Prototype Issue
The Guardian of Chicano Art
By Judi Jordan and Juan Rodriguez
(page 1 of 2)Distinguished and elegant, Armando Duron, 52, lawyer and art lover, cuts a classic figure against the backdrop of his impressive eclectic 350-work collection of Chicano art.
A world-acknowledged expert and foremost Chicano art collector on par with Cheech Marin, Duron is an old-school caballero, a gentleman of the first order. President of the Board of Self Help Graphics, the East LA hub of Chicano art, Duron has been an ardent supporter since 1975.
A proud Angeleno with roots in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, he resides in Montebello with his wife, Maria Salinas Duron, a high-powered executive VP of multicultural sales for Countrywide Home Loans. The Durons have four children: Adeli, 23, Isabel, 17, Angelica, 16, and Maximiliano, 13. For the Durons, living with art is a family tradition.
No dry, pontificating, vainglorious amasser of daubs on canvas, the warm and articulate Duron collects with an uncompromising esthetic and moral compass of his own design. Gleefully shredding the rulebook on what is “typical” Chicano art, Duron passionately seeks pieces that counter Chicano art stereotypes.
He supports visionary artists who dare to paint outside the lines of what is classically Chicano. Duron sees himself as a gatekeeper of the purist flame; a conduit for information, a touchstone for an alternate Chicano art reality.
He leaves no stone unturned, going to countless openings at hole-in-the-walls, established galleries, artists studios, garages, storefronts, street corners—wherever art is born. The result is a broader perspective that facilitates growth of the art, artists and the market.
A man who deeply appreciates life, family and friendship, Duron is keenly aware of his good fortune, having “come from nothing.” His legal work and extra curricular outreach are well known throughout the community, though he’s the soul of discretion.
An exceptional host, a supportive listener and an open-minded free thinker, his unwavering opinions on collecting are elevated and exacting and they challenge the art world’s questionable treatment of artists.
Since day one of his 26-year collecting spree, Duron has scrupulously played by the rules, respecting the relationship between the gallery and the artist. After some 350 purchases, Duron still has that enthusiasm, that spark, that hunger for discovery. Duron is financially unmotivated. He has a degree of disdain for those who purchase with eyes on the resale value. “Those are buyers, not collectors,” he said.
His collecting criteria raise the bar of authenticity for what has evolved from a mere “calling” into an art form all its own. The Duron home hosts an elegantly appointed, sun-drenched reference library of every book published on the subject of Chicano art. Bookshelves are peppered with small sculptures and Chicano objects d’art.
At the very end of the library is a walk-in vault of works; treasures waiting for their turns on the walls. The Durons rotate the works as the spirit moves them.
Art dealer and RealTALK LA VP of Business Development Juan Rodriguez spoke with Real Collector Armando Duron in his Montebello home.
The house is on fire. Your family is safe. Which single painting do you take with you to safety? It’s a question that people ask, and it always makes me shiver. Recently, I had this dream, the house was on fire, and I was there…just melting. I was part of the art…I could never decide; I would go with it.
Distinguish a patron of Chicano art from a collector of Chicano art. A lot of people can call themselves collectors of Chicano art, but if they are collecting for commercial reasons, for financial purposes, then they are not really collecting Chicano art. They’re collecting something else; they’re collecting a commodity. Pretty pictures, things to decorate rooms, but they are not collecting Chicano art.
Define Chicano art. For me, Chicano art is what moves the Chicano soul and references the Chicano experience. Because Chicano art has a very clear reference point. It’s about understanding what your responsibility is within the Chicano community.
"Duron sees himself as a gatekeeper of the purist flame; a conduit for information, a touchstone for an alternate Chicano art reality."
What is your relationship to the art? Because of a certain amount of discretionary income, because of who [my wife and I] are as Chicanos, what we have acquired here isn’t ours. We are the custodians of the patrimony of our community.
The real issue is what is Chicano art? Not what is a collection. You can go see shows that claim to be Chicano art but are not coming from a Chicano perspective. The whole point of Chicano art is to control our history. To be the people who are disseminating what our history is about, what our culture is about and not let others do it for us. That’s the genesis of this collection. Somebody has to put this collection together and say for our community, primarily what is our cultural patrimony and our experience.
Historically, your experience has not been cared for, has not been appreciated. It has only begun recently. This is an empowering process, but not for us as individuals. It’s not designed that way; it’s for the entire community.
What significance has Chicano art had for the Chicano community? It was always a part of the community. Through murals, our whole culture was very art-driven, whether you talk about Pre-Colombian, the Mestizaje, the last 500 years, the Spanish part of it has always been artistically oriented. It hasn’t always been appreciated. I’m working on an article entitled Chicano Art before Chicanos.
I’m talking about Mexicanos, Californians, painting before the ’60s, because there was art produced before that time. It’s always been important. One of the interesting facts about the movement versus the Black Power movement, was how important art was from the beginning, how central it was, how central a role it seemed to play, even in the most political days—the posters, the signs and the exhibitions were always initially very political and always part of the movement.
Are there particular iconographies in Chicano art? How do you define Chicano art? Accepted theories on iconography say that there is a specific Chicano art [that] has bold colors, that Chicano art has calaveras, Chicano art has nopales, has cars, that it has virgins, that sort of thing. That’s not to say that it’s bad but it’s to say that it’s limited to assume that is all it is. Most of the works that you see here on the walls here don’t look very Chicano at all.
The unofficial title of what you saw today is dis-Chicano art. Everyone from a Linda Vallejo to a Gronk to a Camille Rose Garcia to a Monique Prieto are producing works that don’t look Chicano at all—that doesn’t look Latino at all. They don’t appear to reference that experience, and yet I submit that if you look at it closely you will find those references. You just don’t find them the way that Chicano art is supposed to look.
Discussion