Crystal City

Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Crystal City, 2009, mixed media installation, including glass, crystal, silver, plastic, and ceramic objects, dimensions variable, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Henry R. Muñoz III in honor of Debra Guerrero, 2013.48.1, © 2009, Franco Mondini-Ruiz

Artwork Details

Title
Crystal City
Artist
Date
2009
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
dimensions variable
Copyright
© 2009, Franco Mondini-Ruiz
Credit Line
Gift of Henry R. Muñoz III in honor of Debra Guerrero
Mediums Description
mixed media installation, including glass, crystal, silver, plastic, and ceramic objects
Classifications
Object Number
2013.48.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2013.48.1

Artwork Description

Crystal City is titled after the small town that sparked the Chicano civil rights movement in Texas. Mondini-Ruiz riffs on the word crystal to gather disparate objects – crystal stemware, silverware, mirrors, and inexpensive tchotchkes – designed to resemble a city seen from above. In uniting objects that share precious and reflective properties, Mondini-Ruiz expresses his ideas about what motivated the quest for equal rights. Civil rights leaders fought for Latinos to be considered valued members of society and for them to be integrated into (or “reflected”) in the social and governing fabric of their community. The desire for social mobility – a tangible outcome of equal opportunity symbolized by the flashy objects collected here – also played a role.

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013
Description in Spanish

El título de Crystal City proviene del pueblo que desencadenó el movimiento chicano por los derechos civiles en Texas. Mondini-Ruiz juega con la palabra cristal para reunir objetos diversos —copas de cristal, cubiertos de plata, espejos y chucherías — organizados para que parezcan una ciudad vista desde lo alto. Al unir objetos que comparten propiedades preciosas y refractivas, Mondini-Ruiz expresa sus ideas sobre lo que motivó la búsqueda de la igualdad de derechos. Los dirigentes de los derechos civiles lucharon para que los latinos fueran considerados miembros valiosos de la sociedad y para que fueran integrados (o ​“reflejados”) en el tejido social y político de su comunidad. El deseo de movilidad social —un resultado tangible de la igualdad de oportunidades simbolizada por los objetos vistosos coleccionados aquí— también desempeñó un papel en el movimiento.

Nuestra América: la presencia latina en el arte estadounidense, 2013 

Exhibitions

Media - 2011.12 - SAAM-2011.12_1 - 77591
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
October 25, 2013–March 2, 2014
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.

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