Art without borders

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, Dec, 2002 by Lu Herrera

Nothing is coincidental about the beginnings of a movement, be it cultural, social, or political. Nor is there a single point of origin. At the core of any movement is a confluence of events, organized by various groups or individuals whose plans are unknown to each other. Those plans start with a passion. Passions stir those creative fluids that move us to action. Action creates a movement. Once started, its rippling effect drives other things to happen. Take for instance the passions of Salma Hayek and Cheech Marin: Frida Kahlo and the Chicano School of Painting, respectively. These celebrities felt the wave from an earlier movement and are [low on the cusp of a Latin American arts revival in the United States.

Hayek produced and starred in the long awaited--six years to be exact--biopic, Frida, based on the life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who used her artistic talent to channel her passions over 50 years ago. "I saw pictures of Frida as a child," explains Hayek in a recent interview. "At first I was disgusted by them, but the more I saw them the more they intrigued me. Then I saw the beauty in them. And as I learned more about her and her life, I became fascinated."

Hayek's fascination with Kahlo was the driving force behind her desire to produce the movie. For many Hispanics in the United States, Hayek's movie is yet another positive example of the culture's infusion into the United States, particularly the Mexican culture.

The beauty of Frida, like any good Latin American artwork, lies in its ability to cater to a niche audience while maintaining universal appeal. This is how the movie is able to promote--not push--Latin American art to the masses. For Ramon Cernuda, art collector and owner of the Miami-based gallery Cernuda Arte, the path for Latin American art in this country is clearly delineated for the next 20 years.

Frequently immigrants came to this country with the idea that they had to shed their cultural upbringing in order to assimilate better. Now. Latin Americans feel prouder of their origins, of their cultural roots, and as part of that, Latin American art is finding a place in this country. And will finally be recognized by the mainstream, but not as a crossover process. It will be a mixed salad process.

Frida mania gave cultural institutions the opportunity to introduce the broad scope of Latin American art to a new generation of Hispanics and non-Hispanics alike. So, art begets film begets art. Not for the first time, film forms a symbiotic relationship with another medium to prepare the masses for yet another Latin explosion. Even before Frida hit the theaters in October, museums nationwide began hosting exhibits to pay homage to Kahlo and other Mexican artists.

"One of my jobs is to make sure people start paying attention to the wonderful artistic talent of Mexico," says Carlos Tortolero, founder and executive director of the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago, Illinois. "The other is to knock on the door, if not kick down the door, and say this is fantastic art that you are not looking at. Open your eyes!" The museum sponsored the Chicago premiere of Frida in conjunction with the 38th Chicago International Film Festival

Though the success of the movie is undoubtedly a breakthrough for Hayek and Hispanic culture in general, Tortolero believes that the real statement made by this movie lies in who controls the power behind it. "The most important thing about Frida is not that it is about Frida and not that Salma Hayek is playing Frida, but the tact that Salma Hayek is the producer, And that is power in Hollywood."

But Tortolero also notes the negative aspect of a film like Frida: "Now, most people think Frida Kahlo is the only artist we have ever had, for God's sake. That's unfortunate. There are a lot of great Mexican painters who aren't Frida." Perhaps exposure to one artist will lead to an encounter with another. How can anyone watch Frida and not recall her husband. the venerable muralist Diego Rivera or even painter David Alfaro Siqueiros?

Who do they lead you to?

Enter Cheech Marin.

Standard associations with the name Cheeeh Marin are actor, performer, or director. Few know of his philanthropic achievements and his connection with the Latin American art world. In fact, Marin, a self-taught art connoisseur, owns one of the largest collections of Chicano artwork in the United States. He has been collecting Chicano art for over 15 years, shortly after being introduced to it by his wife, who is an artist, and by a group of painters.

"I used to collect Art Nouveau, Art Deco baseball cards, matchbook covers, you know. I've always been a collector in one form or another," explains Marin. "When I discovered the Chicanos. I used my self-taught sense of art history, my collecting skills, organizational skills, and put them to use to put together this Chicano collection. Then I started seeing the commonality between the painters' themes, and I came up with a theory: There was a school forming here. So, when the collection got to an appropriate size. I started looking around for ways to show it."