Home--so different, so appealing

de Chon A. Noriega, Mari Carmen Ramírez, Pilar Tompkins Rivas

Home signaling a dwelling, residence or place of origin embodies one of the most basic concepts for understanding an individual or group within a larger physical and social environment. Yet home has been a little noted, although prevalent, feature in art since the 1950s, a period in which artists challenged the traditional object of the visual arts through the use of material and media culture, new forms, and performative actions and processes. This volume explores works by diverse U.S. Latino and Latin American artists whose engagement with the concept of home provides the basis for an alternative narrative of post-war art. Their work brings together an impressive array of formal languages, conceptual strategies, and art historical references with the varied social concerns characterizing both the postwar period in the Americas and an emerging global economy impacting day-to-day life. The artists featured in this volume engage home as both concept and artifact. This book reveals the departures and confluences that continue to shape US Latino and Latin American art and expands our appreciation of these artists and their work.