Cruz Ortiz
dal 5/5/2010 al 10/7/2010
Segnalato da
5/5/2010
Cruz Ortiz
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston
Perspectives 170. Among the humorous, oftentimes rattletrap devices Ortiz uses to enable the Spaztek - his post-Chicano, post-punk antihero alter ego - to express human yearnings for companionship and communal action are 'balladic broadsides, transient architecture, life-size flying contraptions, megaphones, pushcarts, rockets, maps, banners and flags, and siege machines'. 'Perspectives 170' present a selection of works from these categories.
San Antonio artist Cruz Ortiz believes he may have missed his calling. "I should've been a honky-tonk singer," he says. But because he can't croon like a Conjunto or Country music star, Ortiz more than compensates by deploying a broad range of media—prints, paintings, sculptures, video, installation, and performance—to speak about life, love, and the struggle for equality.
Among the humorous, oftentimes rattletrap devices Ortiz uses to enable the Spaztek—his post-Chicano, post-punk antihero alter ego—to express human yearnings for companionship and communal action are "balladic broadsides, transient architecture, life-size flying contraptions, megaphones, pushcarts, rockets, maps, banners and flags, and siege machines." In Perspectives 170: Cruz Ortiz, the artist's first in-depth museum exhibition and catalogue, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston will present a selection of works from these categories.
On the CAMH's front lawn, Ortiz will construct a siege tower, a mobile structure used for scaling castle walls. This tower, like many of the artist's constructions, will be repurposed from military to peacetime uses. It will become a multifunctional platform from which the artist may distribute silkscreen posters, music, or broadcasts from a low-power radio station.
Recalling the decorated, information-disseminating agitprop trains used in Russia after the Bolshevik revolution to enlighten the population with "agitation" and "propaganda," the siege tower will be an important center for the Spaztek's campaign to spread understanding and good will. The CAMH's downstairs Zilkha Gallery will feature a tent city inspired by Ortiz's students at the San Antonio high school where he teaches art, many of whom grew up in similar improvised shelters in refugee camps in Africa. It also will contain posters and other works relating to the siege tower and other projects.
Image: Cruz Ortiz, joy ride, 2002. Video still/screenpring
Press contact:
Connie McAllister - Communications and Marketing Manager (713) 284-8255 cmcallister@camh.org
Opening reception Thursday, May 06, 2010 h 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
A gallery walk-through of his work at 6:30pm with the reception immediately following.
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
5216 Montrose Boulevard, Houston
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, Thursdays to 9pm, and Sundays noon to 5pm.
Admission is always free