Saturday, August 18, 2012

OSU/LASER MEXTASY SHOW PRINT: Ethnic Mannequins Series 7: I/Eye, Eva

One of the most popular American star in television in the late 20th and early 21st century, Eva Longoria re-embodies the form and allure of the Latina bombshell, born in the early days of Hollywood.


I/Eye, Eva

2012, Guillermo Nericcio García
digital collage

I/Eye, Eva picks up on the idea of the "ethnic mannequin" that I toyed around with in Tex[t]-Mex--there, in a mad synthesis of ideas lifted from Gayatri Spivak (the subject effect), Jacques Derrida (the trace), Frantz Fanon (darkness and psychopathology), and Edmundo Desnoes ("Cuba Made Me So" | Latina/o objectification), I tried to document the dynamic processes wherein Latina/o archetypes transmogrify/evolve.

What's special about Eva (and what she has in common with Rita Hayworth), is that she is the head of her own production companies and businesses--not all too successful if wikipedia's resources are accurate (look up her Beso restaurant biz based out of Vegas--here's a Wall Street Journal piece). This connection between the star (the "victim" in the familiar objectification of woman argument) and the semiotic means of production surrounding her (graphic) reproduction complicates things for the contemporary arbiter of Latina semiotic signage.

The piece for the OSU show grafts together photography by Chilean camera wizard Nino Muñoz, in British lads' magazine Arena's January 2007 issue, as well as work from the June 2009 issue of GQ Mexico (still looking for the photographer's identity). Two years apart, a 20th century ethnic mannequin stars in two photoshoots that feature images with ropes and chains, each image evoking unseen puppeteers of sorts.

Coincidence? I would have to ask Eva and am till waiting on a callback!

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