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and said, 'Look at all the artists from Texas. There are more artists from Texas than there are from LA. What are we going to do about that?' And I said, 'What do you mean? Why shouldn't there be? Is there something written down that says there should always be x-numbers of artists from LA in the Whitney Biennial?' Apparently there aren't as many artists in LA that appealed to this group as there are artists in Texas. 
As I've said to everybody, these are not the artists any one of us would have picked if we were in total control. But, going into this, we all had to make peace with the fact that none off us had total control. And, you know, curators are used to having control. So you have to be a little Zen about it. We all had to make our compromises and we've all witnessed each other making those compromises. In the end, it's a very good list, not a perfect list. But who would ever want the Biennial-the exhibition we love to hate-to be perfect?

JT: What does so many Texan artists in the Biennial say about the state of art in Texas? 

MA: There's clearly a lot happening in Texas right now. There's artists behind every old storefront and new museums being built on every corner. I for one am glad I'm here and not somewhere else. 

JT: How does New York fare in all of this? 

MA: It was assumed from the beginning that, because we were all from different parts of the country, that there would be a broader geographic representation. The irony of this show is that, with all the non-New Yorkers on the committee, there are far more New Yorkers than artists from anywhere else. 
We would never have predicted that. But you're looking at it from the standpoint of choosing the most interesting art. 

JT: Do these numbers once and for all say that the most interesting work is being done by artists in New York?

MA: New York is still the central marketplace for art on this planet. It's also the center-regardless of what Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, et al, want to believe-of the art press in America and it still is the highest-density population of artists and studios together in one place. So there's always going to be good art in New York as long as that situation exists. 
And there are so many artists in this show from foreign countries . . . and they move to New York when they come to America. It is truly the melting pot. So there is going to be good art from New York. And there's nothing wrong with that. I don't have a problem with that. I see it as a natural situation. 

JT: What about LA? 

MA: There's no question: It's a great center for art. It's one of a number of centers for art. But my sense of LA is that, right now, it might be between generations of artists. This happens in every center. LA isn't quite as white-hot as it seemed to me to be about five years ago. But it will be again. LA can't go very long without being interesting. It will reinvent itself.   

JT: Would you care to speculate about how the show is going to be received? Do you think it's strong enough that people won't think it's the worst approach ever taken to a Biennial? 

MA: I'll be curious to see if they do this again with the next one. I don't know how they're going to criticize this Whitney Biennial-I just know that they are. [[ circle]]

Con Safo-continued from page 21. 
message is still feared. While we and our ideas have achieved a measure of acceptance, there is still a powerful element that does not want us . . . . The resistance changes form and invents new, more sophisticated tools." Finally, in assessing the group's legacy, Reyes points out that "many Chicanos are adhering to a mythic view-simply copying things we did in the 1970s." He advises that "a new generation should find its own modern subjects. They should have their own voice, see the world through their own eyes, narrate their own experience." Reyes says that "we went from a formal artists' group to an informal group of friends. It's been a wonderful friendship." 
Con Safo was the product of a time in which momentous transformations were made in society, the reverberations of which are still being felt today. One hopes that a major exhibition and catalogue will someday give a comprehensive account of Con Safo, including interviews, artists, correspondence, and a wide selection of works. Until then, and important chapter in Chicano-and American-history remains to be written. [[circle]]

(34) This was written by Don Evans in a review entitled The Consafo [sic] Group Show, which appeared in the Trinity Review 12, #5 (unpaginated). Reyes wrote a rejoinder entitled In Response to Don Evans which appeared in the subsequent issue. The review never even mentioned the Farm Workers' theme. 
(35) Montoya and other California artists such as Rupert Garcia have stated that they become familiar with Con Safo through Quirarte or his book, Mexican American Artists.