A few years ago I was wandering the halls at LACMA when I came upon the unmistakeable figure of Mr. Cheech Marin lounging nonchalantly among the art pieces. I stopped, trying to formulate how to put almost 40 years of personal gratitude and adulation into a simple, non-intrusive sentence, when he turned towards me, smiling, with his eyes squinting into those impossibly thin slits, and croaked: “What’s up, Dude”? At that moment, It dawned on me that all I had to say back to him was “What’s up, Man?” right back, and just let the sincerity and genuine affection in my voice speak for itself. There’s no need for ceremony when you meet a genuine “Dude”. And Mr. Marin is just that. Having read in JUXTAPOSE magazine about his intense personal collection of Chicano Art, I asked him about it, and he told me about having his collection on a nationwide traveling exhibition. The guy has great taste. Now, here’s a chance or us to see some of that classic Chicano artwork through Cheech’s squinty eyes.
pictured above: Chaz Bojórquez, Chino Latino, 2000, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 in., collection of Cheech Marin
Los Angelenos/Chicano Painters of L.A.: Selections from the Cheech Marin Collection
June 15, 2008–November 2, 2008 | LACMA West
The Cheech Marin collection is notable for classic examples of Chicano art produced from the inception of the Chicano movement to the present, with a concentration in painting from the 1980s and 90s. This exhibition will present significant paintings and works on paper by such Los Angeles-based Chicana/o artists as Carlos Almaraz, Chaz Bojorquez, Diane Gamboa, Gronk, Gilbert “Magu†Lujan, Frank Romero, John Valadez, and Patssi Valdez.
Discussion | Cheech Marin and Chon NoriegaÂ
Sunday, June 22 | 2 pm
Chon Noriega, UCLA professor and LACMA adjunct curator, and art collector/actor/activist Cheech Marin discuss the current state of Chicano art. Additionally, they address the place of Chicano art in history, Marin’s own collection, and developing the Latino audience. This conversation is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Los Angelenos/Chicano Painters of L.A.: Selections from the Cheech Marin Collection, which opens June 15.
Bing Theater | Free, no reservations | Don’t go straight to this show
www.lacma.org/art/ExhibMarin.aspx
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Had the duty and pleasure of escorting Cheech to media interviews in Albuquerque when his Chicano exhibit was mounted at the National Hispanic Cultural Center back in 2002. He’s down to earth, savvy and a muy cool dude, indeed.
ooh, something to look forward to after phantom sightings.
I haven’t been to LACMA in years, This looks a like a great opportunity to revisit the place.
Here’s a small interview with Cheech.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/chicano-art-started-1967143-marin-collection
“Q. Sounds like you’re keeping yourself pretty busy.
A. Well, Mexicans have three jobs all the time. ”
funny.
Actually when this exhibit was in New Mexico, Gronk (who was working on a Laserium design for the NM planetarium), led an impromptu tour of the exhibit. He is in the collection. Gronk said at one point, he stopped his tour letting the visitors know that he could not enter one of the salons in the exhibit, because the work was so extremely male chauvinist. He met them on the other side of that salon.
The original displayed collection was supposedly more of his (Cheech) wife’s tastes than his.
Diane Gamboa on a panel discussion in NM said that Cheech did not (in fact) own much of the art displayed in his exhibit that was created by Chicanas. Her piece in the exhibit was on loan to him as was other Chicana art. Diane said that Cheech was the type of collector that wanted to bargain with artists (getting a two for one), instead of respecting the set price. Therefore, he did not own her work at that time. For many Chicano/a artists, it seemed that if any collector of our art could afford it—it would be Cheech. Tommy Chong also said that Cheech was a “professional Mexican”. All this is a matter of public record.
One of the great things, I think, is that the Cheech-camp takes these criticisms in stride–and they continue to include all the critics in this show’s programming. Dang, it wouldn’t be “Chicano/a” if it didn’t include a bit of a revolution, right? Attendees said that Tommy Chong was even at the show’s opening reception at LACMA a few weeks ago.
An art historian friend recently informed me that the male chauvinist parts of the Cheech exhibit have been taken out at LACMA—which is peaking my interest. We are so lucky to live in Los Angeles, where we can see great and exciting art. When the Cheech exhibit traveled to smaller towns in northern California, they only had Giclées of the original work to look at—ay!