Celebrity Slut event

Back at my old hang out on the web I used to post any sitings of celebrities I encountered and called myself a "celebrity slut" for thinking how hot I was for meeting somebody famous (long story, not worth repeating). I figure there's no reason to end that tradition now that I have my own blog.

Last Friday I got to meet Cheech Marin who was in town to help out a Chicano artist who had won a commission for art in a downtown building. I introduced myself and thanked him for his work on the Chicano Visions and Chicano Now projects. As a typesetter, I got to work on some of the promotional materials for the two exhibits and was able to attend both shows. I told him how happy I had been to contribute and how much I learned from the experience.

He was wonderfully gracious, thanked me for my work and for introducing myself. Pretty cool, eh?

If you get a chance to see the Chicano exhibits, take the opportunity. It is beautiful and fascinating work. Here is Marin's statement on Chicano art from the website:

The CHICANO School of Painting
Statement by Cheech Marin

From its earliest roots in the grape fields of Delano, California - where Carlos Almaraz painted signs for the United Farm Workers - to the GRONK retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the CHICANO School of Painting has always been about reinterpreting a culture. That culture has been shown to be diverse yet unified, profane and spiritual, traditional and avant-garde whether through the autobiographical paintings of Carmen Lomas Garza, that depict her South Texas childhood, or the deeply psychological, urban-hones paintings of Patssi Valdez. While other "schools" of painting have been defined overwhelmingly by stylistic concerns, the CHICANO School combines stylistic innovation with elements of tradition. The blending of Mexican popular and religious iconography with modern images of urban angst reflects the continually evolving role of Mexican Americans, or Chicanos, within the larger American society. This mix of sophistication and naiveté, combined with a socio-political overlay, has produced a uniquely American school of painting based on CHICANO content that is at the same time universal in its aesthetics of the human condition.