Otros Lados

Al otro lado is a phrase used in Mexico to describe areas of the United States populated by Mexican immigrants. The fluid nature of migration, exile, labor, and cultural exchanges between Mexico and the U.S., resonates in the daily lives of people in both countries. 

The art produced by Mexican and Mexican American artists in the U.S. has a long history as many parts of the Southwestern portion of the U.S. were formally Mexico. Too often Mexican American artists have been left outside of canonical readings of American art; each artist in this exhibition expands traditional notions of what it means to be an American artist today. Otros Lados: Itzel Basualdo, Hugo Crosthwaite, and Judithe Hernández brings together three generations of artists who are deeply informed by Mexican and Mexican American experiences. 

As one of the founders of the Chicano Art Movement, Judithe Hernández (b.1948, Los Angeles) has been recognized for her contribution to the expansion of how we define American art. From her public art projects to pastel drawings, Hernández incorporates cultural history, myth, political events, and powerfully poignant images of women in her work.

Born in 1971 in Tijuana, Mexico, Hugo Crosthwaite’s work is a product of continually moving back and forth across the Mexico/U.S. Border. This cultural fluidity and intricacy emanate in his black and white drawings that draw inspiration from European old-master painters, comic books, and graffiti.

Itzel Basualdo (b.1995, Miami, Florida) lives and works in Miami. Her work often addresses Latinx experience and the representation of women in popular culture. Basualdo received her BFA from Florida International University and her MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago. She produced the photographic series and companion text featured in this exhibition while visiting her grandfather in Mexico.

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum organized this exhibition to complement FIU’s Common Reading Program and First Year Experience course. This year, FIU’s entering class and other new students read A Dream Called Home by Reyna Grande. This book, along with others by Grande, intimately portray the author’s experience as an immigrant and the challenges she faced during her university studies and the early stages of her professional life. Each artist in this exhibition is deeply rooted in the Mexican American experience. Their works offer shared vantage points with Grande’s text.  

Image caption: Hugo Crosthwaite, A Home for the Brave, stop-motion drawing animation, 2020, 3 minutes, 25 seconds, courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus.