LACMA

118 Gamboa stated that this was "the first conceptual work of Chicano art to be exhibited at lacma." Asco developed further street performances, media hoaxes, and interventions such as Instant Mural (1974), in which Gronk taped Valdez and Humberto Sandoval (an early Asco participant) to a wall. Gronk recalls that the work was about the "oppressed on all fronts. East L.A., Chile, Vietnam, a group of people, a country.… It last[ed] as long as the person taped could take being taped—then broke free. The same with a chain, you have to break free." In addition, such works commented on traditional muralism—"activating" the mural by creating works that would not last and did not consist of paint. From the late 1970s until Asco's demise in 1987, membership swelled to thirty or more, including artists such as Diane Gamboa and Daniel Joseph Martinez. Over the course of the group's existence, Asco did not negate traditional Chicano art (manifested primarily through muralism but also through other iconic Mexican traditions), but rather redefined contemporary Chicano art and challenged its artistic canons, thus launching the Chicano avant-garde. As Herrón states, they did not want to be likened to white artists (whether American or European), nor were they concerned with making "institutional art." Their interests lay in an expansive and experimental approach to art making, using already established modes of artistic production and taking them one step further, thereby making them relevant to contemporary conditions and practices.— DIANNA MARISOL SANTILLANO • Gores, 1974

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