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MUSIC
[[image - drawing of a trumpet]]
See Page 2-H

SERIAL
[[image - photograph]]
'Spencer Tracy: A Tragic Idol'
See Page 3-H

BOOKS
Kinky Friedman & murder
at a Manhattan cat show
See Page 6-H

Express-News San Antonio, Texas
Lively Arts 
1-H 
Sunday, August 21, 1988 

Congratulation! 
Vivian Rudisill 
Retired- English Department

[[image - cartoon painting]]
Comic Whitewash 
"Humanscape 70: Comic Whitewash' depicts Mel Casas' view of the Chicano experience in Anglo America.

ART THAT CROSSES BORDERS 

Mel Casas lands Austin retrospective 

By DAN R. GODDARD
Express-News Arts Writer

In borderlands both real and imagined, Mel Casas looks for the "X-factor," the new thing created by the clash of the old. He often combines English works with Spanish images, or vice versa, for paintings that are hybrid of Anglo and Chicano influences.

Born on the border in El Paso, Casas is also aware of the invisible borders that divide us by age, race, sex, political and religious beliefs. Out of the clash of cultures in the Southwest, Casas sees a new culture emerging, combining American individualism with a Chicano social consciousness.

Twenty of his 8-by-6-foot "Humanscapes," culled from his 30-year painting career, will go on display Sept. 3 at the Laguna Gloria Art Museum in Austin. A public reception will be held 8-10 p.m. Sept. 10. The Casas retrospective is being underwritten by a grant from American Telegraph and Telephone, and will be accompanied by a catalog with an essay by art critic Dave Hickey.

Not bad for an artist who hasn't had a major show in more than 12 years, and is probably more devoted to his duties as head of the San Antonio College art department than he is to pushing his own reputation as an influential, pioneering Chicano painter. 

"In the Southwest, art is regarded as marginal, not very important, and artists have to adjust to that marginality. But art also has tremendous symbolic power. Art must constantly be putting society's values on the table for evaluation," Casas said. "But people who are happy with the status quo are very sensitive to any criticism. The artist must learn to stand aside

See Casas', Page 7-H