McNay Art Museum celebrates iconic Chicano sensibility with ‘Rasquachismo’ exhibition

The McNay’s curator of Latinx art brings Tomás Ybarra-Fausto’s 35-year-old scholarship to life

SAN ANTONIO, TX (Oct. 31, 2024) – The term rasquachismo may be unfamiliar to some, but the flamboyant Chicano concept has rich history. The McNay Art Museum will celebrate the idea with “Rasquachismo: 35 years of a Chicano Sensibility,” on view Dec. 19, 2024-March 16, 2025. The exhibition will explore how rasquachismo influences Latinx artists around the United States and beyond and celebrate the 35th anniversary of “Rasquachismo: A Chicano Sensibility,” the pivotal essay by Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, Ph.D. The critic and scholar of Latinx art and culture coined the term rasquachismo in his 1989 essay as a cultural concept informed by the experiences of Chicanos in the United States. Today, those elements are apparent in poetry, music and the visual arts.

“Rasquachismo is a sensibility that is not elevated and serious but playful and elemental. It finds delight and refinement in what many consider banal and projects an alternative aesthetic — a sort of good taste of bad taste. It is witty and ironic but not mean-spirited,” Ybarra-Frausto said.

The exhibition and related programs will address the broad reach of Ybarra-Frausto’s concept while centering San Antonio and its artistic community as a nexus of all things rasquache.

Artists often find inspiration in city streets, familial homes, lawns, religious shrines and flea markets. The works on view will demonstrate how artists incorporate found objects, similar to the do-with-what-you-have spirit of the home decorators, tinkerers, graffiti artists and DIY lawn designers who inspired them. Capturing the playful spirit of the art and the DIY-attitude it evokes, the exhibition will scatter outside the gallery walls with works across the Museum that resonate with the idea of rasquachismo.

“Rasquachismo is not a cohesive movement but instead an ethos or aesthetic,” explained Mia Lopez, the McNay Art Museum’s inaugural curator of Latinx art. “And to capture that spirit, we’re presenting this exhibition in a slightly different way.”

The exhibition is the first McNay show for Lopez. She joined the team in October 2023. “I’m excited to build off of the McNay Art Museum’s 70-year legacy, which has, in its foundation, a great reverence for Latin American, specifically Mexican, art,” Lopez said. “I look forward to extending this legacy to a new generation, where we’re thinking about Latinx art as American art.”

Importantly, the exhibition also showcases works that touch on themes of domesticana. In 1992, domesticana was coined in a feminist response to Ybarra-Frausto’s initial essay by Amalia Mesa-Bains, visual artist, curator and author. Her response highlights the aesthetic interventions of women in the domestic sphere, including home altars and capillas, or yard shrines.

Works from the Museum’s collection by Chicanx and Latinx artists Margarita Cabrera, Chelo, Luis Jiménez, Yolanda López, César Martinez, Juan de Dios Mora, Chuck Ramirez and Kathy Vargas will be included as well as works loaned by contemporary artists from San Antonio and beyond.

Two recent acquisitions will also be featured in the exhibition. Einar and Jamex de la Torre’s “Mi Chicano Corazón” uses blown glass and mixed media to capture the complexity of dual American and Mexican identities. Nivia Gonzalez’s “Untitled” was gifted to the McNay by the artist’s daughters. The work reverberates with quiet yet powerful symbolism and pays tribute to Gonzalez’s deep roots in San Antonio and her significant contributions to the community.

“The McNay has always stood as an example of inclusivity and a celebration of diverse cultures,” said Ybarra-Frausto. “The Museum is grounded in the vision of its founder, Marion Koogler McNay, who ignited a legacy of collecting broadly a century ago — from Diego Rivera in the 1920s to Einar and Jamex de la Torre in 2024. It is heartening to have Ms. Lopez mount this exhibition in honor of that legacy and in celebration of our vibrant community, whose contributions to the cultural landscape are vast and significant.”

Ybarra-Frausto has also lent works from his personal collection to the exhibition and collaborated with Lopez on the creative vision for the installation.

“This exhibition is a celebration,” Lopez said. “And it’s an exploration of how Chicano and Latinx art have embodied a spirit of resilience and defiance.”

The Museum will host a conversation with Mia Lopez and Tomás Ybarra-Frausto on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. This program is open to the public.

Major funding for “Rasquachismo: 35 years of a Chicano Sensibility” is generously provided by the Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992. Additional support is provided by the Leadership in Art Museums initiative from the Mellon Foundation, in partnership with Alice L. Walton Foundation, Ford Foundation and Pilot House Philanthropy; Kronkosky Charitable Foundation; and Louis A. and Francis B. Wagner Endowment.

Notes on terminology
Latinx: The McNay Art Museum uses the term Latinx as an inclusive, gender-neutral term referring to people of Latin American descent now living in the United States. When discussing the heritage of an individual, the McNay defers to one’s personal preference.
Chicanx: The McNay Art Museum uses the term Chicanx as an inclusive, gender-neutral term referring to Mexican American people.
Chicano: Tomás Ybarra-Frausto’s 1989 essay “Rasquachismo: A Chicano Sensibility” uses the term Chicano in reference to Mexican American people.

Images available here. 

Media Contacts
Yolanda Urrabazo
Head of Communications and Marketing, McNay Art Museum
yolanda.urrabazo@mcnayart.org

Betsy Meacham and Brad Tuggle
Blue Water Communications
media@bluewatercommunications.biz

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About McNay Art Museum
The McNay Art Museum engages a diverse community in the discovery and enjoyment of the visual arts. Built in the 1920s by artist and educator Marion Koogler McNay, the Spanish Colonial Revival residence became the site of Texas’ first modern art museum when it opened in 1954. Today, 200,000 visitors a year enjoy works by modern masters including Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Edward Hopper, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The 45,000-square-foot Jane & Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibitions, designed by internationally renowned French architect Jean-Paul Viguier, features major exhibitions annually. The 25 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds include sculptures by Willie Cole, Robert Indiana, Luis A. Jiménez Jr., Alejandro Martín, George Rickey, Joel Shapiro, Kiki Smith, Tom Wesselmann and others. For more information about the McNay, visit www.mcnayart.org.

The McNay is open Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday from Noon to 5 p.m.