An Artist Mined the Paramount Pictures Archives to Critique Mexican Representation in Cinema History at Frieze Projects

Tucked away on the Paramount Pictures backlot at Frieze Los
Angeles is a museological display in crumbling vitrines. It pairs
historic images of Mexican movie stars with collages recalling
moments of conflict for Chicanos in Los Angeles history, such as
the Zoot Suit Riots and the demolition of Chavez Ravine, a Mexican
neighborhood, to build Dodger Stadium.

The piece, titled Wolf Songs for the Dead, is by
Vincent Ramos, a third generation Mexican American Angeleno who was
granted access to the Paramount Pictures archives for the
project.

“I focused on Mexican or Chicano representation over the course
of the studio’s history,” from the 1930s through the ’70s, Ramos
told Artnet News. “I wanted to use the opportunity [of the
archives] as a starting point to talk about a much larger issue,
about representation in general.”

The artist was a natural choice for curators Rita Gonzalez and
Pilar Tompkins Rivas for this year’s Frieze Projects. Through his
practice, which is steeped in archival research, Ramos was already
invested in cinematic history, incorporating old film stills and
movie posters in his work to uncover the overlooked histories of
Los Angeles’s Mexican and Latino communities.

When it came to the Paramount archives, the research was
illuminating, but also revealed lots of gaps in the record.
“Because of the nature of this material, the ephemera, the paper, a
lot of this just didn’t survive its era,” said Ramos. “The studios
got rid of a lot of stuff because they didn’t think it was going to
be worth anything.”

The artist wasn’t permitted to use the actual archival materials
in the project, so he instead purchased the images he wanted on
eBay or from other sources, adding to his already considerable
collection. After the fair, the site-specific piece will be taken
apart, the historic photographs ready for use in Ramos’s future
projects.

“I never stop collecting. It’s always growing,” said Ramos.

As one might expect, the project deals heavily with stereotypes,
with film stills from old Westerns that cast Mexican actors as
bandits and criminals. But there are also glamorous headshots of
Mexican actresses who became icons of the silver screen, reminding
the viewer of the complexities of representation.

“It’s particularly poignant for us to present a project like
this,” said Gonzalez, “because one of the problems with the lack of
visibility of Latinos is that what fills the void is the hate
speech, such as Trump’s speech about Mexican people as
rapists.”

Ramos’s work tells the unseen stories. His collages remind the
viewer about tense historical events such as the National Chicano
Moratorium March against the Vietnam War, which killed four Latino
activists including journalist Ruben Salazar. He’s done them on
paper the same size as traditional Hollywood one-sheet film
posters, tying it back to cinematic history and pop culture.

The work is both about “depictions of Mexicans and then the real
on the ground conflicts and struggles in Los Angeles at the same
time,” Gonzalez said.

Frieze Los Angeles will take place at Paramount Pictures
Studios, entrance at Lot B 5400 Melrose Avenue or 801 N Gower
Street, Los Angeles, February 13–16, 2020.

The post An Artist Mined the Paramount Pictures Archives to
Critique Mexican Representation in Cinema History at Frieze
Projects appeared first on artnet News.