Monday, May 11, 2009

Enrique Chagoya 2: Super-Bato Saves The World



The show is called "Super-Bato Saves The World" and the opening party was fun...



...with free Tecate beers being served by gorgeous young women...



...T-shirts for sale...



...and a glamor quotient among the guests that almost made me feel like I was in Manhattan.



In truth, if Chagoya were operating out of New York City, the center of cultural commerce and distribution, his work would probably be selling for five and six figures rather than the three to five figures at Electric Works, though I got the feeling that the artist didn't really care.



The piece de resistance of the exhibit is a trio of fully functioning slot machines.



The apocalyptic theme of the slots is the Mayan calendar year of 2012 when the world as we know it is supposed to end.



Chagoya designed coins for use in the machines with "2012" stamped on them along with the motto: "Life is a dream, then you wake up."



Like any casino slot machine, people were soon addicted, trying to get three lines of "SAVED" lined up rather than "BARS."



At the end of the party, I asked Chagoya if he really believed the world was going to end in 2012.



"No, I'm not one of the believers. I have a niece in Mexico, though, who just went on a journey with a Mayan shaman where she had a Eureka moment in the middle of their jungle trip. She told me the shaman had explained that all the environmental stuff we're doing is helping a little, so that the end is actually going to be a little later. Not a whole lot later, but not 2012 either."

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