Garza’s Art Works
Carmen Lomas Garza’s eloquent etchings, lithographs, and gouache paintings depict primal images of the rural environment and communal cultural experience of Mexican decended people in the United States. In an introspective and personal language, she describes the customs, traditions, a nd ways of life of her Texan Mexican heritage.By 1972, Lomas Garza had evolved her distinctive monitos, paintings of stylized figures in culturally specific social environments. She transposes images and scenes from her past, combining cultural documentation with invention in an interplay of fact and fiction. Through selection, emphasis, and creation, these monitos delineate facets of experience, expressing deeper truths. Oral tradition is a mainstay of Chicano culture. In both urban and rural communities, a rich and varied repertoire of ballads, tales, and poetic forms is preserved in memory and passed from generation to generation. Lomas Garza’s monitos function as an oral tradition in visual form. Her unique art of storytelling employs iconographic elements to create a concentrated narration. Visual episodes within an unfolding epic tale of cultural regeneration, the monitos keep alive the customs and daily practices that give meaning and coherence to Chicano identity. Their basic aim is to delight and instruct. For those outside Chicano culture, the precise and minutely detail ed monitos provide a glimpse into the rich and vibrant lifestyl e of the largest Spanish speaking cultural group within the United States society. Although her art has an innocent earnestness and folkloric affinity, Lomas Garza’s expression is neither naive nor instinctive. The artist is highly trained academically, but has chosen to remain independent of dominant artistic trends in order to work toward a private aesthetic response to social concerns. While her work does not posit an overt political statement, it originates from a desire to respo nd to the contemporary situation of Mexican Americans by expressing positive images of their culture.
卡門 ·洛瑪斯 ·加扎富有表現(xiàn)力的蝕刻畫、平刻畫和樹膠水彩畫，描繪了美國墨西哥后裔居住的鄉(xiāng)村環(huán)境和群體的文化經(jīng)驗中的原始形象。 她用一種反省和個性化的語言，描繪了得克薩斯州墨西哥后裔的風(fēng)俗、傳統(tǒng)和生活方式。 到 1972 年為止，洛瑪斯 ·加扎已逐漸完成了風(fēng)格獨(dú)特的monitos 。這是將風(fēng)格化的人物置身于特定的社會文化環(huán)境中的系列畫作。她從自己的經(jīng)驗中移植出來一些形象和場景，用虛構(gòu)和現(xiàn)實(shí)的交融，實(shí)現(xiàn)了文化注釋和藝術(shù)創(chuàng)造的結(jié)合。 通過挑選、突出和虛構(gòu)的手段，這些畫勾勒了人情事故的各個方面，并表現(xiàn)了更深層的真實(shí)。 口語傳統(tǒng)是美國墨西哥文化的主流。 在城市和農(nóng)村，人們在記憶中保留了各類民謠、傳說和詩歌并世代相傳。 洛瑪斯 ·加扎的monitos，以可視的形象表現(xiàn)了這一口語傳統(tǒng)。她獨(dú)一無二的藝術(shù)，用肖像法的元素創(chuàng)造了高度凝煉的敘事。 作為逐漸展開的文化更新史詩中的視覺片斷，monitos 生動地表現(xiàn)了賦予墨裔美國人有價值及完整的認(rèn)同感的習(xí)俗和日常生活。 這些畫的根本目的是給人娛悅和教育。 對墨西哥文化以外的人來說，這些畫準(zhǔn)確而細(xì)致地描繪了美國社會中最大的西班牙語文化群的豐富和充滿活力的生活方式。 盡管她的藝術(shù)天真、誠摯并與民間藝術(shù)有極深的淵源，洛瑪斯 ·加扎的表現(xiàn)手法卻絕不幼稚也并不是僅僅出于本能。 這位藝術(shù)家在學(xué)術(shù)上受過高度訓(xùn)練。 她選擇獨(dú)立于藝術(shù)主流之外，目的是對社會的良心做出個性化的美學(xué)反應(yīng)。 盡管她的作品未提出公開的政治宣言，但卻是發(fā)源于通過描述墨美文化中的正面形象來反映墨美人目前處境的愿望。