The Washington, D.C.-based gallery recently purchased the prints as part of an effort to expand its holdings to include a more diverse array of national and global perspectives, according to Menchaca.
“It's a huge honor to have my work acquired by such an important cultural institution,” Menchaca said in a written statement to the Current. “To imagine my series of prints going on display and being seen by the masses is all I could have ever wished for this series.”
Menchaca’s purchased series, La Raza Cósmica 20XX (2019), is displayed in artist-designed frames emblazoned with social media and tech icons. The prints themselves represent a mythical reinterpretation of Mexican philosopher José Vasconcelos’s mestizo identity theory, released in 1925 as La Raza Cósmica.
Menchaca said the philosopher envisioned that the intermixing of European DNA with Indigenous American, Asian and African DNA created a technical fusion, or “mestizáje,” which he designated the “cosmic,” or universal, race.
Menchaca’s series combines that theory with 18th-century casta paintings, popular in Spanish-colonial Mexico, “as a visual hierarchical guide of stereotyped racial and socioeconomic identities.” The brightly colored screenprints are reminiscent of Mayan glyphs and Japanese animation, and they feature various racial combinations portrayed in the form of animal archetypes and mythological figures.
For Menchaca, the characters posing with present-day technological devices such as smart phones is indicative of systematic oppression by Silicon Valley’s big tech companies.
The 40 works recently obtained by the museum are from significant contemporary Latinx and Latin American artists from multiple generations. In addition to Menchaca’s prints, acquisitions include works from Luis Cruz Azaceta, Ken Gonzales-Day, Guadalupe Maravilla, Aberlardo Morell, Sophie Rivera, Joseph Rodríguez and Rafael Soriano.
“Our collection has grown in exciting ways over the past few years as we strived to capture a fuller view of the history of art, both nationally and globally,” said E. Carmen Ramos, the National Gallery’s chief curatorial and conservation officer. “Collectively, these artists bring forth noteworthy practices and perspectives that are new to our collection. Their works fill in major gaps and empower us to tell complex and compelling stories in our galleries that can connect with our audiences.”
Menchaca said the additions in such as high-profile setting are a significant step Latinx art and conversations around race.
“Hopefully this acquisition brings a nuanced perspective to a broader conversation on race, gender, imperialism, and colonialism in the Americas,” Menchaca said. “I commend The National Gallery of Art for creating new possibilities for Latinx contemporary art.”
Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter| Or sign up for our RSS Feed
