Spaztek Goes Global
A Conversation with Cruz Ortiz
- Anjali Gupta -
In his video installations, poster campaigns and public actions, Cruz Ortiz stages scenarios in which he hilariously embrangles himself in racial and cultural stereotypes. Some years ago, the artist invented an alter egoa sort of idiot savant Chicano daredevil bent on humiliating himself in novel ways. As Spaztek, Ortiz parodies the act of political protest, raising nervy banners of dissent that divert the publics attention to nonexistent social issues.
Ortiz is especially adept at harnessing the traditional methods of protest in order to render them mootan act some might find socially irresponsible. But through his actions, the artist does manage to erase the divide between protestor and viewer, tempering the bite of his atypical brand of derision. I caught up with Ortiz soon after his return from La Trienal Poli/Grfica de San Juan (San Juan Triennial), where he staged a project that explores the woozy aftermath of a political rallya theme the artist is currently preoccupied with. Last fall, Victor Zamudio-Taylor included his work in an exhibit addressing global Meztiso culture at the Louvre Museum. Ortiz will soon travel to Limerick, Ireland, to appear in ev+a 2005, curated by Dan Cameron, and also has an Artpace San Antonio residency in the works. With these projects on the horizon, we will soon find out if slapstick political satire la Spaztek is an exportable phenomenon.
Anjali
Ive heard youve been accused of single-handedly setting the Chicano movement back a full thirty years. Could you elaborate on that for me?
Cruz
A friend of mine told me that after seeing my video Spaztek La Love Mix, and I thought, great! Then I did my job! The work Im interested in doing will always, in some way, criticize the Chicano Movement. In college I studied its history and politics. When it soaked in, I couldnt help thinking about how ridiculously macho the whole Chicanismo thing really is. For me, that comment was an epiphany.
At that time, I also was trying to explore my indigenous rootsspiritually at least. Even that I couldnt take seriouslyat least not as seriously as the people around me. I used to joke about bringing quarts into the sweat lodge and my friends would freak out.
Anjali
A gesture that melded the two cultures together?
Cruz
Exactly. Its not that I wasnt genuinely interested, but I think the world is really different now than it was when issues of identity were inherently political. It just doesnt make sense to address ethnic or political issues in the same way people did in the sixties and seventies anymore.
Cruz Ortiz, Untitled, La Trienal Poli/Grfica de San Juan (San Juan Terminal), 2004
Anjali
So why do you do what you do? Whats the point?
Cruz
I just turned in a proposal for a show in Ireland curated by Dan Cameron titled The Love Hangover After The Civil Rights Movement. It took me a while to come up with that idea. Its hard to think with an ideological hangover, but thats what the act of collective protest feels like to me. It creates a sort of momentuma fireball, which by its nature always manages to burn itself out. Then you are forced to reexamine how you reached the point youre atwhat was the cause, the process that conspired to bring you to this point? People look at things much more carefully in retrospect.
Anjali
During Csar Martinez introductory talk at Artpace in 1997, an audience member asked him how it felt to paint the same painting for fifteen years. I think that is just about the worst thing you can say to an artistespecially one who thinks of his own work as timely, vital and politically motivated.
Cruz
Any artist who rallies behind a single cause will always have that problem. Social justice organizations have the exact same problem. Its sad because, you know, sooner or later movements become institutions. Then, eventually, board members will stop talking to each other, people stop going to meetings, the organization looses touch with the community it sprang from, grant money starts rolling in from the Ford Foundation. Everything becomes a struggle to sustain and maintain and the original impetus and spirit is lost.
Anjali
Well, there is a fundamental difference between being an organization and being organized.
Cruz
Thats also very true. And I do see some of that happening at a local levellike at the Carver Cultural Center, for example. They manage to run a great facility while staying outside of the politics that bog down other arts institutionsand they have never lost touch with the community.
Cruz Ortiz, free raspas, 2000
Screenprint
18 x 24 inches
Anjali
How was your work received at the San Juan Triennial?
Cruz
That was super rockin. I exhibited a video piece I also showed in Dallas called Coyote Girl Steals the Raspa, made a series of nonsensical protest signs and left stacks of them in the Plaza Columbus. Later that day, I saw strangers carrying my weird Spanglish signs around Old San Juan. I think the organizers were a little confused by the project. They seemed to think I was actually going to stage some sort of protest, but I explained that Im much more interested in the protest afterparty. I think they bought it.
Anjali
What about the other work included in the exhibit?
Cruz
Overall, I was impressed. It might sound a little dorky, but it was a real thrill to be in a show alongside artists Ive only read about. Felix Gonzalez-Torres work was in the room right next to mine, which was a trip. There were also some amazing inclusions of work by Mexican and South American artists as well.
Cruz Ortiz, darling, 2002
Screenprint
18 x 24 inches
Anjali
I dont see much continuity between work being produced in Mexico, Cuba and South and Central America and the kind of work Mexican-American artists like you are doing. Do you?
Cruz
I dont either. Not at all. That split was really obvious in San Juan. It might be bad of me to say, but the work I saw from abroad seemed so much more sophisticated to me. But, on a social level, there was very little communication between usthe Mexican-Americans and other Latino artists. It sort of reminded me of when Jim Mendiola, Rubn Ortiz-Torres and Ordo Amoris Cabinet had their residencies at Artpace. They spent all their free time trying to kick each others ass playing Xbox gamesthe Mexicans against the Cubans, that is. Very competitive and very silly.
Anjali
In terms of your own work, do you think you can maintain a low-budget aesthetic and approach as the purse keeps getting larger?
Cruz
Do you mean like Rubn Ortiz-Torres and his morphing puffy tacos or Robert Rodriguez and his explosions? Im really concerned about that. Take a look at Rodriguez: he made El Mariachi for practically nothing, and it was brilliant and crude and innovative. Give the guy a million bucks and what do you get? Ricardo Montalban on a flying wheelchair. I think its better to start with nothing and grow slowly and laterally.
Anjali
Im sure there are advantages that dont include flying wheelchairs.
Cruz
Oh yes. Absolutely. Ive recently graduated to using professional actors in my videos, which has made things so much easier. And now I can, on occasion, actually pay the actors and my crew, whereas I used to have to trade favors. Since Ive been able to purchase video equipment, Ive learned how to do most of the actual production myself. Learning to edit has been especially great. Now I can bring in some of the ideas I also explore in printmaking without driving editors crazythings like repetition, flash frames, choppy cuts and spiking the audio up and downgimmicky things most professional editors really hate to do.
Anjali
Tell me more about the Dan Cameron show. How do you think your culturally specific work and lo-tech aesthetic will translate in a place like Limerick?
Cruz
Im not sure. I think there are commonalities between the Irish and the Mexican-American experience, so I think the work will go over well. Im still into the crude zine lookthe stuff that first inspired me in high school. Theres a real, tangible aesthetic in every shitty cut, every stolen Xeroxed copy from Kinkos. People can really connect to that. Its the sort of text anyone can readand read into.