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sake, it becomes Chicano art for it's [sic] own sake." Martínez had moved to San Antonio after being discharged from the Army in 1971. He recalls having "interacted a great deal with the local artists—their work had blown me away. . . . it was stunning." Martínez was impressed with Ríos and Esquivel in particular. Though he had differences with the way the organization was run, Martínez emphasizes that it was a useful experience: "the interaction with the artists was very valuable. The working process, the thinking behind their artworks. There is no roadmap for being an artist."(28)
Another young artist, the photographer Kathy Vargas, joined the group after the departure of Los Quemados. Vargas resigned after about six months because she did not want to adhere to the guidelines that required politically explicit art.(29) Nonetheless, Vargas feels that Con Safo "made me feel accepted as a mature, professional artist, not just a student, which I had been before."(30)
How and why did the group dissolve? By most accounts, it ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. According to Almazán, "the group had become impractical. . . . We argued about where to exhibit. And so many new artists were trying to join us. Eventually, no new meetings were held." In Casas's opinion, "our quasi-acceptance undercut the need for the group.... and led to its demise. It could have been a vehicle for more profound intellectual interaction, we could have broadened its philosophical scope, but that didn't happen." Rosario Ezquerra, who was one of the last artists to join Con Safo, and who's a member for what she estimates was "about two years," (31) remembers that the group "slowly petered out... members left gradually. There was no schism or cataclysmic event." Although Ezquerra characterized her work as "not in the same style as the majority," she said she "never felt pressure to conform to any particular dictates within the group." Ezquerra recalls Con Safo as "a very positive experience. I learned and matured as a person and as an artist by constantly being around other artists." 
Hoe late can Con Safo Activity be traced without documents at hand? A Chicano Times article dated March 26, 1976, announces an upcoming Con Safo show at Lutheran College featuring works by Rudy Treviño, Casas, Vargas, Lucas Hinojosa, Joe Frank Acosta, Emilio Aquirre, and Homero Ureste. (32) In addition, Casas put out a newsletter called La Moved Con Safo, Dated Fall, 1975 (#1) and Febuary 1976 (#20). (33)
[[Second Column]]
The Group's Legacy 
In order to understand the contribution that Con Safo made, one has to recall the circumstances in which the group was formed. Reyes notes that "we were very Anglicized. We were not allowed to use Spanish language and traditional clothing. When we were kids, we were harassed about the food we took to lunch. There was a stigmatization that took place on every level: language, culture, food, clothing, music. In the forties we were kept out of restaurants, and not allowed to drink out of 'whites only' water fountains. There were signs to keep us out." Adding that "we cannot ask others to address us or lead us," Reyes holds that Con Safo Was an important component of Chicano self-definition and self-determination. 
Esquivel emphasizes the connection between art and politics: "The movimiento was fueling political change. It put the Democratic Party on notice that we were not tio tacos anymore, simply here to be used at their convenience. They made a big show at election time, then disappeared once they were in office. The Raza Unida Party created a threat they could not ignore. They mobilized the people to take the steps necessary for us to create our own destiny. The activists risked everything I order to open the doors. As artists, we became visual spokesmen for the movement with our art."
Reyes notes that at the time "there was hostility to political art." Indeed, the first line of a review of the Con Safo Farm Workers' Exhibition read: "Art and Politics are like oil and water, they never mix." (34) César Martínez says he and his friends joined Con Safo because "we were all hungry for that kind of artistic kinship. What we were doing wasn't exactly popular. Galleries weren't showing it. The official reaction from art institutions was that it wasn't art, it was propaganda. An aura of radicalization hung around us." Mexican art was anathema not only because of its association with Communism, but also because that type of figural art was seen as hopelessly retrograde. Chicano art was even less respectable. In the opinion of José Montoya, a Sacramento-based artist and member of the Royal Chicano Air Force, "Precursors should be given their due. Con Safo was at the forefront of trying to define Chicano Art for those who did not like being hyphenated. I always thought that being called 'Mexican-hyphen-American' was like being called called 'Mexican-hyphen-Gringo.'"(35) Reyes avers that "we created a kind of American art called Chicano art.... We wanted to be honest and leave something good in the world." Reyes believes that "art with a ... continued on page 24. 
[[Column Three]]
24) [sic] Esquivel's notes and recollections serve as the basis for this account, whose accuracy is affirmed by Almazán. Esquival [sic] says that seeds of discontent were sown as early as November of 1972, when Quirarte was invited to lecture on the group at Trinity University, in conjunction with the Con Safo Farm Workers' Exhibition. Esquivel said, Quirarte lectured on Casas rather than on the group." 
Quirarte, an honorary member of Con Safo, maintains that he was invited to lecture on Chicano art by the Latin American Studies Department, and that the invitation was unrelated to the exhibition. Reyes recalls that "the department contacted the group to select a speaker—I approached him [Quirarte] personally to speak on the group."
Whatever the facts of the matter, group members resented that Quirarte did not address the group as a whole.

(25) The account given here is contradicted by at least one Con Safo document. Reyes drafted an undated pamphlet which Esquivel dates July, 1972. It states that "the group in its membership expanded from five to twenty-three to the present ten." Reyes, Almazán, Cantú, and Esquivel agree that the group began with six members, and even Reyes is at a loss to explain where the "twenty-three" member figure came from. 

(26) The three artists used this name at an exhibition held at the Mexican Cultural Institute in San Antonio in 1975 (Quirarte, Exhibitions, Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, p. 176, note 24.

(27) Martínez gave me a copy of the letter. It lists Treviño as president and Casas as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
    Martínez sayst he entered the group before Garza and Peña, and that he encouraged them to join. Garza was the first female to join the group. Reyes and Esquival [sic] say they searched for Chicana artists during the early years of the organization, but found none to bring in.

(28) The consequences of the defection of the future of Quemados appear to be overstated by Quirarte (Exhibition, ChicanoArt: Resistance and Affirmation, p. 167), who seems to equate their departure with the demise of the group.

(29) Reyes does both figurative and non-figurative works, which he says is "an expression of my biculturalism. . . . a byproduct of living in two cultures, in two languages."

(30) Ladrones de la Luz is listed below Con Safo as a successor Chicano group in Appendix: Catalog of Groups, Centros, and Teatros, in Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985, p. 224 (the starting date is listed as 1979 and an asterisk indicates that the present status of the group is unknown). But Vargas, the only former Con Safo member to belong to it, maintains that "it was not a Latino group per se."

(31) If this were the case, Con Safo would have persevered into 1977.

(32) Chicano Database #15401/Arte Chicano #323. The other Con Safo listing is Chicano Database #16435/Arte Chicano #322, a pamphlet erroneously dated c. 1975. Esquivel says it was used at the time of Quirarte's November, 1973, symposium. This date is confirmed by the membership list: it includes Esquivel, who quit in November, and it does not list Peña, who had just joined.

(33) La Modiva Con Safo listings in the Chicano Database # 16505 and #16504.



ARTLIES WINTER 1999-2000 | 21

Transcription Notes:
Paragraph (27) Martínez sayst(says) he entered the group before Garza and Peña, and that he encouraged them to join.