Exhibitionism

“Lo feo de este mundo: Images of the Grotesque”

There is a certain tyranny inherent in beauty. Whether in the architecture of a human face or in the lines of a sculpture, the symmetry that classical beauty requires is, by its very nature, restrictive. “True beauty,” in our modern Western culture, leaves no room for the unbalanced sags, bulges, and other distortions that make up a good portion of the real world around us.

The 20th-century Latin artists featured in the Blanton’s show “Lo feo de este mundo: Images of the Grotesque” recognize beauty’s tyranny with a special fervor, creating works that directly reject it. Seeing in the rigid standards of physical perfection a parallel to the violent oppression of their governments or to the opportunistic intrusion of popular culture, these artists have rebelled by producing work that emphasizes the ridiculous and grotesque. Ranging in media from scribblelike drawings to short films, the works explore through their content as well as their form the untidy freedom implicit in the ugliness of this world.

Caricatures and cartoons dominate the first section of this exhibition; not only have most of the artists eschewed loveliness in their works’ content, but they have chosen a genre that is traditionally distorted as well. In piece after piece, the lines are crude, dirty, and heavy. Scratchings, discolorations, and ink spots are clearly visible. And that’s just the means; the ends are no more comforting. Human subjects are old, fat, and often obscene; violence and perversions abound. José Luis Cuevas’ series of lithographs, from which the show draws its name, is a quintessential example of such grotesquerie. Combining harsh critique of totalitarianism with parody of this all-too-human flesh, Cuevas imprints his dark pronouncements with painful power.

The second half of the show focuses on Latin artists who reject the intrusive and consumerist nature of popular Western culture. Their renunciation is expressed in a generally lighter tone, however. In this section, Latin artist Tonel presents a comic-book-like, wacky narrative about the cultural misunderstandings and confusions he encounters on a trip from Canada to Cuba. And Liliana Porter, my personal favorite of the show, presents oversized color photos and short films of toys she has subtly posed into scenes that spin surprisingly clear stories. Although most of these narratives are funny or absurd, her photo series suggesting a standoff between a menacing-looking Mickey Mouse and a wary-looking bolero dancer distills the distrust of Western pop culture that many of these artists express.

The universe tends toward entropy and away from order; this is a fundamental property of natural life, if there ever was one. Perhaps this is why we prize the beauty of symmetrical order so highly: in a universal sense, it is rare. But reality begs to be expressed, warts and all. The Latin artists in the Blanton’s current exhibition respond to this call with humor, boldness, and great intensity.

This article appears in November 7 • 2003.