html overview: American media artist ARMANDO RASCON

About

Armando Rascon's work in installation and conceptual art is widely acclaimed and has been the subject of a number of commendations, including fellowship grants from the the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the prestigious Adaline Kent Award, and project grants from the US-Mexico Fund for Culture, San Francisco Arts Commission, as well as from both the Lannan and Rockefeller foundations. Born and raised on the US/Mexico bordertown of Calexico, California Rascon's childhood was informed by the language and symbolism of the nascent Chicano civil rights and cultural movements of the early 1970s. Rascon's early works employed contemporary methods of research and analysis to examine the institutional construction of cultural repositories, archives, and information systems. As a young artist, Rascon established himself a pioneer in Chicano conceptual art. In 1981 Rascon departed Southern California for San Francisco, and began a body of work informed by AIDS activism. Early warning signs predominated his Folsom Street studio neighborhood (in the leather district), as the city's Gay community erupted in a health threat of apocalyptic proportions --with the entire global community ultimately affected. Rascon's critical practice, works and projects continue to blur the boundary between the disciplines of media, installation and community discourse. SELECTED CV

VIDEO selections

Naco Nocturnes (video projection | music version) 2006, RT is 05:27, was featured as a projection in the installation Armando Rascon: Naco Nocturnes mounted at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, California --during its inaugural year in 2006-2007. The original video had no audio track as it was intended to accompany its twin soundpiece Naco Nocturnes (audio soundscape). The synthesizer and motion graphics on this piece were authored by Rascón. © Copyright 2006-2023
Video and reading of the opening pages from Gloria Anzaldua's groundbreaking book "Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza" as recorded by Rascon for public programs associated with the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego's exhibition "To Tame a Wild Tongue: Art After Chicanismo" curated by Alana Hernandez in 2020 (inspired by Anzaldua's book). This segment is part of a compilation of artists reading the entire book for public broadcast by the MCASD. The video Reading Anzaldua TRT 15:15 minutes combines images captured by Rascon in combination with his use of the spoken vernacular borderland hybrid/fusion merging of English and Spanish that is prevalent on the borderlands and was first introduced to mainstream audiences with Anzaldua's publishing of "Borderlands | La Frontera" in 1987.
Interview with Armando Rascón, Guest Curator of the multimedia exhibition "A Quincentenary Ricorso: Redeeming Our Dead" at Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, California, 1992. The video begins with Rascón's reading of his own written exhibition essay. In the interview Rascón discusses the institutional framework of colonialism and its disfiguring history that continues through the present. Rascón proposes counter-colonial awareness and activist strategies to counter the prevailing celebrations that were being staged in 1992 --public campaigns with complete disregard of the profound damage colonialism wields on indigenous cultures throughout the world, but in particular as it pertains to the work of the artists in the exhibition "Quincentenary Ricorso" at Galería de la Raza --specifically in light of the radically shifting demographic changes impacting the Mission District in the city of San Francisco. The project included work by artists Nahum Zenil, Eliza Jimenez, Barbara Carrasco, Lucero Isaac, Harry Gamboa, Jr., Aida Mancillas and Jose Montoya. The outdoor mural was painted by Michael Ríos.TRT: 42 mins. ©1992
Border Crossing Action, spoken language and images by Armando Rascon, 1991. TRT: 1 min 24 secs. Rascón documents a round trip path between Mexicali, Baja California and Calexico, California --an action amounting to crossing the border twice on October 12, 1991, a year prior to the Quincentennary celebrations and protests planned for 1992. Slide projection version presented at INTAR Gallery, 42nd Street, New York City, in 1991. Project organized by Inverna Lockpez and Karen Atkinson entitled 1992: Conquests Do Not Only Belong to the Past © copyright 1991-2023

AUDIO selections | voice + sound pieces

Artist Talk by Armando Rascon, invited speaker, the 4th Annual Soy Bilingue Festival, The New Academy of Science and Arts, Los Angeles, California, 2021. Broadcast on May 26, 2021. AUDIO link to Soundcloud stream is here:
Armando Rascon reads the opening pages from Gloria Anzaldua's book Borderlands/La Frontera for public programs associated with the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego's exhibition To Tame a Wild Tongue curated by Alana Hernandez in 2020. This segment is part of a compilation of artists reading the entire book for public broadcast by the MCASD. AUDIO link to SOUNDCLOUD stream is here:
Armando Rascon: Naco Nocturnes (audio soundscape), RT: 70 minutes, 2006. Soundtrack to Naco Nocturnes, de Young Museum, San Francisco. AUDIO link to SOUNDCLOUD stream is here:
Armando Rascon: Chicanx Victory Applause Demo, 1991, invited guest lecturer Armando Rascon teaches Yolanda M. Lopez's class the Chicano Victory Applause, The Little Theater, San Francisco State University, October 1, 1991. Excerpt. AUDIO link to Soundcloud stream is here:
Armando Rascon: radio capture 9 November 1994 Audio clip from Spanish radio broadcast morning of 9 November, 1994, on first day after passage of Proposition 187 in the state of California. Excerpt. AUDIO link to Soundcloud stream is here:
Armando Rascon: radio capture 9 November 1994 (pt. 2) Audio clip from "Entre Mujeres", Spanish radio broadcast on morning of 9 November, 1994, on first day after passage of Proposition 187 in the state of California. Excerpt. AUDIO link to Soundcloud stream is here:
Armando Rascon: Postcolonial Califas Diction(ary), 1997. Audio work presented in the exhibition Armando Rascon: Latina Postcolonial Photobureau + 7 other media installations, Blue Star Art Space, San Antonio, Texas, in 1998. This excerpt R/T: 11 mins, from original that runs 60 minutes. AUDIO link to Soundcloud stream is here:
Armando Rascon: La Raza Solidarity Applause, 1991. Soundpiece created in 1991. This excerpt, R/T: 1 min 36 seconds, from original that runs 60 minutes with intermittent gaps of silence. Source recorded by Rascon during lecture with Yolanda M. Lopez's class at SF State in 1991. Audio link to Soundcloud stream is here

PUBLICATIONS

Printed matter access via BLUE LINKS below
ARMANDO RASCON: BIBLIOGRAPHY (selections since 1990)2006 Cornell, Daniell. “Naco Nocturnes: Armando Rascon” Connections Project Essay, de Young, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco exhibition publication. July 8, 2006 thru January 7, 2007. Link to Daniell Cornell essay / publicationGomez Aguinaga, Carolina. “Clausura del taller de pintura e instalaci6n”Tribuna de la Bahia. page 4, No. 5873, 24 February. Puerto Vallarta.Gomez Aguinada, Carolina. “Inicio el taller de pintura e instalaci6n”Tribuna de la Bahia, page 3, No.5861, 12 February. Puerto Vallarta.Reyes, Angel. “Armando Rascon, en busca de liberar la creatividad” Vallarta Opina, pg. 7, No. 9830, Ano 28, 6 Febrero. Puerto Vallarta.2005 Ramirez, Delia. “Rescata con su lente iconos olvidados” Tribuna de la Bahia, page 4, No. 5516, 23 February, Puerto Vallarta.2003 Jacobs, Joseph. “Armando Rascon: Border Xicanography” curatorial essay in exhibition catalog "Armando Rascon: Border Xicanography" published by the Newark Museum, New Jersey. Exhibition held at The Newark Museum in 2002-2003. Westbrook, Lindsey. “Armando Rascon at Galeria de la Raza” Artweek, Vol. 34, Issue 7, pages 18 + 19. Link to ARTWEEK articleLim, Ji Ilyum. “Chicano Artist Illustrates Migrants’Journey North in Galeria Exhibit” El Tecolote, pages 1& 9, Volume 33, No. 13, July.Swanhuyser, Hiya. “Crossing Over” SF Weekly, page 38, June 11-17.2002 Bonetti, David. “Ugly fence becomes work of art: Artist makes mural of Mexican border” San Francisco Chronicle, Datebook pgs 1 + 6, Tuesday January 6. Link to Bonetti article2001 Bonetti, David. “Pick of the Week” San Francisco Chronicle, February.Cotter, Holland. “Loyal to Two Cultures, From Chicano Roots To a NewAmbiguity” The New York Times, June 8, pg. B25.1999 “Destruyendo estereotipos” El Periodico del Arte. Madrid, Spain, no. 28, December.Benitez, Claudia. “El mas joven arte chicano desembarca en Madrid” La Razon, Madrid, Spain, 21 November.1998 Dumbadze, Alexander. “Armando Rascon: Blue Star Art Space” ARTLIES 22, page 58, Spring. Link to Alexander Dumbadze review, ARTLIESEwing, John. “Beyond Borders: Armando Rascon tackles the postcolonial frontera” San Antonio Current, January 14. pages 13 & 36.Montenegro, Richard. “Binational mural project receives financial boost” The Imperial Valley Press, January 8.Goddard, Dan R. “Cultural reflections: Armando Rascon’s photos honor Latina leaders” San Antonio Express-News. January 3, pages 7-H & 13-H, Arts etc. Texas. Ollman, Leah. “A Multi-Sided Look at Lone Woman” Los Angeles Times, Friday October 2. Roth, Charlene. “Original Accounts of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island at Side Street Projects” ARTWEEK, November.Montenegro, Richard. “Border Artist: Blending American, Mexican cultures” The Imperial Valley Press, April 30. “Binational Mural Project Off To Good Start” Calexico Chronicle, Editorial, Thursday May 7, Vol.93, No. 197.Levin, Kim. “Voice Choices” The Village Voice, New York, January 13, pg.2.Sorell, Victor Alejandro. “Telling Images Bracket the Broke-en-Promise(d) Land’: The Culture of Immigration and the Immigration of Culture across Borders” Culture Across Borders, The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp.112 thru 117.1997 Pincus, Robert L. “Links in the Fence: Chicano Artist’s Work Bridges the Borders Between Cultures” The San Diego Union-Tribune. Monday, April 7, Currents & Arts section, pp E-l and E-6. Vasquez, Monica. “Postcolonial Califas: Armando Rascon at MOCA and El Centre Cultural de la Raza” La Prensa, San Diego, April 4.Fernane, Wendy. “Opening History: Latino artist explores state’s immigration issue” North County Times, Friday April 4.Berger, Laurel + Howardena Pindell. ”Who Do Some of Today’s Big-Name Artists Think Will Be the Stars of the Future?” Artnews, New York, March.Sichel, Berta. ”Translinear: Redefining Text with Technology” Flashart International, pages 70-71, March-April. Link to Berta Sichel artcile in FlashartZamudio-Taylor, Victor. Arco Publications, Arco International Art Fair, Madrid, Spain. Zamudio-Taylor, Victor. “Contemporary Artistic Impulses from Chicano & Latino Dislocations: Notes on the work of Armando Rascon, Jesse Amado and Inigo Manglano-Ovalle,” AtlAntica International, Canary Islands. Winter. Link to Zamudio-Taylor article PDF 1996 Sichel, Berta. “Arte Latinoamericano y tecnología: Entre aquí y allá” Lapiz, Madrid, Spain. Link to Berta Sichel article in LAPIZZamudio-Taylor, Victor. “Where Is The Bleeding Heart?” Chicano Art, Latin American Art in the Twentieth Century, Phaidon, London. Pgs. 324-26. Edward Sullivan, Editor.1994 Klausner, Betty. “Armando Rascon at Walter/McBean, ” Art In America. Vol. 82, No. II, November, Page 138. Link to Art in America articleKelley, Jeff. “Armando Rascon: San Francisco Art Institute” Artforum, Vol. XXXII, No. 10, Summer. Page 98. Link to ARTFORUM article“Occupied Aztlan: Yolanda Lopez talks to Elizabeth Martinez about Armando Rascon’s turning point multimedia exhibit.” CrossRoads, No. 44, September 1994, pages 10,11,&12. Link to Yolanda M. Lopez + Elizabeth Martinez article in CROSSROADSRoche, Harry. “Armando Rascon: Clear on the Concept.” SF Bay Guardian, September 14, pg.46. Jenkins, Steve. “Uneasy Rider: Armando Rascon at SFAI”Artweek, May 5, Vol.25, No.9/,Pages 26 & 27.Bonetti, David. “Three installations put a face on cultural identity” San Francisco Examiner, Wednesday April 20, Pg.B-5.Tanner, Marcia. “North of the Border” San Francisco Chronicle. Datebook’s Hot Picks, March 27, pg. 5.Roche, Harry. “Critic’s Choice: Armando Rascon” Bay Area Guardian. April 20, pg. 84.Lopez, Angel. “Chicaneidad es Hablar de Identidad” Noticias de Arte. March, April, New York. Alarcon, Norma. “T(r)opographies for a Critical Imaginary: the Work of Armando Rascon” Adaline Kent Award exhibition catalog, San Francisco Art Institute.Zamudio-Taylor, Victor. “Reading Between the Lines” catalog essay. Armando Rascon: Xicano Anesthetic, INTAR Gallery, New York. January. Link to INTAR Catalog1993 Wolf, Herta. “Notes on Mistaken Identities” ThirdText. No. 24, pg. 107.Walter Tiotz, Von. Schwarz, “ich weiss, schwarz,” Der Spieqel, Kultur, Freitag, 30 April. Wolf, Herta. “Identitad Versus Identitaten?” Camera Austria, No. 145, pg. 68.Becker, Jochen. “Mistaken Identities”, Kunstforom, Volume 123, Germany, July, pages 320 -322. Martin, Victoria. “Talking Back: Mistaken Identities at DC Santa Barbara and Counterweight at CAF” Artweek, Volume 24, Number 3, page 22, February 4.Solomon-Godeau, Abigail. Principal essay Mistaken Identities exhibition catalog, published by University Art Museum, U.C. Santa Barbara + University of Washington Press. Link to Solomon-Godeau essay1992 Darling, Michael W. “Art Probes Identity” The Independant Santa Barbara, CA, Page 27, November 19.Matthews, Lydia. “Armando Rascon at Southern Exposure Gallery, ” VISIONS Art Quarterly, Pages 27, 28 & 29. Spring.1991 Friedman, Robert. “Caught in the Capitalist NEXUS” San Francisco Sentinel. September 12. Bonetti, David. “At alternative spaces, the business of art is politics” San Francisco Examiner, Pages B-3 & B-4, Thursday, September 26.Jenkins/ Steven. “Conversation with Armando Rascon, ” ARTWEEK, Volume 32, Number 31. Pages 20 & 16. Link to article by Steven JenkinsCook, Katherine. “Timelines Into a Very Strange Future: Armando Rascon at Southern Exposure” ARTWEEK, Volume 22, September. Link to critical review by Katherine CookS & L: Transactions in the Post-industrial Era. San Francisco Art Institute. L. Brun, M.Lehmann, R. Lemcke, catalog Editors.Wright, David H. “Sore in Spirit: AMDG at Grace Cathedral” ARTWEEK, San Jose, CA, May 16. Kelley, Jeff. “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam at Grace Cathedral” VISIONS Art Quarterly, Los Angeles, Spring. Pages 24 - 28.Smith, Irvin. “The Human Mark,” ARTWEEK, San Jose, CA, April 11.1990 Mary Murphy & Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, catalog essay, “Two Projects: The Black Museum and The Multicultural Reading Room,” Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago.Mesa-Bains, Amalia. “Chicano Bodily Aesthetics” exhibition catalog, “Body/Culture: Chicano Figuration”. Sonoma State University.Sorell, Victor Alejandro. “Words and Images in the Margin: Chicano Art and the Canon,’ catalog Body/Culture: ibid..Brookman, Donna. “Community Connections” ARTWEEK, December 13.Bowen, Cathleen. “Art and Politics” VOX Magazine. Volume I, No. 2, Winter 1990.
PUBLICATIONS2006 “Armando Rascon: Naco Nocturne at De Young” artdaily.com, lead article Friday July 14. “Naco Nocturnes” apartmenttherapy.com, in “Look!” Column, 12 September.2002 Cover art for El Andar, portrait of writer Sandra Cisneros by Armando Rascon, Fall Issue, September. 2000 INSITE 2000, commissioned Public Art Project by Armando Rascon "Cine Furaztlan Presenta: Film Festival with Immigration Differential" catalog. Link to INSITE 2000 catalog1999 “Border Metamorphosis: Armando Rascon” AU LA, (Architecture and Urbanization in Las Americas) Vol I, No. I, Inaugural issue, Spring.1998 “Original Accounts of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island” exhibition catalog, Side Street Projects, Santa Monica.1995 “Talking with: Armando Rascon,” WEST, Volume I, No. 3, 94, 95, pages 42-49, May.“Lagrimas y Sonrisas” curatorial essay by Armando Rascon, (Re)Generation Project exhibition catalog, Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco, CA.“Xicano Progeny,’ curatorial essay by Guest Curator Armando Rascon, exhibiton catalog: “Xicano Progeny: Investigative Agents, Executive Council and Other Representatives from the Sovereign State of Aztlan” published by the Mexican Museum, San Francisco; third of four traveling exhibitions in a series entitled “Redefining the Aesthetic: Toward a New Vision of American Culture.” Link to Rascon's essay "Xicano Progeny"1994 “In Consideration of Certain Artifacts Contained in the Exhibition (Elements that Make Reference to the Institution of Public Education)” statement by Armando Rascon in “Occupied Aztlan” Adaline Kent Award catalog, San Francisco Art Institute. Armando Rascon curatorial essay "Xicano Ricorso: A Thirty Year Retrospect from Aztlan" Museum of Modern Art, New York. Organized with Barbara London and Sally Berger, Department of Film and Video. Link to Press Release1992 “The Socio-cultural Reading Room: Center for Research & Information, ” published in conjunction with project of same title by Armando Rascon. Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum and Santa Barbara Public Library.“Existential Monochrome,” exhibition brochure, images and text by Armando Rascon, produced by Randolph Street Gallery in connection with installation of same title in the Project Space. Chicago Weekly, publication of “Untitled (The Only Free Choice is the Refusal to Pay)/” painting by Armando Rascon, included in Existential Monochrome, installation at Randolph Street Gallery. September 13.Frame/work, “Re-discovery” Guest editors Roberto Bedoya and Karen Atkinson. Volume 5, Issue 1. Images from “Re-interpreting Miss Rucker’s American History Lesson, Fifth Grade, Jefferson Elementary, Calexico, California, School Term 1966-67” by Armando Rascon.Art Papers, Editor: Maureen Sherlock. ‘Bifocal Borders’ Article and compendium list from “The Multicultural Reading Room: Center for Research and Information” by Armando Rascon, Pgs 14, 15 & 16. New Observations, ‘New World Women 1992’ Guest Editor: Karen Atkinson. Image/Text work: “Pendant Bell with Eagle Warrior” by Armando Rascon, page 15. Number 88. Winter 1992.S.O.S. Int’l, edited by Robin Kahn. Winter. Untitled (Quincentenniel Recipe)/ a xerox multiple by Armando Rascon.Five Fingers Review, “Art and Spirituality” edited by Jon Winet and Lovell Thoreau. Winter.
WORLD WIDE WEB2002 “AztlanLifeExtensionFoundation” HTML Component for Digital Mural of same name, Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, Fall. 1999 “Institute for Xicano Relations: Portable Chapel Juan Soldado” html interactive computer station+ bilingual information database; commissioned by Sala de Exposiciones Canal de Isabel II, Madrid, Spain, for exhibition “Aztlan Hoy.” “Home” Net Art Commission, Queer Cultural Center, San Francisco, www.queerculturalcenter.org1997 “XICANO.COM” html publication component of project “Postcolonial Califas”at Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego + Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego.1994 “Occupied Aztlan Database”: simultaneous live internet conference for site ‘www.well.sf.ca.us’ + interactive computer installation kiosk on-site Walter/McBean Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute; one of various installation elements comprising “Armando Rascon: Occupied Aztlan,” Adaline Kent Award exhibition.

PROJECTS

Naco Nocturnes media project at de Young Museum, San Francisco

The centerpiece of Rascon's multimedia project was a thirty foot section of the U.S./Mexico border fence that once separated Calexico, California, USA and Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. After the close of the show at the de Young, the border artifact was gifted by the artist to the National Museum of American History, thus initiating the Border Objects collection at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The project featured a 70 minute audio soundscape comprising the artist's musical compositions entitled Border Ragas, with a variety of atmospheric field recordings of borderland incidental sound captures and resonant border ethos noise. The ninety-nine small circular paintings shown here horizontally are titled Naco Modern: the Tortilla Paintings (painted on a maize-resin composite ground). A five minute digital video projection that featured motion graphics of Olmec earthenware artifacts of musicians dating to 300 B.C. (from the De Young's permanent collection), were also on display as part of the installation. Naco Nocturnes ran from 8 July 2006 through 7 January 2007 framing the inaugural reopening year of San Francisco's newly built de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.
Naco Modern: the Tortilla Paintings, 2006 99 paintings: enamel on aluminum panels. The round ground is a combination of maize and resin (tortilla composite substrate). 33 of these paintings are in the Permanent Collection of the Fine Arts Museums, San Francisco.



Naco Nocturnes (video projection) 2006, RT: 5:27, visible as a projection in the installation shots above and in this video. Naco Nocturnes (audio soundscape) 2006, a 70 minute audio track filled the space of the Connections Gallery of the De Young Museum with Rascon's cornucopia of curated sound samples culled from the borderland's staccato urban streets and vast Mexicali/Imperial Valley rural desert terrain environments during his retreat there in 2005-2006.
Naco Nocturnes (audio soundscape), 2006. TRT: 70 minutes. Download directly from the Soundcloud link below.Naco Nocturnes (audio soundscape) MP3SOUNDCLOUD download link is here.

Armando Rascon + BEZANDO (Mexicali Collective) Art For Humans Gallery, Los Angeles 2007

Armando Rascon formed the Mexicali art collective BEZANDO when living in Calexico, California between the years 2005-2008. BEZANDO is an acronym for Border Enterprise Zone and Drum Octave. Members of BEZANDO included Juan Quintero (Los Sweepers), Yung Sing (Manniqui Lazer), Marco Vera (Mexicali Rose), Ismael "Malamen" Castro and Armando Rascon. In August 2008 the group traveled to Art for Humans Gallery, Los Angeles for an exhibition and performance Unfinished Symphony, posted on the youtube video below (Courtesy of Paul McLean and artforhumans gallery).
Border Boy, 2007, vinyl mural by Armando Rascon to left. BEZANDO collective members Armando Rascon and Juan Quintero to right of mural.
Performance view of Armando Rascon with accordian.

Armando Rascon: Border Xicanographies Galeria de la Raza, San Francsico, California 2003

Installation view: to left Border Xicanography, 2003. Neon text. to right Niño Perdido, 2003, 2-channel DVD projection
Installation view of dual screens: Niño Perdido, 2003, 2-channel DVD projection. TRT: 5:45 minutes. Video links are in VIDEO selections at top of site. Video stills:
Niño Perdido (Norte)
Niño Perdido (norte)
Niño Perdido (Sur)
Niño Perdido (Sur)

Armando Rascon: Border Xicanography The Newark Museum, New Jersey 2002

Curator of American Art Joseph Jacobs invited Rascon to produce a new project to run during The Newark Museum's presentation of The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame. Rascon responded by creating a crossmedia installation entitled Border Xicanography, merging five distinct works into a standalone project. In echoing the Mesoamerican Ballgame, Rascon debuted Two Ballcourts w a mediated third, (RT: 8:24 minutes), a dvd projection combining binational sporting and cultural references. The dvd weaves intimate closeups from the Juan Soldado chapel in Tijuana with outtakes from the 2002 semi-quarter World Cup match between the USA and Mexico, and shots of athletic youth scaling the border wall by the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood in Mexicali. The work may be viewed HERE:
Other works on view included Ceremonial station w/ ambient flame landscape, 2002. 99 votive candles, digital prints, set atop 33 aluminum shelves.
Two subjects with Dream Reality, 1998 Chromogenic print on silk fabric. Featured in Border Xicanography, 2002.

Armando Rascon Cine Futuraztlan Presenta: Film Festival with Immigration Differential inSITE 2000, Tijuana and San Diego

Photo: view of film festival audiences entering the outdoor plaza of Mercado El Popo on opening night, Day of the Dead, November 2, 2000 enroute to Cinelandia 2000. Rascon conceived a public art project that utilized the framework of a normative film festival with the theme of IMMIGRATION as the core public engagement strategy. Twelve collaborating specialists in border studies, immigration and film each selected one of the 12 films that were screened. Rascon created short video documentaries of the collaborators, screening each video immediately prior to the selected film being shown. T-shirts, posters, postcards were distributed with festival branding. Daily interventions were presented as part of the performance "99 actions for film festival" over the course of the four-night event. The master video document comprising the twelve collaborators' talks is the remaining evidence of this public project.
Detail: Armando Rascon performing a spoken word piece (the DJ is in the ticket booth, lower right) for opening night November 2, 2000, outdoor plaza of el Mercado Popo adjascent to entrance of the host film theater Cinelandia 2000, located in downtown Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
Futuraztlan film festival poster.
Futuraztlan film festival T-shirt.

Armando Rascon: Latina Postcolonial Photobureau 1990-1999 project included in Aztlan Hoy: La Posnacion Chicana curated by Berta Sichel Sala de exposiciones del Canal de Isabel II, Madrid, Spain 1999 The Bronx Museum 2000

Latina Postcolonial Photobureau, 1990-1999. Mural size C-type chromogenic prints. Permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego as well as the Di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, California.
Armando Rascon: Institute for Xicano Relations - Portable Chapel Juan Soldado, 1993-1999. Computer station, copier, html site. Installation views and screen captures:
Commissioned for the exhibition Aztlan Hoy: the Aztlan Postnation at the Sala de Exposiciones del Canal de Isabel II, Rascon authored Institute for Xicano Relations: Portable Chapel Juan Soldado, an html information site featuring a tour of the Tijuana chapel honoring Juan Soldado, venerated saint to would-be border crossers. Hyperlinks in the piece connected viewers to detailed research on immigration policy and facts regarding the undocumented classes in the United States (researched by Rascon spanning the years1993 through 1999.)

Armando Rascon

Latina Postcolonial Photobureau + 7 related media installations

Blue Star Art Space, San Antonio, Texas

1998

Installation view: Karmabo(a)rder Skateworks, 1998, one of eight standalone yet interrelated installation artworks presented at the Blue Star Art Space, San Antonio, Texas. The video was created in conjunction with a workshop led by the artist with the Jefferson High School skate team.
Video projection: Santa Fe (Light Spirit Dream), 1997, RT: 25 minutes. The work opens with Rascon's ritual action of creating thirty gallons of holy water from a small vitamin container with holy water given to the artist by his grandmother. The 30 gallons of water were ported from the San Antonio River to the gallery by Rascon and gallery staff. The San Antonio River water is in the seven white plastic containers on the floor by the projection screen wall.
to left: el conquistador/el conquistado/la conquistadora/la conquistada, 1997. Four stacked neon texts. to right: Latina Postcolonial Photobureau, 1990-1999. Mural size C-type prints. Critical review by Alexander Dumbadze for ARTLIES is here
Free Radio Aztlan (receiver / transmitter), 1997 Mixed mediums with antique bicycle and birdcage; Spanish radio broadcast captured by Rascon on the morning of November 9, 1994 --the first day of passage of Prop.187 in California. Audio samples were transmitted via wireless audio equipment mounted on the cage and bicycle for live sound in the gallery. AUDIO link to Soundcloud stream is HERE:

Armando Rascon: Border Metamorphosis - The Binational Mural Project US/Mexico border between Calexico, California and Mexicali, Baja California. 1998-2002

The Binational Mural Project, two-mile community-involved public art project at the international site of the US/Mexico border. Sponsored by the City of Calexico. Over two thousand volunteers participated in once monthly weeklong paint workshops with the artist between 1998 through 2002; Calexico , California and Mexicali, Baja California. The US/Mexico Fund for Culture (Fideicomiso para la Cultura Mexico Estados Unidos) awarded Rascon with funds for the pilot year of this project in 1998. An organizational grant from the California Arts Council (a first for Imperial County) secured the project through completion in 2002.
Nocturnal view The Binational Mural Project, 1998-2002, photo courtesy of Getty Images. The work was removed by the Trump Administration in 2017, effectively replaced by 'the Wall."
In response to the mural's destruction, City of Calexico civic and community leaders erected a public monument in 2018. Situated in Rockwood Plaza, in central Calexico, California, the monument features a fully restored section of the original salvaged artwork, and, commemorates the historic binational achievement of this major community-involved public art project. Photo courtesy of Palmoc Herrera.

Armando Rascon: Postcolonial Califas

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

+ Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego, California 1997

Installation view: Postcolonial Califas, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 1997. In the foreground, Olmec Lightpiece for XX Century Fin de Siecle, 1997, a ceiling-to-floor projection with two Kodak projectors throwing 160 35mm ektacolor slides onto an oval-shaped elevated floor screen. The orientation of the images revolve North, East, South, West in a circular motion. Permanent Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Link to Olmec Lightpiece projection is HERE Link to MCASD is HERE
Installation view: Postcolonial Califas, Centro Cultural de la Raza, Balboa Park, San Diego, California. Projection is an online html artwork titled Institute for Xicano Relations: Postcolonial Califas commissioned for the joint exhibition with the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and projected via live broadcast simultaneously at the Centro via the site xicano.com (domain registered to Armando Rascon at that time.) The artist changed the domain to xicanx.net in 2017.

Armando Rascon Institute for Xicano Relations: Reading the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies 1995

Detail from installation Institute for Xicano Relations: Reading the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1995, Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies. Image depicts Mexicali based farm laborers working in agricultural fields in Imperial Valley, several miles North of the US/Mexico border (demarcation line separating the USA and Mexico was established in 1848 by the tenets of the Treaty, thus ending the US Mexico War). Installation views:

Armando Rascon: Occupied Aztlan Adaline Kent Award exhibition, San Francisco Art Institute 1994

Armando Rascon: Love letters from the Maid(en) to the Garden(er) 1993 Installation at Oliver Gallery, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland 1994

Installation view: Love letters from the Maid(en) to the Garden(er), 1993. Work included in the exhibition Cultural Identities and Immigration, 1994, the College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland.
The yellow horizontal panel contains passages from Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's text Can the Subaltern Speak?, hand painted by Rascon in barrio calligraphy.
Detail: inside the vitrine, atop a dozen roses, are the artist's parent's love letters from the Forties --a gift from his mother.

Armando Rascon

Center for Research and Information:

Socio-cultural Reading Room

Contemporary Arts Forum,Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara Main City Library

1992

Armando Rascon: Existential Monochrome Southern Exposure, San Francisco and Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago 1991

Installation view of Artifact with Three Declarations of Independence, 1991, one of several works included in Armando Rascon: Existential Monochrome, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco (1991) and Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago (1992). The piece was later featured in the traveling exhibition Mistaken Identities curated by Abigail Solomon-Godeau and Connie Lewallen. Permanent collection: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Critical summary of Artifact with Three Declarations of Independence by Abigail Solomon-Godeau is HERE
Existential Monochrome, 1991. Installation view, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francsico, 1991. Laminated oversize xerox prints with neon text. The image is a composite portrait of male world leaders in 1990.
Installation view: Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, 1992. top Existential Monochrome, 1991 bottom ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPH, 1991. Floor mural with light.
Untitled (Destroy Power Not People), 1989-90
Untitled (Boredom is Counterrevolutionary), 1989-90. 14 x 14 inches. Black leather, colored dyes, vinyl text.
Installations view: Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco. 1991.
Installation view: wall tableaux of eleven USA landmark court cases.
Installation view: 11 of 26 black leather paintings with counter-culture slogans from the Sixties.
Detail: tops of two of the eleven freestanding verticle wall tableaux court cases.

Armando Rascon The Multicultural Reading Room: Center for Research and Information 1990 New Langton Arts, San Francisco Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago

Installation view: Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, 1991
Installation view: New Langton Arts, San Francisco, 1990
In a nod to the institution of the public library, Rascon conceived a project involving a selection of participating collaborators from different vantage points of the worlds of art and culture, to construct a reading room setting with a precise selection of books chosen by the invited participants. The gesture of opening participation to a cross section of 'collaborators' served to democratize the project space and to redefine the subject of public engagement in the social sphere. The PDF of the Multicultural Reading Room pamphlet is HERE Article for Art Papers is here:

AIDS ACTIVIST INFORMED WORK 1982-1993

Self portrait (prayer), 1993Ink on silverprint. (After John Coplans).Published in the exhibition catalog Armando Rascon: Occupied Aztlan, Adaline Kent Award exhibition at the San Francisco Art Institute. Spring 1994.
Burroughs-Wellcome Triptych with Dahlias from project Medicinal Pictures / Corporate Healers, 1991 Included in the exhibition S & L: Transactions in the Post-industrial Era, San Francisco Art Institute.
Medicinal Pictures / Corporate Healers, 1991 Installation view with three still lifes: Bristol-Meyers Triptych with Camelia Begonias, Sandoz Triptych with Gladioli, and Burroughs-Wellcome Triptych with Dahlias, --and numerous pages of automated research computer print-outs generated under the subject headings (1) Pharmaceudical Industry, (2) Pharmaceudical Ethics, and (3) AIDS Research. A research project involving pharmaceudical corporations which are engaged in AIDS research and which sell over-the-counter drugs.
Armando Rascon, Untitled (Martyr Totem), 1989. Work featured in the exhbition The AIDS Timeline organized by Group Material, University Art Museum, UC Berkeley, California, 1990.The piece is composed of the 1984 judicial injunction issued by San Francisco's Board of Health that closed the city's Gay bath houses with an overlay of collaged fragments of The Martyrdom of St. Hippolytus (Dirk Bouts, 1475). It is a freestanding work set on the floor. Collection: Dr. Milton Estes, Sausalito, Ca.

Armando Rascon: Decay and Resurrection AIDS activist informed work 1982-1988

Untitled (A Private Memory), 1988 Glass, metal, charcoal, paper. 20 panels, each 12 x 10 inches. From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88. Work included in the traveling exhibition Body / Culture: Chicano Figuration organized by the Sonoma State University in 1990.
Installation view The Biology of Moral Systems, 1987 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88 Project at MEDIA gallery, San Francisco, California.
Untitled (The Postulate of Hot and Cold), 1987 Black leather , color dyes, antique frames. From the series Decay and Resurrection 1984-88
Untitled (Double Cryogenic), 1986 Collection: Ken Cleaveland, San Francisco. From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-1988 Synopsis of Decay and Resurrection is HERE
Untitled (Bug Boy), 1987 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88 Collection: Chris Daubert, Dixon, California
Domine Mundi, 1984 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
AlphaOmega, 1987 Collection: Fred and Beth Rabin, New York City. From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
Untitled Ritual, 1984 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
Untitled (ring vortex), 1986 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
Untitled (insect with gamma particles), 1985 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
Fear of Angels, 1984 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
Life in the Love Hate Garden, 1984 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
Those Astronauts Again, 1984 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
Auto-erotic, 1983 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
Mathematical Certainties that Fail to Stagger, etc., 1984 Collection: Eduardo Rascon, Tijuana, BC, MexicoFrom the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
Emergence of Desire, 1984 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88 Collection: Bill Ryan and Carter Lowrie, Palm Springs, Califonia
Eros Coil, 1985 From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88
Boy and Running Dogs, 1983 Collection: Joan Haratani, Oakland, Califonia
Boy Playing with Shadow, 1983
Youth Disguised as an Elder, 1983 Collection: James Long, Canton, Massachusetts
Prisoner Dance, 1982
Still, 1982 Collection: Eduardo Rascon, Tijuana, BC, Mexico

CRITICAL PRACTICE: Image selections 1977 - 2009

Screen capture from Califas Paralegal /Research Station, 1993-1994, a live internet conference on the world wide web and simultaneous interactive computer station installation on premises with access for the viewing public in the gallery.
Installation view: Califas Paralegal / Research Station, 1993-94, Included in the Adaline Kent Award media installation exhibition Armando Rascon: Occupied Aztlan, San Francisco Art Institute. Spring 1994.
Armando Rascon: One Hundred Fifty Years, 1988. Installation view, South of Market Cultural Center, San Francisco, California. The work combines antique photographs, vinyl text, and lightbulbs set atop an antique photograph on the floor.
Study for AlphaOmega, 1986. From the series Decay and Resurrection 1982-88.
Performance with Irwin Irwin at New Langton Arts, San Francisco, 1984. The industrial musical score was written and performed by Robert Dougherty and Armando Rascón. Richard (Irwin Irwin) was one of many in Rascon's artistic circle lost to AIDS during the Eighties in San Francisco.
Califas Public Service Announcement, 1997
Armando Rascon: Califas Public Service Announcement, 1997 As worn by the artist during his lecture for Louis Hock's art class at the University of California, San Diego, 1997.
Armando Rascon AztlanLifeExtensionFoundation 2002, interactive Digital Billboard, Mission District, commissioned by Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco, California. The domain xicano.com was changed to xicanx.net by Armando Rascon in 2017.
Felix with eyes closed (when we were young), 1990. Color print from Ektachrome slide. Portait of Felix Gonzales-Torres by Armando Rascon. Captured during setup of The AIDS Timeline with Group Material at the University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley. In his role as independant curator Armando Rascon befriended Felix Gonzales-Torres in the mid Eighties and helped place his early work before a national spotlight, initially in the group exhibition Corporate Crime / Malicious Mischief, then later in TERRAIN, an experimental San Francisco gallery space that Rascon operated with partner Peter Wright. Following, are links to a catalog and to critical reviews that reference Felix's work from 1987: Exhibition catalog: Corporate Crime / Malicious Mischief curated by Armando Rascon, 1987. Review: San Diego Union, 1987. Review: Los Angeles Times, 1987. Review: ARTWEEK, 1987. Review: High Performance, Matter Antimatter: Defects in the Model curated by Armando Rascon, TERRAIN, San Francisco, January 19 thru February 18, 1989.
Portrait of Sandra Cisneros, 2002 photograph by Armando Rascon (nikon35mm, Ektachrome asa 25 film) published on the cover of el ANDAR.
Seventh Self, 1979-80 Oil on canvas diptych. 48 x 120 inches. From the series Fleeting Narratives. Completed in Rascon's State Street Studio, Santa Barbara, California.
Detail of right panel.
Armando Rascon Cosmic Unity 1979. Ortega Park, Santa Barbara, California. Public art mural project sponsored by La Casa de la Raza. Cosmic Unity painted by Armando Rascon was part of Ortega Park's Muralistas del Pueblo mural project in 1979. The concept for the work was inspired by a College of Creative Studies workshop Rascon attended in 1978. The workshop involved travel to a site high up in the Figueroa Mountains to study the protected Chumash cave paintings in situ, works completed by tribe shamans over hundreds of years. Workshop leader environmental sculptor Elyn Zimmerman had made advance arrangements with the Park Service and had officers in two jeeps drive the small group about five hours into protected wilderness until they reached the site of the cave paintings. Rascon and fellow students camped out over two days and slept overnight inside one of the caves, studying the pictograms on the cave walls in depth. It was a distinct spiritual experience being immersed in Chumash timelessness and exposed to the epic sense of cosmic Chumash time. This became a lifelong takeaway for Rascon and the following year he delivered that vision to Ortega Park. Rascon's friend Mark, a neighborhood youth of Chumash ancestry, assisted with the mural adding to the cultural significance and meaning of the work. For Rascon, the essence of having native indigenous roots in being Chicano (what is refered to as Indigenismo) profoundly strengthened the experience. This work is currently the subject of a major restoration as part of the Ortega Park redesign to be completed by 2025. A detailed 3-D image and press coverage are HERE: 3-D image of Cosmic Unity is HERE Santa Barbara INDEPENDANT story HERE: Santa Barbara News-Press story HERE:
Paquita (Portrait of a Poet) 1977, oil on linen. At twenty years old, Rascon completed this portrait of his maternal grandmother Francisca "Paquita" Casillas de Herrera (1900-1990). Paquita sat for each of the portrait sessions through 1977 as the work was painted direct from life. Completion of this painting required Rascon to drive from Santa Barbara to Paquita's home in Calexico, as he was enrolled at the University of California Santa Barbara at the time. The sessions became an occassion for oral history in action as Paquita spent her "sitting" hours recounting the historical and personal accounts of her life as well as her parents --dating back into the nineteenth century. Paquita, an accomplished poet, loved performing her poems broadcast live on Sundays from a Mexicali radio station. Collection of the artist, on loan to Francisca Rascon Salinas.

SELECTED CRITICAL WRITING: published image/text, curatorial and project essays by Armando Rascon

Synopsis: Untitled (Double Cryogenic), 1986, one of the works created by Armando Rascon during his AIDS activist years (from the series Decay and Resurrection 1984-1988). The synopsis was written by Rascon (in 2019) and presented to One Foundation, University of Southern California in August of 2019. Link to PDF is here: Remembrance: Felix Gonzales-Torres by Armando Rascon, 2004, wall tableaux text accompaying the gallery installation of Felix's work 1987, (1987, photostat, 8 x 10 inches), at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Gift of Armando Rascon in memory of Maria Herrera Rascon. The work was originally given to Rascon by Felix Gonzales-Torres in 1988. Link to written text by Rascon is here: Curatorial essay by Armando Rascon, Skatelore Expo: California Skate(board)ing Index to Concepts, Forms, Life, 1998, Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, California. Link to exhibition announcement Link to Rascon essay PDF Project essay Armando Rascon: Postcolonial Califas, 1997 Link to PDF is here Curatorial essay by Armando Rascon, Waveforms: skating the urban forrest, 1996, The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History Link to printed matter Curatorial essay by Armando Rascon, Xicano Progeny 1995, The Mexican Museum, San Francisco, California. Link to essay PDF Curatorial essay by Armando Rascon, Lagrimas y Sonrisas: the first (Re)Generation Exhibition 1995, Celebrating 25 Years, Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco. Link to Rascon essay Curatorial essay by Armando Rascon, Xicano Ricorso: a Thirty Year Retrospect from Aztlan, Museum of Modern Art, 1994, New York City Link to Rascon essay Exhibition catalog Armando Rascon: Xicano Anesthetic, INTAR Gallery, New York, New York. 1994Link to Rascon essay manuscript PDF Link to INTAR catalog Project for New Observations Armando Rascon: Pendant Bell with Eagle Warrior, 1992 Link to New Observations PDF Curatorial essay by Armando Rascon, La Moda, 1993, Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco, Caifornia. Link to Rascon essay Curatorial essay by Armando Rascon, A Quincentenary Ricorso: Redeeming Our Dead 1992, Dia de Muertos/Day of the Dead exhibition at Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco.Link to PDF Project exhibition pamphlet Armando Rascon: Sociocultural Reading Room 1992-93, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum and Santa Barbara Main Public Library, California. Link to printed matter Exhibition pamphlet Armando Rascon: The Multicultural Reading Room 1991, Project Space, Randolp Street Gallery Link To printed matter Link to ART PAPERS article on The Multicultural Reading Room Exhibition pamphlet Armando Rascon: Existential Monochrome 1992, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. Link to printed matter Curatorial essay by Armando Rascon for exhibition Corporate Crime / Malicious Mischief, 1987, INSTALLATION Gallery, San Diego and MEDIA Gallery, San Francisco. Link to printed matter Curatorial essay by Armando Rascon Art After Eden: An Unnatural Perspective, 1986, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco. Link to printed matter Written article by Armando Rascon: Solamente para artistas, PAVAC, 1981 Link to printed matter

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