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REYES 25
∙When and how did you become part of the San Antonio group of artists who called themselves Pintores de Aztlán and now Pintores de la Nueva Raza.

It all started as a group thing in 1967 when I had just gotten out of the service. Before the military tour I was not doing much and was in a heavy state of depression, so I decided to go into the service in order to get into college with military aid. Vietnam was just beginning. For me it was no problem; I ended up in Berlin. In the service I really got to know a friend of mine from San Antonio, Jesse Almazan, and when I got out he was in the process of organizing an art gallery. At the same time he came up with a proposal whose main idea was that Chicanos should organize as a movement.

∙Did the idea materialize?

Yes. We started with basic things like lectures on design and Chicano sensibility. We talked on form and structure in relationships to aesthetics. What makes us different, lets say from Cezanne is that we are Chicanos, i.e. our sensibilities are different. By sensibility I mean primarily a breakdown of relationships such as color, form. By sensibility I mean how Chicanos relate to these relationships in their unique way. The main object of these lectures was to help Chicanos and to convert this into a visual fact. The second part of the program would have involved stylization but we never got to it.

∙Could you explain what you mean by stylization?

Well, if ideas can be separated then each idea has a structure. If one studies these structures then you have different styles. It was principally lack of money that broke up our attempt to start the art movement effectively. By this time La Universidad de los Barrios had been organized, and I started to work with Chista [another San Antonio painter]. La Universidad was very dynamic because it was always taking in new and good people.
∙What do you mean by good people?
Good is equivalent to versatile. If there is a crisis, especially a political one, one of the questions that concerns me is how should the artist handle this in art. In his role the artist must transform this crisis into art. To do this well the artist must have a good amount of sensitivity, and by good I also mean sensitive.

∙Are you still heavily involved in organizational work?

Not so much now. At first I really had to do reshufflings of time so I could paint and organize. Then I realized that I was devoting all my time to organizational work. I think both are necessary, but eventually one has to be emphasized. Right now I am throwing all my time into my art work. If the Chicano artist is to produce an impact he must be good. If we are to have art shows, then we must have good art. It is the art that makes successful art shows. And if I am a serious Chicano artist, and I think I am, then I should not produce inferior art.

∙Could you explain what you mean by inferior works of art?

Several things should be considered. You can be inferior on strictly technical terms. You can be an inferior artist if the basic philosophy of your art is that art that consumes rather than gives to the community. What should also be considered is how art represents La Raza culture. The artist must be a balance between the political-social pressures and tensions of his culture and his personal ego trip. An excess of either one might produce inferior art.
∙How would you help a young artist, say of 17 years?