Las Tres Marías. 1976
68 1/4 × 50 1/4 × 2 1/4 in.
Colored pencil on paper mounted on panel with upholstery backing and mirror
Used originally as a performance piece in 1976, each of the three panels has a red velvet exterior ‘tuck and rolled” to resemble a low rider car. The center panel, a mirror, creates an optical illusion placing the viewer between two images: the 1940’s “Pachuca” and the “chola” of the 1970’s. First exhibited in the 1976 at the Women’s Building, then in 1990 at UCLA’s Wight Gallery, “CARA: Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation/” In 1998, Las Tres Marias was added to the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American Art. Currently it is being featured in the internationally traveling exhibit “Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum”
Did you know that Venas de La Mujer: Las Chicanas, the show where Las Tres Marías was first exhibited, opened on the 16th of September, Mexican Independence day? It made it’s debut in the historic Woman’s Building which had recently relocated from the Chouinard Art School (now known as CalArts) to an old industrial building on Spring Street in Los Angeles, California
The installation and multimedia event consisted of five artists:
Photographer Isabel Castro, Judy Baca, Judith Hernandez, Olga Muñiz and Painter Josefina Quesada.
Left: Pamphlet advertising “Venas de La Mujer: Las Chicanas”