Martin Moreno: The Responsibility of Art
Interview and photograph by Eduardo Barraza
Laveen, Arizona. May 3, 2003 – "In order to understand my approach and philosophy to art, you need to
understand my background. I was born in Michigan fifty-five years ago. When I was a child, I spoke
Spanish only. The bilingual education system in my childhood days consisted of beatings. If you’re
brought up in a Spanish speaking family, and you’re educated in another system, conflicts automatically
exist. You ask: “who’s right, who’s wrong?” You grow up questioning why are things the way they are.
You needed to quickly learn English, unless you enjoyed the beatings, so I became bilingual, and with
that, there was an added responsibility: I became the family’s interpreter, and since I was able to
articulate pretty well in both languages, I became involved in all the different struggles my family faced. I’
ve always done art and drawn; I have always used my hands. The influence of my mother taught me
that I could make anything with my hands, that everything was possible, and nothing was wasted, so
you would use everything that was available to you.
"I graduated from high school at sixteen. That was the sixties decade, a time when there were a lot of
changes in the country: the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, the Kennedy’s, and all the tragedies that
existed; the influence of drugs and flower power, the whole political consciousness, the movement of
Chavez and the United Farm Workers. I became involved with all of that because I could articulate in
English and Spanish. My relatives and I were all farm workers at one time; I worked with the UFW to
help organize. By that time, I wanted to know a little bit more about the world that existed outside of
my community, so I took off and went hitchhiking all over the country. This was right after my mother
died, so I have been on my own since I was sixteen. I had to articulate my way out of jams and fights;
when you are young, you never know what you can get into without thinking. When I was about
seventeen, I ended up in Mexico City. There, I was exposed to the art, to the murals of the three
Mexican masters: Orozco, Rivera, and Siqueiros. I saw the impact and the respect that these artists and
their art were given. Having grown up in Detroit, I experienced and saw Rivera’s murals at the Detroit
Institute of Art, and I was just overcome by them.
"In Mexico, I also saw the political and social implications of muralism. I stayed there for a whole
summer, surviving off my drawings. I would draw and sell them to tourists. I thought: “Wow, how great,
I am doing something I love, and people are liking it, this may be a possibility…” I had never
contemplated becoming an artist, because my whole focus was to work in the factories. You can point
the finger and blame the family, the teachers or whoever, but that is unimportant; I found my creative
gift back then, and saw that I could survive off of it. So the influence of the Mexican artists, and the
issues that they deal with, their approach to it, was different than the public art in this country, where
art is given a different treatment. We’re in a cultural vacuum here, where safety and pleasing the
masses is what’s important, not the art itself. After that experience, I went back to Michigan, where I
enrolled in College and started taking classes and developing my skills. By the time I was twenty, I
started doing community organization, and I saw the potential of the public art, in terms of dealing with
social issues. I painted a three thousand dollar mural that ended up being 15-feet tall by 150-feet long;
it was probably the best mural that that area had ever seen, in terms of the quality and purpose. The
mural was a hit, so I started my own art school and continued to do murals in the summer all over a little
city called Adrian. The reputation spread and I started doing exhibitions and sculptors, and basically
surviving off the murals.
"I’ve been a director of a substance abuse program, and also a tutor and a counselor, but the art has
been an intricate part of that whole process, incorporating art in social issues, education, confidence
building, and all the things that are missing in the traditional education systems. I’d incorporate,
especially for the youth, because of that cultural vacuum. When I was growing up, I had no idea that I
had such a rich culture. Culture is not just beans and tacos and all that; we have a richness and a
history that is not included in the history books, and not taught by teachers, because teachers teach
what they are taught, and that void comes from the colleges and all the way down, so the cultural void is
based on that educational ignorance. The only thing young people look at are “low-rider” magazines,
because that’s the only thing that is published out there for them, and that is the only thing they see as
legit; and that’s because the art history books are not inclusive of their culture. I am really proud to say
that when I do the murals, I am inclusive of my community. That ensures the longevity of the pieces;
they don’t get tagged or vandalized.
"There are two avenues that I use. There’s an art that I create for the public, where you have to be
considerate of your audience. When I first came to Phoenix eighteen years ago, I started doing a
number of strong murals with messages about substance abuse, education, and so forth. These were
some of the most powerful pieces that had ever been done in this area. From there, I got a reputation
that the substance in my work was more than just aesthetically pleasing, more than just visually well
done, but that there was more to it, that it had spirit... Public art is different than the personal art.
When you do personal art, you do it to satisfy an artistic need, but I’ve always said that an artist could
make a living here easily doing the “pretty stuff”; if you do the saguaros, the coyotes in the mountains,
cowboy and Indian stuff, because this area is culturally deprived, and that’s what they perceive art to
be. But as an artist, I need to do more than that, so a lot of the issues I deal with are about my culture,
my community, my existence, my observations, to give people a voice, and to point the finger if
necessary. Those are the reasons I do the artwork
"If you study history, and look at the conflicts that have existed between countries, the first thing to be
exchanged between those nations, after the conflict ends, is a cultural exchange through the visual arts,
the performing arts, the music, poetry, etc. We should understand from history the importance of art,
and how it can really change and bridge those gaps that exist between people. I think the arts should
be inclusive in all aspects of our existence. Regardless if you are rich or poor, art is important for
everyone, and a necessary element of a healthy community. Art gives people a voice, a legitimacy that “I
am somebody”, “I do have thoughts”, “I do have feelings”, and “I do have appreciation for beauty,
aesthetics, and art.”
"I don’t care how much people say that we leveled the field, the field is not leveled yet. I still hear
people being referred to as “wetbacks”, “greasers”, “taco benders”, and all those labels that have been
put upon us. I still see that our dropout rate is the highest in the nation, and as long as those issues
aren’t addressed, if the artist doesn’t do it, then who will? If the artist doesn’t point the finger, then who
will? I believe it is the right of the artist to do so, but also a responsibility. An artist can do it, and get
away with it. If we sell our artwork in the process, that is coincidental, not the main reason you create.
You make the statements because they have to be made. Whether it is through the written word, visual
imagery, or cinema, one has to go beyond the commercial success, and make the statements necessary.
Even though we all have artistic needs, the title of artist is one that has to be earned, not something
that should be taken lightly, because it is a strong responsibility. I think “artist” is a word that is thrown
around too casually, so I leave it up to the people to give me that title."
understand my background. I was born in Michigan fifty-five years ago. When I was a child, I spoke
Spanish only. The bilingual education system in my childhood days consisted of beatings. If you’re
brought up in a Spanish speaking family, and you’re educated in another system, conflicts automatically
exist. You ask: “who’s right, who’s wrong?” You grow up questioning why are things the way they are.
You needed to quickly learn English, unless you enjoyed the beatings, so I became bilingual, and with
that, there was an added responsibility: I became the family’s interpreter, and since I was able to
articulate pretty well in both languages, I became involved in all the different struggles my family faced. I’
ve always done art and drawn; I have always used my hands. The influence of my mother taught me
that I could make anything with my hands, that everything was possible, and nothing was wasted, so
you would use everything that was available to you.
"I graduated from high school at sixteen. That was the sixties decade, a time when there were a lot of
changes in the country: the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, the Kennedy’s, and all the tragedies that
existed; the influence of drugs and flower power, the whole political consciousness, the movement of
Chavez and the United Farm Workers. I became involved with all of that because I could articulate in
English and Spanish. My relatives and I were all farm workers at one time; I worked with the UFW to
help organize. By that time, I wanted to know a little bit more about the world that existed outside of
my community, so I took off and went hitchhiking all over the country. This was right after my mother
died, so I have been on my own since I was sixteen. I had to articulate my way out of jams and fights;
when you are young, you never know what you can get into without thinking. When I was about
seventeen, I ended up in Mexico City. There, I was exposed to the art, to the murals of the three
Mexican masters: Orozco, Rivera, and Siqueiros. I saw the impact and the respect that these artists and
their art were given. Having grown up in Detroit, I experienced and saw Rivera’s murals at the Detroit
Institute of Art, and I was just overcome by them.
"In Mexico, I also saw the political and social implications of muralism. I stayed there for a whole
summer, surviving off my drawings. I would draw and sell them to tourists. I thought: “Wow, how great,
I am doing something I love, and people are liking it, this may be a possibility…” I had never
contemplated becoming an artist, because my whole focus was to work in the factories. You can point
the finger and blame the family, the teachers or whoever, but that is unimportant; I found my creative
gift back then, and saw that I could survive off of it. So the influence of the Mexican artists, and the
issues that they deal with, their approach to it, was different than the public art in this country, where
art is given a different treatment. We’re in a cultural vacuum here, where safety and pleasing the
masses is what’s important, not the art itself. After that experience, I went back to Michigan, where I
enrolled in College and started taking classes and developing my skills. By the time I was twenty, I
started doing community organization, and I saw the potential of the public art, in terms of dealing with
social issues. I painted a three thousand dollar mural that ended up being 15-feet tall by 150-feet long;
it was probably the best mural that that area had ever seen, in terms of the quality and purpose. The
mural was a hit, so I started my own art school and continued to do murals in the summer all over a little
city called Adrian. The reputation spread and I started doing exhibitions and sculptors, and basically
surviving off the murals.
"I’ve been a director of a substance abuse program, and also a tutor and a counselor, but the art has
been an intricate part of that whole process, incorporating art in social issues, education, confidence
building, and all the things that are missing in the traditional education systems. I’d incorporate,
especially for the youth, because of that cultural vacuum. When I was growing up, I had no idea that I
had such a rich culture. Culture is not just beans and tacos and all that; we have a richness and a
history that is not included in the history books, and not taught by teachers, because teachers teach
what they are taught, and that void comes from the colleges and all the way down, so the cultural void is
based on that educational ignorance. The only thing young people look at are “low-rider” magazines,
because that’s the only thing that is published out there for them, and that is the only thing they see as
legit; and that’s because the art history books are not inclusive of their culture. I am really proud to say
that when I do the murals, I am inclusive of my community. That ensures the longevity of the pieces;
they don’t get tagged or vandalized.
"There are two avenues that I use. There’s an art that I create for the public, where you have to be
considerate of your audience. When I first came to Phoenix eighteen years ago, I started doing a
number of strong murals with messages about substance abuse, education, and so forth. These were
some of the most powerful pieces that had ever been done in this area. From there, I got a reputation
that the substance in my work was more than just aesthetically pleasing, more than just visually well
done, but that there was more to it, that it had spirit... Public art is different than the personal art.
When you do personal art, you do it to satisfy an artistic need, but I’ve always said that an artist could
make a living here easily doing the “pretty stuff”; if you do the saguaros, the coyotes in the mountains,
cowboy and Indian stuff, because this area is culturally deprived, and that’s what they perceive art to
be. But as an artist, I need to do more than that, so a lot of the issues I deal with are about my culture,
my community, my existence, my observations, to give people a voice, and to point the finger if
necessary. Those are the reasons I do the artwork
"If you study history, and look at the conflicts that have existed between countries, the first thing to be
exchanged between those nations, after the conflict ends, is a cultural exchange through the visual arts,
the performing arts, the music, poetry, etc. We should understand from history the importance of art,
and how it can really change and bridge those gaps that exist between people. I think the arts should
be inclusive in all aspects of our existence. Regardless if you are rich or poor, art is important for
everyone, and a necessary element of a healthy community. Art gives people a voice, a legitimacy that “I
am somebody”, “I do have thoughts”, “I do have feelings”, and “I do have appreciation for beauty,
aesthetics, and art.”
"I don’t care how much people say that we leveled the field, the field is not leveled yet. I still hear
people being referred to as “wetbacks”, “greasers”, “taco benders”, and all those labels that have been
put upon us. I still see that our dropout rate is the highest in the nation, and as long as those issues
aren’t addressed, if the artist doesn’t do it, then who will? If the artist doesn’t point the finger, then who
will? I believe it is the right of the artist to do so, but also a responsibility. An artist can do it, and get
away with it. If we sell our artwork in the process, that is coincidental, not the main reason you create.
You make the statements because they have to be made. Whether it is through the written word, visual
imagery, or cinema, one has to go beyond the commercial success, and make the statements necessary.
Even though we all have artistic needs, the title of artist is one that has to be earned, not something
that should be taken lightly, because it is a strong responsibility. I think “artist” is a word that is thrown
around too casually, so I leave it up to the people to give me that title."
PHILOSOPHY "I think the arts
should be inclusive in all aspects of
our existence. Regardless if you are
rich or poor, art is important for
everyone, and a necessary element
of a healthy community."
should be inclusive in all aspects of
our existence. Regardless if you are
rich or poor, art is important for
everyone, and a necessary element
of a healthy community."
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| barriozona |
| HISTORY IS ABOUT TO CHANGE Grassroots Journalism |
| Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues |
From Phoenix, Arizona to the World Wide Web
Eduardo Barraza is a journalist and writer,
Barriozona Magazine's editor, and director of
the Hispanic Insitute of Social Issues.
E-mail: editor@barriozona.com
Barriozona Magazine's editor, and director of
the Hispanic Insitute of Social Issues.
E-mail: editor@barriozona.com
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