Chicano art in a different generation

Comedian Cheech Marin once told me that museums used to be scared of Chicano artists because “they could only think of fist-waving, headband-wearing, dope-smoking Chicanos who wanted to burn their museums to the ground.”

What a difference a generation makes. Today Chicano artists are the subject of “Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement” at LACMA.The word “after” is essential, in that these 31 artists reflect a shift in which political sloganeering tends to be more subtextural. Immigration, low-riders, DJ culture and murals remain, but they’re woven into conceptual strategies both provocative and fun.

Still, some artists omitted themselves from the show, and others simply went out and mounted shows of their own. Daniel Chavira is showing a number of utterly respectful photographs of Mexican wrestlers at L.A.’s Michael Kohn (kohngallery.com; ends April 12), paying homage to his late father, a luchedore in the 1970s.

Chavira’s photos inspired L.A. painter Salomón Huerta to translate those images to large canvases and bronze masks (at Santa Monica’s Pat-

rick Painter, patrickpainter; ends May 10), not to in-

dulge in camp fare but to take Chavira’s imagery one translation further. “I used to resist using imagery from my own culture,” says Huerta, “but I felt like the time was right.”

– theguide

@latimes.com