Hipolito R Chacon - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Hipolito R Chacon

Raven: a Journal of Vexillology, 2017

Designed in 1849 and composed of three blue stripes on a white field with a white, five-pointed s... more Designed in 1849 and composed of three blue stripes on a white field with a white, five-pointed star on a red equilateral triangle at the hoist, the simple flag of Cuba has become much more than a visible symbol for the island nation. Modern states and would-be nations around the globe have imitated the elegant design of this flag such that it has come to represent the ideal of democratic revolution against the forces of monarchy, colonialism, and imperialism. In the family tree of national standards, Cuba's flag and its descendants, initially nurtured by the impetus toward democracy and self-determination and more recently by leftist ideology, represents a robust branch and one that demonstrably continues to flourish.

Disclosure a Journal of Social Theory, 1998

Originally published in: The International Journal of Arts in Society, Volume 6, No. 2, pp. 111-... more Originally published in:
The International Journal of Arts in Society, Volume 6, No. 2, pp. 111-20, available online at: http://ija.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.85/prod.757

The phenomenon of large-scale public art projects has gone viral. From intentional crop circles to illusionistic sidewalk paintings in many of the world’s urban tourist sites to choreographed flocks of sheep and rice paddies planted in imitation and emulation of classical paintings, these projects often reveal a sophisticated degree of communal organization and the expenditure of sometimes vast amounts of human energy and resources. The widespread distribution of videos about these often memetic and mimetic projects on YouTube and other digital media networks means that these projects are familiar to millions around the world and engender others. To what end?

In this article, Dr. Hipólito Rafael Chacón, Professor of Art History and Criticism at The University of Montana (USA), illustrates the rich gamut of projects that are currently documented online. He analyzes how these works resonate with traditions of land-based art known to art history and archeology, specifically how they relate to the land art, pop, and mass culture movements of the last quarter of the 20th century. Most importantly, he shows how their diffusion via electronic media is a revelatory commentary on a new and increasingly global culture.

The first female architecture student to study under Walter Gropius at the Harvard School of Desi... more The first female architecture student to study under Walter Gropius at the Harvard School of Design in the Post World War II era, Daphne Bugbee Jones was an accomplished architect who brought the principles of the Bauhaus and Modernist architecture to the state of Montana in America's Inland Northwest. Along with her husband, noted environmental philosopher Henry Bugbee, Bugbee Jones merged her commitment to Modernist design, social activism, and the preservation of wilderness in the urban interphase zone around the city of Missoula.

The three decades following World War II saw a building boom in Montana and the embrace of Intern... more The three decades following World War II saw a building boom in Montana and the embrace of International Style Modernism in its architecture. Modernism, not only placed the underpopulated state at the vanguard of national trends, but it also gave Montanans a unified and comprehensible architectural language for the first time in the history of the western American state.

Art was intimately tied to the character of Glacier National Park since its creation in 1911. Art... more Art was intimately tied to the character of Glacier National Park since its creation in 1911. Artists working in all genres not only visited and worked in the park, but also broadcast its majestic properties to the rest of the nation, spurring tourism in the early 20th century. The activities of the Great Northern Railway in commissioning both art and architecture while building the park's infrastructure helped create both a purpose and a propagandistic image of this piece of unsullied wilderness at at the end of America's Gilded Age.

The American state of Montana is known globally as a place for the study of Modernist ceramics, i... more The American state of Montana is known globally as a place for the study of Modernist ceramics, in no small part because of the strengths of its academic institutions. Since its creation by artist/teacher Rudy Autio in the late 1950s, the ceramics division at the University of Montana in Missoula has been a model academic program with an international reputation and a rich history.

Antonia Contro's 2007 exhibition at Chicago's Newberry Library creates a dialogue between the are... more Antonia Contro's 2007 exhibition at Chicago's Newberry Library creates a dialogue between the arenas of library science and art criticism and breaches the gap that exists between the categorizing strategies of the traditional library and a postmodern art world in which all systems of knowledge are suspect.

Artist Wes Mills not only reaffirms the autonomy of drawing as a medium, but also challenges basi... more Artist Wes Mills not only reaffirms the autonomy of drawing as a medium, but also challenges basic presuppositions about art's processes and values in the Post-modern age.

The transition from territorial status to statehood in the third quarter of the 19th century mean... more The transition from territorial status to statehood in the third quarter of the 19th century meant that Montanans had to craft a cultural identity for the new political entity. Montana has the peculiar distinction of Spanish name and motto when its lands were neither explored nor colonized by the Spanish Empire. Still, the fascination with all things Spanish extended to the new state's earliest architecture in which a range of Spanish revival styles were employed to bolster its myth of origin. These trends continued robustly until the Great Depression.

Born in New England in the early 20th century and active in New York City's Modernist movements o... more Born in New England in the early 20th century and active in New York City's Modernist movements of the 1920s and 1930s, Helen McCauslan became one of Montana's pioneer Modernist painters after 1930. Her style was characterized by sketches of ranch life balanced by epic abstractions of "Big Sky" country. Her career climaxed with the dramatic series of paintings related to the tragic loss of life at Kent State.

In this article on the eponymous exhibition at the Missoula Art Museum in 1999, Chacon addresses ... more In this article on the eponymous exhibition at the Missoula Art Museum in 1999, Chacon addresses the works of three artists who deal with mixed-media assemblages and installations and argues that their frightful, sardonic, and often humorous work functions as a palliative in a culture increasingly stripped of authenticity and unmediated experience.

In this catalogue essay, Chacon describes how Chicago-based painter Ed Paschke inculcated the val... more In this catalogue essay, Chacon describes how Chicago-based painter Ed Paschke inculcated the values of discipline and a reflective life in his pupils, most notably in Antonia Contro.

An analysis of how two Chicago-based, self-taught sculptors with little access to traditional ven... more An analysis of how two Chicago-based, self-taught sculptors with little access to traditional venues of authority and legitimacy, swept up the American art world starting in the 1980s.

The use of Egyptian imagery in the art of self-taught American artist Mr. Imagination (nee Larry ... more The use of Egyptian imagery in the art of self-taught American artist Mr. Imagination (nee Larry Womack) can be perceived as part of a persistent and sometimes necessary pattern of appropriation in the artistic and culture landscape of African America.

In this museum catalog of the 1994 exhibition by the same name held at Wabash College in Indiana,... more In this museum catalog of the 1994 exhibition by the same name held at Wabash College in Indiana, Chacon discusses the interrelation between notions of a spirit-filled universe in Africa Art and the works of contemporary self-taught African American artists.

The suppression of freedom of the press under the rule of King Charles X in 1830 helped catalyze ... more The suppression of freedom of the press under the rule of King Charles X in 1830 helped catalyze another revolution in France and brought the so-called July Monarchy to power. Ironically, the successor King Louis Philippe d' Orleans was even more zealous about suppressing and controlling press freedoms. Still, the advent of lithography and leftist papers fueled visual and textual attacks on the ill-fated monarchy.

Books by Hipolito R Chacon

Coinciding with the centennial of the U.S. entry into World War I, this exhibition catalog examin... more Coinciding with the centennial of the U.S. entry into World War I, this exhibition catalog examines the lives of four individuals from Montana or closely tied to the western state who served their country proudly and whose lives were significantly shaped by the Great War. They are: Glasgow-born William Belzer, celebrated aviator and among America’s first flying aces; Great Falls widow Josephine Hale who served as a Red Cross nurse and became a notable painter in France; doughboy Sidney F. Smith, survivor and hero of the infamous “Lost Battalion;” and James Watson Gerard, U.S. ambassador to Berlin until the U.S. declaration of war and husband to Mary Daly of the famous mining family. The catalog essay by UM Professor of Art History and Criticism H. Rafael Chacón addresses the abstract concept of the enemy, both abroad and within.

Raven: a Journal of Vexillology, 2017

Designed in 1849 and composed of three blue stripes on a white field with a white, five-pointed s... more Designed in 1849 and composed of three blue stripes on a white field with a white, five-pointed star on a red equilateral triangle at the hoist, the simple flag of Cuba has become much more than a visible symbol for the island nation. Modern states and would-be nations around the globe have imitated the elegant design of this flag such that it has come to represent the ideal of democratic revolution against the forces of monarchy, colonialism, and imperialism. In the family tree of national standards, Cuba's flag and its descendants, initially nurtured by the impetus toward democracy and self-determination and more recently by leftist ideology, represents a robust branch and one that demonstrably continues to flourish.

Disclosure a Journal of Social Theory, 1998

Originally published in: The International Journal of Arts in Society, Volume 6, No. 2, pp. 111-... more Originally published in:
The International Journal of Arts in Society, Volume 6, No. 2, pp. 111-20, available online at: http://ija.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.85/prod.757

The phenomenon of large-scale public art projects has gone viral. From intentional crop circles to illusionistic sidewalk paintings in many of the world’s urban tourist sites to choreographed flocks of sheep and rice paddies planted in imitation and emulation of classical paintings, these projects often reveal a sophisticated degree of communal organization and the expenditure of sometimes vast amounts of human energy and resources. The widespread distribution of videos about these often memetic and mimetic projects on YouTube and other digital media networks means that these projects are familiar to millions around the world and engender others. To what end?

In this article, Dr. Hipólito Rafael Chacón, Professor of Art History and Criticism at The University of Montana (USA), illustrates the rich gamut of projects that are currently documented online. He analyzes how these works resonate with traditions of land-based art known to art history and archeology, specifically how they relate to the land art, pop, and mass culture movements of the last quarter of the 20th century. Most importantly, he shows how their diffusion via electronic media is a revelatory commentary on a new and increasingly global culture.

The first female architecture student to study under Walter Gropius at the Harvard School of Desi... more The first female architecture student to study under Walter Gropius at the Harvard School of Design in the Post World War II era, Daphne Bugbee Jones was an accomplished architect who brought the principles of the Bauhaus and Modernist architecture to the state of Montana in America's Inland Northwest. Along with her husband, noted environmental philosopher Henry Bugbee, Bugbee Jones merged her commitment to Modernist design, social activism, and the preservation of wilderness in the urban interphase zone around the city of Missoula.

The three decades following World War II saw a building boom in Montana and the embrace of Intern... more The three decades following World War II saw a building boom in Montana and the embrace of International Style Modernism in its architecture. Modernism, not only placed the underpopulated state at the vanguard of national trends, but it also gave Montanans a unified and comprehensible architectural language for the first time in the history of the western American state.

Art was intimately tied to the character of Glacier National Park since its creation in 1911. Art... more Art was intimately tied to the character of Glacier National Park since its creation in 1911. Artists working in all genres not only visited and worked in the park, but also broadcast its majestic properties to the rest of the nation, spurring tourism in the early 20th century. The activities of the Great Northern Railway in commissioning both art and architecture while building the park's infrastructure helped create both a purpose and a propagandistic image of this piece of unsullied wilderness at at the end of America's Gilded Age.

The American state of Montana is known globally as a place for the study of Modernist ceramics, i... more The American state of Montana is known globally as a place for the study of Modernist ceramics, in no small part because of the strengths of its academic institutions. Since its creation by artist/teacher Rudy Autio in the late 1950s, the ceramics division at the University of Montana in Missoula has been a model academic program with an international reputation and a rich history.

Antonia Contro's 2007 exhibition at Chicago's Newberry Library creates a dialogue between the are... more Antonia Contro's 2007 exhibition at Chicago's Newberry Library creates a dialogue between the arenas of library science and art criticism and breaches the gap that exists between the categorizing strategies of the traditional library and a postmodern art world in which all systems of knowledge are suspect.

Artist Wes Mills not only reaffirms the autonomy of drawing as a medium, but also challenges basi... more Artist Wes Mills not only reaffirms the autonomy of drawing as a medium, but also challenges basic presuppositions about art's processes and values in the Post-modern age.

The transition from territorial status to statehood in the third quarter of the 19th century mean... more The transition from territorial status to statehood in the third quarter of the 19th century meant that Montanans had to craft a cultural identity for the new political entity. Montana has the peculiar distinction of Spanish name and motto when its lands were neither explored nor colonized by the Spanish Empire. Still, the fascination with all things Spanish extended to the new state's earliest architecture in which a range of Spanish revival styles were employed to bolster its myth of origin. These trends continued robustly until the Great Depression.

Born in New England in the early 20th century and active in New York City's Modernist movements o... more Born in New England in the early 20th century and active in New York City's Modernist movements of the 1920s and 1930s, Helen McCauslan became one of Montana's pioneer Modernist painters after 1930. Her style was characterized by sketches of ranch life balanced by epic abstractions of "Big Sky" country. Her career climaxed with the dramatic series of paintings related to the tragic loss of life at Kent State.

In this article on the eponymous exhibition at the Missoula Art Museum in 1999, Chacon addresses ... more In this article on the eponymous exhibition at the Missoula Art Museum in 1999, Chacon addresses the works of three artists who deal with mixed-media assemblages and installations and argues that their frightful, sardonic, and often humorous work functions as a palliative in a culture increasingly stripped of authenticity and unmediated experience.

In this catalogue essay, Chacon describes how Chicago-based painter Ed Paschke inculcated the val... more In this catalogue essay, Chacon describes how Chicago-based painter Ed Paschke inculcated the values of discipline and a reflective life in his pupils, most notably in Antonia Contro.

An analysis of how two Chicago-based, self-taught sculptors with little access to traditional ven... more An analysis of how two Chicago-based, self-taught sculptors with little access to traditional venues of authority and legitimacy, swept up the American art world starting in the 1980s.

The use of Egyptian imagery in the art of self-taught American artist Mr. Imagination (nee Larry ... more The use of Egyptian imagery in the art of self-taught American artist Mr. Imagination (nee Larry Womack) can be perceived as part of a persistent and sometimes necessary pattern of appropriation in the artistic and culture landscape of African America.

In this museum catalog of the 1994 exhibition by the same name held at Wabash College in Indiana,... more In this museum catalog of the 1994 exhibition by the same name held at Wabash College in Indiana, Chacon discusses the interrelation between notions of a spirit-filled universe in Africa Art and the works of contemporary self-taught African American artists.

The suppression of freedom of the press under the rule of King Charles X in 1830 helped catalyze ... more The suppression of freedom of the press under the rule of King Charles X in 1830 helped catalyze another revolution in France and brought the so-called July Monarchy to power. Ironically, the successor King Louis Philippe d' Orleans was even more zealous about suppressing and controlling press freedoms. Still, the advent of lithography and leftist papers fueled visual and textual attacks on the ill-fated monarchy.

Coinciding with the centennial of the U.S. entry into World War I, this exhibition catalog examin... more Coinciding with the centennial of the U.S. entry into World War I, this exhibition catalog examines the lives of four individuals from Montana or closely tied to the western state who served their country proudly and whose lives were significantly shaped by the Great War. They are: Glasgow-born William Belzer, celebrated aviator and among America’s first flying aces; Great Falls widow Josephine Hale who served as a Red Cross nurse and became a notable painter in France; doughboy Sidney F. Smith, survivor and hero of the infamous “Lost Battalion;” and James Watson Gerard, U.S. ambassador to Berlin until the U.S. declaration of war and husband to Mary Daly of the famous mining family. The catalog essay by UM Professor of Art History and Criticism H. Rafael Chacón addresses the abstract concept of the enemy, both abroad and within.