’47 Chevy in Wilmington, California

Oscar R. Castillo, '47 Chevy in Wilmington, California, 1972, printed 2012, inkjet print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2013.51.2, © 2012, Oscar R. Castillo
Copied Oscar R. Castillo, '47 Chevy in Wilmington, California, 1972, printed 2012, inkjet print, image: 13 3⁄8 x 20 in. (34.0 x 50.8 cm) sheet: 17 x 22 in. (43.2 x 55.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2013.51.2, © 2012, Oscar R. Castillo

Artwork Details

Title
’47 Chevy in Wilmington, California
Artist
Date
1972, printed 2012
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 13 3⁄8 x 20 in. (34.0 x 50.8 cm) sheet: 17 x 22 in. (43.2 x 55.9 cm)
Copyright
© 2012, Oscar R. Castillo
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
inkjet print
Classifications
Subjects
  • Cityscape — California — Wilmington
  • Travel — land — automobile
Object Number
2013.51.2
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2013.51.2

Artwork Description

Castillo’s photographs reveal how Chicanos transformed the urban landscape of Los Angeles. ’47 Chevy in Wilmington, California shows a local market whose façade is peppered with references to Mexican foods. Parked outside is a vintage lowrider, a major signifier of Chicano urban culture. Méchicano Art Center Mural at Echo Park Lake records artists painting an outdoor mural that suggests a pyramid. Castillo’s photograph shows how artists painting an outdoor mural that suggests a pyramid. Castillo’s photograph shows how artists inserted indigenous references into their environment and allowed their urban interventions to coexist with graffiti, another public form of Chicano cultural expression.

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

Las fotografías de Castillo revelan cómo los chicanos transformaron el paisaje urbano de Los Ángeles. ​’47 Chevy in Wilmington, California muestra un mercado local cuya fachada continene varias referencias a comidas mexicanas. Estacionado afuera se encuentra un lowrider clásico, un poderoso símbolo de la cultura urbana chicana. Méchicano Art Center Mural at Echo Park Lake documenta a un grupo de artistas pintando un mural al aire libre en forma de pirámide. La fotografía de Castillo revela cómo los artistas insertaron referencias indígenas en su entorno y permitieron que sus intervenciones urbanas coexistieran con el graffiti, otra forma pública de la expresión cultural chicana.

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.