Mexican American Gothic

George Rodriguez, Mexican American Gothic, 2019, stoneware with glaze and underglaze, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alison and Glen Milliman, Cynthia Sears, and Michael J. Stein, 2022.23A-B, © 2019, George Rodriguez. Photograph by Spike Mafford, courtesy of Foster/White Gallery, Seattle.
Copied George Rodriguez, Mexican American Gothic, 2019, stoneware with glaze and underglaze, dimensions variable, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alison and Glen Milliman, Cynthia Sears, and Michael J. Stein, 2022.23A-B, © 2019, George Rodriguez. Photograph by Spike Mafford, courtesy of Foster/White Gallery, Seattle.

Artwork Details

Title
Mexican American Gothic
Date
2019
Dimensions
dimensions variable
Copyright
© 2019, George Rodriguez. Photograph by Spike Mafford, courtesy of Foster/White Gallery, Seattle.
Credit Line
Gift of Alison and Glen Milliman, Cynthia Sears, and Michael J. Stein
Mediums
Mediums Description
stoneware with glaze and underglaze
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure group
  • Object — tool — broom
  • Latinx
Object Number
2022.23A-B

Artwork Description

Mexican American Gothic reimagines Grant Wood’s famous painting American Gothic (1930), which features a pair of unsmiling farmers standing in front of their Gothic-style house in Iowa. In this ceramic variation, the man is a field worker and the woman is a domestic worker. Like their 1930 predecessors, their poses are stoic and their gazes are inscrutable—stirring curiosity about their stories.

Artist George Rodriguez was born and raised in the border city of El Paso, Texas. With bold colors and abundant ornamentation, he celebrates the contributions of Mexican American workers to everyday life. The artist also rewards close looking. The flowers are his gift to you.   

“From a distance the ornamentation is texture and pattern, upon closer inspection, the individual flowers reveal themselves. Flowers have a life cycle that is in some ways analogous to the process of looking at, seeing, and getting to know a work of art more intimately over time—the work can blossom and expand with more attention and curiosity.” —George Rodriguez