XL Arts

Arts: Latino exhibit's aesthetics look beyond cultural identity

By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN ARTS WRITER
Thursday, August 31, 2006

Has Mexic-Arte Museum's annual Young Latino Artists Exhibition — in its 11th iteration, "Juventud Desenfrenada," at the Congress Avenue arts institution — exhausted itself as a concept?

Interestingly, this year's curator, Alberto McKelligan Hernandez, seems to intimate that in his essay.

For starters, Hernandez, a recent graduate of the University of Texas art history program, espouses the now-familiar and accepted intellectual viewpoint that there more often are similarities now among young, contemporary artists than political borders and cultural heritage can describe.

The Blanton Museum of Art now shows its collection of American and Latin American art, modern art and contemporary art in one unified, chronological presentation; New York's Museum of Modern Art has done essentially the same for decades. And consider the exhibit that just closed at Art Palace in East Austin. "Coconuts" featured a quartet of young artists who are part of a self-described post-ethnic generation. Although you can detect traces of their Latino heritage in their work, these artists move beyond identity politics and into a more universal aesthetic discussion.

McKelligan Hernandez as much as says the same about the dozen Texas-based artists he's selected for "Juventud Desenfrenada," even declaring that his chosen exhibitors "reject the contradictory stereotypes imposed on contemporary youth culture."

That may be true: There are no obvious rebellious gestures at Mexic-Arte.

But that brings up another vexing question: Is there too much art-world hype shrouding the work of young artists? Too much grasping at the newest thing before it's ripe enough?

Yes, there is. And that's certainly the case with "Juventud Desenfrenada." About half of the work on view is not ready for prime time and comes off more like a preliminary effort or rough sketch.

Some, however, emerge strong.

Digital video falls into deft hands when it meets Mexican-born, San Antonio-based Luz Maria Sanchez. It's a little surprising to see the busy, internationally exhibiting artist turn up in this show, though interesting to note that what's included — "Untitled (Tunnel)" — dates from 2000. Nevertheless, "Tunnel" impresses. The three-minute loop shows a shaky view of car tunnel, the frame jittering as if the camera were placed on a dashboard. There's no light at the end of this tunnel. Instead, while a soundtrack surrounds you with the sound of someone panting with exertion, the frenzied view of the tunnel ricochets ceaselessly along. How anxiety-producing is that?

Roberto Bellini Monteiro also crafts wise little videos. His hand-drawn animations, such as "EU Desist (I Quit)," are lovely, for the most part. Using simple black lines and thumbprints, Bellini Monteiro, who hails from Brazil, beautifully illustrates a brief, anxiety-laced coming-of-age tale.

Cesar Alexander Villareal's enormous "Nido" charmed visitors when it was on view last year in a group exhibit in the then-unfinished ground floor of the AMLI apartment building. It's cute to slip into the giant bird's nest, fashioned out of twigs and leaves and meticulously lined with white feathers. It's all "Alice in Wonderland" fun to stand in the huge nest, until you realize there's a security camera trained on you, broadcasting to the rest of the gallery.

Finally, Joe Peña is an anti-muralist. Rather than create large-scale, heroic landscapes of physical, industrial labor, Peña renders his scenes of factories, coastal refineries and oil derricks as little snapshot-size, almost grim paintings. So much for the grandiose, romantic visions of youth.

jvanryzin@statesman.com; 445-3699