Asco (art collective)

Asco (art collective)
Name	Asco
Origin	East Los Angeles, Los Angeles
Years active	1972–present
Members	Patssi Valdez, Gronk, Harry Gamboa Jr., Willie Herrón, Luis Valdez
Notable works	"Decoy Gang War", "Brown Paper Bag Test", "Pachuco Boogie"

Asco (art collective) was a Chicano art collective formed in East Los Angeles during the 1970s, notable for blending visual arts with performance, photography, street actions, and conceptual interventions that challenged representations of Mexican Americans and urban life in Los Angeles. The group developed strategies that engaged with institutions such as Museo del Barrio, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and grassroots venues in Boyle Heights and Chicano Moratorium. Asco’s work intersected with movements and figures including Chicano Movement, Arts Council of Los Angeles County, Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, Luis Valdez, and networks spanning Watts, Echo Park, Silver Lake, and national arts scenes in New York City and San Francisco.

Introduction

Asco emerged as a response to exclusion from institutions such as California State University, Los Angeles, Otis College of Art and Design, University of California, Los Angeles, and mainstream galleries like Gagosian Gallery and Lisson Gallery, employing media-savvy tactics inspired by figures such as Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, and Barbara Kruger. The collective’s interventions referenced cultural icons and locales including Zoot Suit Riots, Pachuco culture, Pico-Union, Mexican Revolution, La Raza, Xicano, Los Californios, and institutions from Smithsonian Institution to Getty Center.

History and Formation

Founded by artists active in East Los Angeles and Los Angeles County art scenes, the collective coalesced amid events like the Chicano Moratorium protests, the aftermath of the Zoot Suit Riots, and the politicized 1968 East L.A. walkouts that involved Ruben Salazar and Rodriguez (singer). Early activities connected members to educational and cultural organizations including Self Help Graphics & Art, Centro de Arte Publico, Watts Tower Arts Center, and collaborations with poets and activists from Black Panther Party, Brown Berets, United Farm Workers, and community institutions like Plaza de la Raza. The group produced photographic series, mail art, and public performances that dialogued with curators and critics at Documenta, Whitney Biennial, Venice Biennale, and local festivals such as Los Angeles Festival.

Members

Core members included Patssi Valdez, Gronk, Harry Gamboa Jr., and Willie Herrón, who collaborated with other artists, writers, and musicians such as Ruben Ortiz Torres, Carlos Almaraz, Judith Baca, Tito De la Rocha, Sergio Arau, Lalo Guerrero, and cultural producers like Gilbert "Magu" Luján and Frank Romero. The collective’s network extended to curators and scholars including Esteban Villa, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Rene Yañez, Rudy Lemus, Ruben Salazar, Luis Valdez, and critics associated with Artforum, Art in America, and Los Angeles Times coverage.

Artistic Themes and Style

Asco’s aesthetic combined photomontage, performance art, and conceptual strategies referencing Surrealism, Dada, Situationist International, and Pop Art while addressing issues central to Chicano identity, media representation, and urban inequality in neighborhoods like East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, and Vernon. Works interrogated stereotypes propagated via Hollywood studios such as 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, and television networks like NBC, ABC, and CBS, often staging tableaux that evoked films by Rafael Gil, Robert Rodriguez, and classic noirs like The Public Enemy. Stylistically they incorporated graffiti aesthetics akin to practitioners linked with LA Freewalls, Chicano Park, Cool Barracks, and public muralism championed by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco.

Notable Works and Projects

Notable projects include staged photo-performances such as "Decoy Gang War", "Brown Paper Bag Test", and "Pachuco Boogie", as well as interventions that appropriated media channels, gallery façades, and street corridors in Olvera Street, Union Station, and along Whittier Boulevard. These projects engaged archives and institutions like University of California, Riverside Special Collections, Getty Research Institute, Hammer Museum, and experimental spaces including La Plaza de Cultura y Artes and The Mistake Room. Collaborations and thematic resonances extend to works by Ana Mendieta, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Gloria Anzaldúa, Rudolfo Anaya, Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, and curatorial frameworks at MOCA and Brooklyn Museum.

Exhibitions and Public Reception

Asco’s practice has been exhibited at venues including Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, Getty Center, Whitney Museum of American Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and in group shows at Documenta and biennials in Venice. Critical responses have appeared in outlets such as Artforum, Art in America, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and in scholarship by Amalia Mesa-Bains, Chon A. Noriega, Rochelle Feinstein, and historians affiliated with University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California, and California State University, Long Beach.

Influence and Legacy

Asco influenced subsequent generations of artists and collectives working at the intersections of identity, media critique, and urban practice, including practitioners featured in exhibitions alongside Coco Fusco, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Tania Bruguera, Mark Bradford, Kehinde Wiley, JR, Ellen Gallagher, and community arts initiatives like Self Help Graphics & Art and Chicano Park. Their legacy informs scholarship and programming at institutions such as Getty Research Institute, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, Centro Cultural de la Raza, and continues to shape conversations in contemporary art histories, curatorial practice, and cultural studies across venues from El Museo del Barrio to The Broad.

Category:Chicano artists Category:American artist groups and collectives Category:Contemporary art movements