Picante

David Zamora Casas

Exhibition: Jan 14 – May 9, 2010


David Zamora Casas (San Antonio, Texas) returns to Artpace as the first artist in our WindowWorks series’ year-long salute to past residents. Picante is an interactive public memorial in honor of Artpace founder Linda Pace, who was a personal friend of the artist.

Rooted in the Mexican tradition of Catholic home devotional altars and inspired by the San Antonio landscape, Picante fuses Aztec imagery and magical realism, whimsically reflecting on both global and personal concerns. Poetry, folklore, and various perspectives of the afterlife are intertwined with representation and metaphor. Flowers, maguey, pata de vaca, four-leaf clovers, and rose petals were acquired from Chris Park, a space Linda Pace created in loving memory of her son, Chris Goldsbury, who died tragically young. This multimedia installation also includes paintings, sculpture, recorded poetry, light, and fragrant oils.

PARA LINDA PACE
APRIL 17, 1945-FOREVER C/S

“It’s so important to love what you are doing and follow your bliss”
-Linda Pace.

La muerte es nueva vida
Lifescript completed, transition into infinity,
reunion accomplished.
Earthly body at peace,
became energy,
leaving this city, this state, our world, with cherished memories of you.
Recordando espiritu con compasion y amor.
You still live here with us all.
Your enchantment stayed
in the rustle of bamboo on Main Street,
fragrance of roses, residue of chalk.
Your eyes ARE twinkling rooftop city lights
reflecting the mujer picante.
Silent and strong like the jaguar,
individual, like each strategically placed
mark on the golden feline coat.
Your heart is the smile on the face of an innocent child.
Your miracle is a canvas of fine woven fabric
made from red dreams which hover over London Bridge
and the rustic landscape of Texas legacy.
I lovingly shout out your name whenever I pass Artpace San Antonio
LINDAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
LINDA: Spanish and Latin word for pretty, lovely, beautiful, exquisite,
elegant, genteel, sweet.
Gracias por todo lo que sigues dando a nuestra comunidad.
Bless you for daring to dream much larger than our world allows.
Thank you for bringing diversity to the arts community
and the magic of art into our lives.
Bendita seas por que te atreviste sonar
mas grande que nuestro mundo permite.

Con el carino y respeto de siempre,
David Zamora Casas
aka NUCLEAR MELTDOWN aka CHICHARON

Linda LINDA
LINDDDDAAAAAAAHHhhhhhhhh

Artist

David Zamora Casas

San Antonio, Texas, USA

David Zamora Casas is a painter, community activist, curator, and installation and performance artist living in San Antonio, Texas. For the past fifteen years, Casas has constructed altars that integrate traditional Latino themes with an eclectic consideration of modern-day experiences. He organized the first lesbian and gay art show in Texas, entitled “Equal rights for whom?” in 1989 at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center and is an AIDS activist. He has taken his life as a Latino, an activist, and a gay man and put it into his artwork, engaging his audience in conversations about difficult issues during his performances. According to Casas, “My work has always been connected to oral history, traditions, culture, and personal concerns relating to time and space. Using the allure of bright colors and a pantheon of autobiographical representations of fantasy, reality, life and death, sexuality and religion, I create work that reflects issues of consequence. My fortunate blessing is to be able to put my passion and ideas on a canvas that promotes interaction with multiple communities.”

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