaves for low wages. 

& the labors not just of POCs in our country are ignored, but in China.  One of the most profound pieces belonged to Charlene Tan.  On the surface, it’s a polished & black table.  It’s something luxurious.  It’s something desired.   It’s something we commonly buy from China, importing so many various commodities.  But underneath its beauty, are the dirty handprints & footprints of those who’ve had to struggle to make such an object.  Kept in poverty & in sickness.  Exploited.  The underneath is ugly.  The underneath is never seen, unless with a mirror.  Tan says:

it’s much harder to sell anything if people know that laborers are treated unfairly, & are unwilling to recognize the consequences of injustice.   Yet we live in a time that chooses to ignore a growing population of unjustly treated laborers…  Can we live in environments saturated in injustice, in which we are passive oppressors of a silent population?

Because even though Tan created a mirror to see the footprints – the ugliness of everything & everything the artists of Chico & Chang stand against – so many in our media kick out the mirror, preventing us from seeing the truth.  They want to keep us in the dark.  They don’t want us to view Chico & Chang as humans.   They don’t want us to think @ all.