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The art of Jimenez

Renowned Chicano artist to show in new Mesa space

Longtime fans and newcomers to the art of Luis Jimenez will get a chance to revel in his work this September at the Mesa Contemporary Arts at the Mesa Arts Center.

In town to check out the space he'll fill, Jimenez took a break from three large-scale projects he's been working on the last few years. He is currently creating a 32-foot high mustang for the Denver airport, a firefighter memorial for Cleveland, and has begun a Cesar Chavez memorial for Houston.

Jimenez says he's had a long history of showing in Arizona and New Mexico (he resides in Hondo, N. M.), since the early to mid-'70s. He still shows at the Lisa Sette Gallery in Scottsdale. But there have been times when controversy has hounded his exhibitions. He recalls a show focusing on motorcycles at the Phoenix Art Museum over which the show's curator lost his job.

"It was a controversial show at that time," Jimenez says. "My piece (Cycle) was one I made in 1969. (The show) was very much noticed in the art community, but as happens ... I think some of the more conservative members of the board of the Phoenix Art Museum were a little uncomfortable with it, because it was pushing the envelope of what they were used to seeing as art. Now, we don't think of that as being controversial at all, but that's what happens."

His exhibition at the Mesa Contemporary Arts will include both indoor and outdoor sculptures as well as many two- and three-dimensional pieces from his prolific career. As always, it is Jimenez's strategy to lure many types of viewers, not only Latinos.

Jimenez says community support is vital to the financial success of any artist. But that's not easy, especially when it's cheaper to pay lip service instead of purchasing a piece of art.

"I think it's a very uphill battle. I was at a conference where some museum people were complaining about cutbacks in funding. I had to tell them while I could be sympathetic to what they were saying; it really wasn't going to affect us Chicanos very much."

He went on to explain to the audience that he'd just had an exhibition at the Dallas Museum, where he showed in every gallery except one and had a major sculpture at every entrance.

"It was a very successful show in terms of people coming in. But at the end of that show, I can tell you the Dallas Museum still only owns one lithograph of my work." Jimenez then asked for a show of hands from those officials whose museums owned more than five or six Chicano artists in their collections.

"There wasn't anybody who could hold up their hand," Jimenez says. "We're not being collected, we're not being supported. Maybe there's a little bit higher visibility (because) it's trendy right now - look at the demographics. But the art world, for all its talk about being avant-garde, is very regressive. They don't want to see progress. They don't want to see change. You talk about any kind of sculpture besides bronze or marble and it's still considered some kind of outrageous new material.

"Because museums have been in a position of being social institutions, even though they're publicly funded as well as educational facilities, in many places they function as some very exclusive kind of club. Even though they're free, a lot of our people don't feel comfortable going to a museum. So there are a lot of things that need to be changed."

The Luis Jimenez exhibition at Mesa Contemporary Arts runs Sept. 13 - Dec. 31 at the Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St. (corner of Center and Main), Mesa. Tickets are $3.50. Info: (480) 644-6500.