MCA
Los Guerreros (The Warriors), 2007
By Nuevos Ricos
Zach and I spent a good portion of yesterday at the MCA. We wanted a final look at the "MCA Exposed" exhibition featuring selected photographs from the permanent
collection. It was amazing to see so many great photographs in one
place and we needed a second dose.
There were also many other interesting things up, most notably works titled "Los Guerreros" by an art collaborative called Nuevos Ricos. As part of the exhibition "Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City," "Los Guerreros"
explores a complex subculture of Mexican street gangs that took shape
in response to the 1979 film "The Warriors." Newspaper images of the
gangs are placed directly above stills from the film so you can see the
gang members purposefully using gestural communication and dress to
imitate the film's symbolic visual codes of conduct. True to their
original presentation, the newspaper images are shown in black in
white, the film stills in color.
I am fascinated by subculture's consistent adoption of symbolic dress and
gesture to express a cultural or social division from the norm. This
division is met with a visual and social unification amongst members.
Most famously, early punk rockers tore their clothes and used safety
pins to "mend" the tares in their clothes. The safety pin came to symbolize the broken
lives of punk rockers that were mended through the unity of subculture.
I also liked some pieces by an artist named Dr. Lakra. A former tattoo artist, he now takes vintage posters (mostly pin-ups) from the 40s and 50s and draws tattoos
on the figures that refer to popular culture. You can see some of his
images and read more about his work hereat Kate MacGarry's gallery page.
Frente al Espejo (The Mirror), 2003
By Dr. Lakra
Labels: Dr. Lakra, MCA, Nuevos Ricos, tattoo, The Warriors
posted by Allison Grant at
9:11 AM
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