Chicano Identity and Asco's Aesthetics of Resistance by Jez Flores Garcia a Dissertation Submitted in Partial

Camp as a Weapon: Chicano Identity and Asco's Aesthetics of Resistance By Jez Flores Garcia A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History of Art in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Julia Bryan-Wilson, Chair Professor Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Professor Todd Olson Professor Laura E. Pérez Spring 2020 Abstract Camp as a Weapon: Chicano Identity and Asco's Aesthetics of Resistance by Jez Flores García Doctor of Philosophy in History of Art University of California, Berkeley Professor Julia Bryan-Wilson, Chair This dissertation examines the aesthetic phenomenon of camp in the work of the East Los Angeles-based art group, Asco. Founded by Harry Gamboa, Jr., Gronk, Willie Herrón, III, and Patssi Valdez in the early 1970s, Asco produced a distinct blend of conceptual and performance-based art, which they exhibited in alternative art spaces and distributed as correspondence art. The group’s name, which means “nausea” in Spanish, speaks to the sensation their often provocative and politically motivated art ostensibly produces. The basis of this reaction lies in the stark contrast of Asco’s work to established Chicano art that emerged during the Chicano Movement. I organize my study through a consideration of each of Asco’s camp targets, or the objects of their critiques. These include the exploitation and oppression of the Chicano community, the limitations and liberation in Chicano muralism, and the glamour and biases of Hollywood. Each of these denote cultures and movements with which the young artists were enamored as well as alienated from in a complex insider/outsider relationship that enables camp critique. Through analysis of Gronk’s proto-Asco performance Caca-Roaches Have No Friends (1969), I establish a clear foundation for camp that corresponds to Moe Meyer’s assertion that camp is a specifically queer tactic of disidentification. I refer to the infamously provocative scene in Gronk's play starring Cyclona (Robert Legorreta) as horror drag to emphasize the intended camp target: homophobia within the Chicano community. Through a investigation of Asco’s early street performances and No Movies I further demonstrate that Asco uses Chicano rasquache and domesticana tactics, as described by Tomas Ybarra Frausto and Amalia Mesa-Bains respectively, in order to critique Chicano and Anglo-American cultures. Asco deploys these three aesthetic tactics to challenge problematizing identifiers of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class. 1 For Paxton i TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... iii–v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1–23 ORIGINS OF ASCO ............................................................................................................. 2 CHICANO MOVEMENT ...................................................................................................... 5 Blowouts and the Moratorium ..................................................................................... 8 FROM CAMP TO NAUSEA CAMP ...................................................................................... 10 Rasquache and Nausea Camp .................................................................................... 13 Parts of Nausea Camp ............................................................................................... 15 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER OUTLINE ......................................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 1: REVULSION REVOLUTION: PROCESSING AGAINST PROCESSIONS ........................................................................................................ 24–43 MAPPING LOS ANGELES ................................................................................................. 25 CHICANO ART ................................................................................................................ 27 OUT OF MANY, ASCO ..................................................................................................... 30 CACA-ROACHES HAVE NO FRIENDS ............................................................................... 31 STATIONS OF THE CROSS ................................................................................................ 38 Posada ........................................................................................................................ 39 Queering the Calvary ................................................................................................. 39 CHAPTER 2: OFF/ON THE WALL: MURALS AGAINST MURALISM ...... 44–64 WALKING MURAL .......................................................................................................... 44 Chicano Murals .......................................................................................................... 45 Camping the Virgin .................................................................................................... 49 SPRAY PAINT LACMA ................................................................................................... 51 FIRST SUPPER (AFTER A MAJOR RIOT) ........................................................................... 53 INSTANT MURAL ............................................................................................................ 55 Mural Pendant: Moving and Still ............................................................................... 59 Pendant Actions .......................................................................................................... 60 CHAPTER 3: THE MEANS OF PROMOTION: MOVIES AGAINST MOVIES ................................................................................................................... 65–88 NO MOVIES AND HOLLYWOOD ....................................................................................... 66 RASQUACHE PRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 69 ON LOCATION ................................................................................................................ 71 IN THE MAIL .................................................................................................................. 74 SEEING/ BEING SEEN: AUDIENCE, GAZE, AND POSE ....................................................... 77 THE NO MOVIE AND THE UNTITLED FILM STILL ............................................................ 84 CLOSING ......................................................................................................................... 87 EPILOGUE ............................................................................................................. 89–101 ASCO LEGACY IN EXHIBITION ........................................................................................ 94 INFLUENCERS: CHICANO ART ........................................................................................ 95 NAUSEA CAMP AFTERMATH .......................................................................................... 98 IMAGES ............................................................................................................... 102–186 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 187–201 ii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: ASCO, THE GORES, 1974 FIGURE 2: GRONK, CACA-ROACHES HAVE NO FRIENDS, 1969 FIGURE 3: ASCO, STATIONS OF THE CROSS, 1971 FIGURE 4: ASCO, WALKING MURAL, 1972 FIGURE 5: ASCO, FIRST SUPPER (AFTER A MAJOR RIOT), 1974 FIGURE 6: ASCO, INSTANT MURAL, 1974 FIGURE 7: HARRY GAMBOA, JR, “THE SOCIAL NATURE OF THE BLOW-OUT” HANDWRITTEN NOTES. 1968 FIGURE 8: NATIONAL CHICANO MEMORIAL COMMITTEE, FLYER FOR CHICANO MORATORIUM, 1970 FIGURE 9: MAP OF ASCO PROCESSION ROUTES THROUGH EAST LOS ANGELES FIGURE 10: ASCO, ASSHOLE MURAL, 1975 FIGURE 11: ASCO, SPRAY PAINT LACMA/ PROJECT PIE IN (DE)FACE, 1972 FIGURE 12: ASCO, FOUNTAIN OF ALOOF/ LA DOLCE,, 1975 FIGURE 13: ASCO, WAITING FOR TICKETS, 1975 FIGURE 14: ASCO, A LA MODE, 1976 FIGURE 15: LOS FOUR, POR EL PUEBLO, 1975 FIGURE 16: JUDITHE HERNÁNDEZ WITH CARLOS ALMARAZ, HOMENAJE A LAS MUJERES DE AZTLÁN, 1977 FIGURE 17: ASCO, ILLUSTRATION FROM REGENERACIÓN, 1974–75 FIGURE 18: GRONK, CACA-ROACHES HAVE NO FRIENDS—COCK SCENE I, 1969 FIGURE 19: GRONK, CACA-ROACHES HAVE NO FRIENDS—COCK SCENE II, 1969 FIGURE 20: GRONK, FLYER FOR CACA-ROACHES HAVE NO FRIENDS, 1969 FIGURE 21: ASCO, STATIONS OF THE CROSS, 1971, PHOTOGRAPH BY SEYMOUR ROSEN FIGURE 22: ASCO, STATIONS OF THE CROSS, 1971, PHOTOGRAPH BY SEYMOUR ROSEN FIGURE 23: ASCO, WALKING MURAL, 1972, PHOTOGRAPH BY ELSA FLORES ALMARAZ FIGURE 24: ASCO, WALKING MURAL, DETAIL OF VALDEZ, 1972, PHOTOGRAPH BY ELSA FLORES ALMARAZ FIGURE 25: ASCO, WALKING MURAL, 1972, PHOTOGRAPH BY HARRY GAMBOA, JR. FIGURE 26: ASCO, WALKING MURAL, DETAIL, PHOTOGRAPH BY HARRY GAMBOA, JR. FIGURE 27: DIEGO RIVERA, HISTORY OF MEXICO, NORTH WALL, 1929–1935 FIGURE 28: DIEGO RIVERA, HISTORY OF MEXICO, XOCHIQUETZAL DETAIL, 1929–1935 FIGURE 29: DIEGO RIVERA, HISTORY OF MEXICO, CONQUEST/REVOLUTION, 1929–1935 FIGURE 30: WILLIE HERRÓN, III AND GRONK, BLACK AND

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