ARTEAMERICA: MANIFEST DESTINY 2000-2001 Artist Julian Albert Touceda

MANIFEST DESTINY 2000

When historian speak of Manifest Destiny. It is always with the intention of spot lighting the history of the United States, and the doctrines that was used to justify the expansion in the Western Hemisphere. There is hardly any mention of the "Other" America. The America that was subjugated and recreated by the Spaniard by the early years of the fifteen century.

500 years have since passed and Hispanic America (Amerindian-Hispanic) have forged their own "Manifest Destiny". It is this theme that I present in my final installation of the ArteAmerica Trilogy: "Meeting the Other," "La Lucha Libre," and "Manifest Destiny". This final installation consists of sixty paintings that depict social events, historical figures, ideologies, and the cultural history that define the Hispanic Diapora.

Julian Albert Touceda, Artist

"Bananamerica" Acrylic on canvas, 59x60ins (Detail of painting)1998. From the series Arteamerica: Manifest Destiny 2000-2001

"The Imperial Empire," 2001 acrylic/mix-med 58x66ins by Julian Albert Touceda

Julian Albert Touceda, ArteAmerica: Manifest Destiny 2000
D.O.C.S. GALLERY In New Orleans, Louisiana

In his exhibition at d.o.c.s. Gallery, Julian Touceda indicates that he is an artist who is capable of walking that fine line and creating good political art.

That Touceda intends to create political art is clear from the titles he has given to his pieces, e.g., Miscegenation, Slave Ship, Freedom Flotilla, The Imperial Empire, Pan American Diaspora, Roosevelt Corollary, etc.

With such titles one might be concerned that Touceda would execute his art with a heavy hand, but that is not the case. His aesthetic tactic is similar throughout the show. He Begins with a sort of checkerboard base, and loads the squares with a bright range of colors. The sense of beauty and play is enhanced by his depiction of tropical fauna and flora which not only decorate the flat checkerboard, but which also allude to the historical experiences of those who have lived in the Western Hemisphere below the Texas border. Various bric a bric are then incorporated into the piece, whether it be colored strings, feathers, small plastic toys, etc.

The end result is that, from a distance these pieces are very pleasing productions, evoking a sense of gaiety and innocence. It may be concluded, therefore, that these works succeed as art.

It is upon close inspection that one realizes that Touceda is intending an art that is political. Beyond the allusion to the flora and funa of South America the little toys and drawings and writings begin to speak of politics. Children of the Corn contains a picture of Che Guevera. Slave Ship holds an African America baby doll's head within bars. Empire displays a toy soldier shooting. Freedom Flotilla holds a number of little king cake babies, in Caucasian, Hispanic, and African versions. Even a piece with the innocent title of Harvest contains a small piece of barbed wire with a toy Volkswagen.

It should be emphasized that while each of these small items create an intellectual prick of dissonance, they are integrated perfectly into the happy arrangements of color and texture that constitute each pieces. In each piece Touceda inserts a "still small voice" which is small enough to respect the aesthetic integrity of the piece, yet which remains sufficiently present and insistent to establish the piece as a moral statement. Perhaps it is no accident that "still small voice" contitutes one of the metaphors for God in the Old Testament.

"Touceda's Moral Statements," by Stephen R. Bachmann The New Orleans Art Review 2000

"The New Generation," 2001 acrylic/mix-med 60x70ins From the series Arteamerica: Manifest Destiny 2000 by Julian Albert Touceda

Paintings from the Art Series ArteAmerica: Manifest Destiny 2000-2001 by Julian Albert Touceda

"Los Americanos," 66x78ins acrylic-mix med. ArteAmerica: Manifest Destiny 2000-2001

Details of Paintings from the Art series ArteAmerica: Manifest Destiny 2000-2001 by Julian Albert Touceda

All Art works are Copyright by Julian Albert Touceda

Under Construction 10/30/01