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4G  Sunday, July 2, 1995   this page is recyclable    San Antonio Express-News

Italian shoes capture imagination of Casas

Continued from 1G

matter of aesthetics," Casas said. "But I can't help thinking about the women in China who bind their feet. You know, if you wear a four inch heel, it shortens the foot by two inches. The Chinese bound women's feet while they were children so their feet would grow no larger than a lotus blossom."

There's an undeniable erotic subtext to Casas' shoe paintings, which becomes more explicit in some of his figure paintings of young women's torsos. There's also a resemblance, despite the lack of flesh, to the classic Playboy drawings by the artist Vargas.

"I am very familiar with Vargas, but his works were an idealized, airbrushed version of the American woman. My work is more sensual and erotic because I deal more directly with the subject of sex," Casas said. "I think high heels are an improvement on God's creation. And, sexist or not, women love to be love objects. That may not be politically correct, but that's a reality of life."

After spending a few years in Italy with his wife, Grace, Casas moved back to San Antonio last summer. They went to Italy after he retired in 1990 as head of San Antonio College's visual art program. Born in El Paso in 1929, Casas has degrees from Texas Western College and the University of the Americas in Mexico City. He came to San Antonio to teach at SAC in the early 1960s and later become one of the leaders of the local Chicano artists' group, Con Safo.

One of his earlier paintings, a satire of bluebonnet landscapes, is on display as part of 'The State of the State: Contemporary Art in Texas" at the San Antonio Museum of Art. In his "Humanscapes" series, Casas often contrasted cliches with symbolic borders and witty wordplay in the movie screen-size paintings that combined American pop art and Mexican colors. 

When he moved to Italy, his paintings became much smaller. The shoe paintings are only 11-by-14 inches, He is also painting slightly larger square canvases that deal with more general themes: Texas, the Southwest, religious icons and Italian scenes. One series is inspired by biblical stories, such as "Coat of Many Colors," a man's suit framed with a border of coat hangers. Another series deals with Native Americans, such as a portrait of an Indian chief titled "American Title Company" and a portrait of Columbus called "Capitan America."

"Italy didn't change me. I'm too old. I'm too stubborn an old goat," Casas said. "I'm a border person. I've always got to cross a border when I paint something new."

{picture with caption}
photo special to the express-news
'Captain America No. 61' by Mel Casas is part of the Carrington/Gallagher exhibit.

{picture with caption}
photo by Charles Barksdale
Mel Casas, one of the city's most influential artists, talks about his stay in Italy.