Review by Cathy Breslaw
Cheech Marin, who is known
as a comedian, has been an avid collector of Chicano art for 25 years. He has
built a renowned collection that has travelled across the United States in
several venues. This exhibition presents paintings by Chicano artists,
including established figures such as John Valadez, Leo Limón, and Patssi
Valdez, as well as younger emerging artists such as Jari “Werc” Álvarez, Ana
Teresa Fernández, and Sonia Romero. Each of the works in the exhibition are approximately
16 inches or smaller, and depict subjects including familiar landscapes,
notions of cultural heritage, familial relationships, and social community. In
Chicanitas, Marin has drawn together a rich variety of works that express the
complex texture of the Chicano experience.
This combination of figurative and landscape works form a kind of
expressive realism – depicting a musical rhythm, vibrancy of spirit and color,
depth and often straightforward simplicity of day to day life. There is a ten
minute video accompanying this exhibition which is an important contribution to
this show because of Cheech Marin’s ebulllience and passion in talking
about his collection – he says “I had an immediate and visceral reaction to
these paintings”. He likes them because “they are self contained and draw you
in”. It is interesting to note that some
of the works in this exhibition are painted by artists who have never shown
their work before this show. 
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