What is con/safos?
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Con/Safos- a "copyright created by Mexican American artists to safeguard their work and reaffirm their identity as part of a larger culture." -Smithsonian Institute
Why a latinx focused podcast?
con/Safos is the alternative resource in direct response to the Western-Eurocentric art education most LatinX artists receive growing up. We highlight artworks and artists that reflect themes found in contemporary Latino/a art practices in addition to artistic endeavors by other minorities. We believe in identifying and celebrating who we are so we can determine where we are going as a culture. ​We are culturally relevant.
Your hosts
Saul Martinez
Saul Received a BFA in sculpture & drawing from Eastern Washington University near spokane, wa. His conceptual explorations blend past movements with those in his heritage: including Meso-American sculptural motifs and those found in Pacific Northwest Native artwork which have a direct artery to the spiritual and natural.
He experiments with a vast array of traditional and non traditional media to find those most suitable for blended narratives. He feels a responsibility to express concepts that haunt him as a privileged second generation American, those of wrestling with identity as a minority in the country. Because of the ominous representation of struggle, he often tries to soften the blow with whimsical, almost kitschy obscurity that leaves the viewer pondering possible connections. In past work he's enjoyed watching the viewer engage in their own dialogue with his drawings, paintings and sculptures; rarely would he interject his own symbolism. There is some truth to every person's personal story and connection to those past artworks. There's something intriguing about putting an artwork out into the world and it becoming someone else's once it leaves the intimate shelter of the artist's space.
Miguel Maltos gonzales
Chicano artist
Gallery: ltnxartes.com
miguelgonzales.com
Instagram: @ltnxartes
@migugocreative
Email:
Miguel is an American born artist living in Spokane, WA born
in San Antonio, TX. He’s a Chicano photographer documenting the surreal lifestyle of being bicultural a predominantly monocultural world.
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Miguel has been exploring biculturalism in art since he was introduced to Chicano art as a child, he was mentored by Chicano artists from central and southern Texas, founded The Community Darkroom project to promote film photography, and created photographic formula processes exclusive to his pop color print style. In the early nineties, Miguel started The Community Darkroom as a place to keep film photography alive when digital was becoming more accessible. This grew into a strong following in San Antonio as a annual Photography event, and now starting LTNX artes to document and develop Latinx art and culture in the Pacific Northwest. Nationally, Miguel is a member of the Cousins Regime of Art
Administrators of Color, National Association for Latino Arts and Culture, U.S. Latinx Art Forum, in Washington he is a member of the Hispanic Business Professionals Association, and Spokane Independent Metro Business Association. Miguel is currently a commissioner with Spokane Arts, and a board member with Arts administrators of Color.
Being bicultural means living with two social norms, involving two languages spoken in a single conversation, or reading words in two languages at the same time. Throughout his life, Miguel has made great attempts to balance his identity. Since moving to Washington,
Miguel has been told he’s not American enough, and should go back to Mexico. They called this his “Country of Origin”, well he can’t because he’s a U.S. citizen without the ability to become a Mexican Citizen. When he’s is in Mexico, he’s not accepted socially and culturally. In this he’s not Mexican enough. Miguel is one of the many people that live their life neither from here or there, but living in a fine line between two countries of origin. The creative efforts Miguel develops are from two different mediums. Film photography and digital illustration. Many call this mixed media, but the media is not mixed together. The illustration stands apart from the photograph. The reality people see in the photograph is the world we all live in. The photograph is the monocultural world. The illustrated portion is the uniqueness of being bicultural in the monocultural world. The mediums are not mixed, but live simultaneously in every creative effort Miguel makes.