Tactica y Estrategia: Solo Mujeres Exhibition 2006

Táctica y Estrategia (Tactics & Strategies) explores the various modes of visual expression utilized by contemporary Latina artists dealing with personal and social issues. This is a different perspective of what Latin art can be: Táctica y Estrategia shatters the romantic notions, preconceived ideas and clichés surrounding Latin art. These are unexpected forms of expression, demonstrating how these women strive to develop their own art practices.

Táctica y Estrategia
Mi táctica es (My tactic is
mirarte… to look at you…)

mi táctica es (my tactic is
hablarte… to talk to you…)

© Mario Benedetti (1987)

The title of the exhibit is inspired by Uruguayan Mario Benedetti's poem of the same name. There is a saying in Spanish: “en el amor y en la guerra todo es permitido,” (in love and in war all is permitted). While in the poem, Benedetti uses the language of war, he is referring to love. This poem illustrates the approach Latina artists must follow to attain success in the art world. To accomplish one’s goals in the art scene an artist needs to develop tactics and strategies just as one does in love and war.

Highlights of the Exhibition

Patricia Tinajero-Baker’s installation is titled Landscraps and Scrap-Escape: Cosas Que Caen Entre el Cielo y el Suelo (Things That Fall Between the Sky and the Ground). Armed with discarded material, the series is composed of: Watermarks alludes to the transformation of matter and transience of time, and Body Journal focus on the quotidian evoking memories that implode past and present.

Paz de la Calzada’s installation, All that Glitters, is composed of seven pairs of legs, twenty pairs of golden shoes, and a DVD performance mapping the streets of the Mission District. Made of transparent tape, the disjointed legs set in an alternate walking position, resonating with the strange familiarity of supermodels walking on a runway. Used as a ploy, these fragile fragments representing the whole body, are rendered with a sensual artificiality.

On the other hand, Vanessa Garcia’s remake of Odalisque, painting by Orientalist French painter Ingres, points to a patriarchal time in art history when only males had the right to be artists. Besides subverting gender roles, Garcia’s tactic is to appropriate Ingres’ work to challenge female imagery as acquiescent and to address issues of race by darkening the figure’s skin color.

In Pocha Tongues, an installation made of eighteen hand blown glass pieces filled with healing herbs, Viviana Paredes tackles the discomfort of the liminality of growing up in a bilingual household. This is the state comparable to the experience of a child in a pre-language stage.

Cristina Velazquez‘s installation consists of two works: God and Untitled. Body parts such as breasts and a vulva, seemingly emanating bodily secretions, allude to issues of desire, and sexuality. In another work, La Mujer Tiene los Hijos (Woman Bears Children), a black and white dress with small hanging dolls is reminiscent of works by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

The works in the Táctica y Estrategia exhibit evoke freshness. These objects are devoid of nationalistic emblems and ubiquitous cultural iconography. These tactics attests to a wealth of ideas, numerous approaches to art making, and myriad possibilities for creativity, reflecting the fleeting moments of a fast-paced reality in contemporary society. This art exhibit reexamines the ambiguity in the familiar between a domestic setting and a public space. I would like to thank all the artists for contributing with their recent production and for making this exhibition a success.