I really enjoyed today's discussion of Laura Perez's "Chicana Art: the Politics of Spiritual and Aesthetic Altarities" as it made me connect several of our previous discussions of other texts to the discussion of Chicana art. It began with the discussion of the use of "kitsch" as postmodern art, as a way to give traditional or religious items new meaning, so that they, as Perez says, "contribute to the ongoing transformation of an increasingly globalized visual culture that Latin American immigration to the urban centers of the United States had helped to effect." This use of kitsch in a modern and clever way reminded me of the scene in Dahlia Season by Myriam Gurba where the racist goth sisters make fun of Desiree's old-school Vicente Fernandez King of the Rancheras record. Desiree was taking something traditional and making it her own, much like the artists Perez discusses.

The second connection I made was to the discussion we had on music genres and how Goth culture had a very "do-it-yourself" attitude. The clothing and objects that represent it are often things that have been sewn, ripped, dyed and otherwise altered from a previous form. Thus, the discussion of kitsch art, found object art, and some of the other forms described by Perez reminded me of the spirit of Goth culture and art. Both discussions involve "making do with what you got" in order to create something new, something modern, and something that speaks to you.

http://www.youtube.com/user/vicentefernandez?blend=1&ob=4