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Art Thu May 10 2012
19th State of Mind
Coming to Carlos & Dominguez Fine Arts in west Pilsen is a group show entitled 19th State of Mind. The title of this show refers to the 19th state to enter the union, Indiana, and the state of mind of the people who have grown up in this industrial, depressed area. A large portion of this show features the artists from CISA (Crazy Indiana Style Artists). I got to sit down and talk to Ish, a long time member of CISA, he spoke about the idea that Hammond, although not a "big city" like Chicago, has an inner city quality and, for some, long term effects that are directly related to the waning industry that the area was built on.
This show, consisting of lots of graffiti based imagery, talks directly about the struggle of being second best and maybe overlooked. Imagery in this show seems to relate to the desire and drive of the artists to attain successes and more attention from the larger arts world. It must be said that the trip from Hammond to Chicago is considerably shorter that the reverse trip -- of course not in miles, but mindset. This show reveals frailties in the otherwise tough exteriors of these artists. Larger than life portraits made entirely with aerosol paints of people wearing respirators, abstract collages referencing pop culture almost 30 years old now, and all of this must have been made with a keen mind on the passing of time, and all that comes with that.
- Harry Detry
- Sura Dupart
- Traz Juarez
- Felix "Flex" Maldonado
- Hector "Rooster" Marin
- Omar "OMS" Marin
- "Ish" Muhammad
- Luis "Eighter" Sandoval
- Roman Villareal