Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Rupert Garcia

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.garcia95
Creators:
Garcia, Rupert, 1941-
Karlstrom, Paul J.
Dates:
1995 Sept. 7-1996 June 24
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
9 Sound cassettes
Sound recording (8 1/2 hrs.)
analog
166 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Rupert Garcia conducted 1995 Sept. 7-1996 June 24, by Paul J. Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, at Rupert Garcia's home and studio, in Oakland, Calif.
Scope and Contents
SEPT. 7, 1995 SESSION: Session opens with a discussion of Garcia's exhibition, Aspects of Persistence (1993); the deaths in 1968 of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Marcel Duchamp; Garcia's self-conception and his two roles as political activist and artist; the influence on him of Sartre's "Being and Nothingness"; racism, power, control; his background and being a Mexican-American; need to establish ethnic identity; his realization in high school of wanting to become an artist; his lost opportunity for a scholarship at the San Francisco Art Institute; moving to San Francisco; enlisting in the Air Force and serving in Vietnam; ambivalence about war; experiences at San Francisco State University and his switch from painting to silkscreen; Artes Seis and Galerie de la Raza; artists in the Mission District.
Scope and Contents
NOV. 10, 1995 SESSION: Painting vs. graphic art; posters; Lucy Lippard; Chicano art; Los Four, Asco, and other artists groups and conferences; conflicts between San Francisco and Oakland groups; emergence of identity groups; Malaquias Montoya, Carlos Almaraz; making art from experience.
Scope and Contents
JUNE 24, 1996: Politics of culture; social progress; being optimistic but realistic; the Latino movement in the 1990s; Mexican attitudes toward Chicanos; the CARA exhibition at UCLA; Garcia's students at San José State; current work, interests and projects; interest in art history and other intellectual pursuits; and the art market, dealers, and galleries.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Rupert Garcia (1941-) is a painter and teacher from the San Francisco Bay area, Calif.

Administration

Sponsor
This interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. Funding for the digital preservation of this interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, administrators.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Chicano artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Latino and Latin American artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lippard, Lucy R. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Almaraz, Carlos Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Montoya, Malaquias, 1938- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Los Four (Art group) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
San Francisco State University -- Students Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Galería de la Raza (San Francisco, Calif.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Asco (Group of artists) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives of American Art
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