FREE//GRATUITO
PUBLISHED BY ACCIÓN LATINA
Vol. 50 No. 19
September 24-October 7, 2020
COMMUNITY BIDS FAREWELL TO ICONIC MURAL COMUNIDAD SE DESPIDE DE ICÓNICO MURAL Mabel Jiménez
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El Tecolote
ommunity members gathered on Sep. 7 at the corner of York and 24th Streets to say their goodbyes to “Nosotros con César y Dolores,” an iconic mural whose name and characters have evolved on this corner since it was first painted by Ray Patlán and Carlos “Kookie” Gonzalez in 1985. The laundromat where the mural was painted will soon be demolished and will be replaced with a market-rate apartment complex. Contractors arrived at the site of the mural early in the morning of Saturday, Sep. 12, and began cutting out the pieces of stucco from the building wall to salvage the mural one section at a time. Some of the people walking by the site that day were not aware of the fate of the building, and were shocked as they walked by the mural, watching workers take out Frida Kahlo, then Pancho Villa, Nelson Mandela and many others out of the wall. But for its creators, Patlán and Kookie, who have made peace with letting go, it’s all about the journey it took them on and all the lives it touched. In 1985, Raymond Patlan had an idea for a mural. But, as he told El Tecolote, “I had a hard time getting a wall.” Patlán was already an established artist in Chicago—where he was born and raised—when he moved to the Bay Area in the mid 70s to live and teach in Berkeley. It’s hard to picture it now, but in those days, Patlán was an outsider to the Mission, struggling to get his foot through the door of the local art scene. “The Mission was not exactly overtly inviting to a new artist,” he remembers. In 1984, Patlán spearheaded the PLACA Project, installing murals in Balmy Alley depicting the struggles in Central America caused by U.S. imperialist intervention. Kookie, who by then knew Patlán from collaborating in other murals, was one of the artists involved in that project. He remembers that Patlán’s work on Balmy Alley “had a lot to do with Ray being accepted in the community, he paid his dues.” Patlán’s idea was to feature people from the neighborhood. “I figured all the other murals already had super heroes from the old days in Mexico,” he remembered. “So I thought, what about our current heroes here? People who make a difference in our daily lives.” Eventually, Galería de la Raza stepped up to help Patlán get a wall for his mural. He got the wall on the southwest corner of York and 24th Streets, which was then a pharmacy. Patlán took photographs of the neighborhood people he wanted to include in his new mural and used a projector to trace the portraits on to the wall, a technique now widely used in large scale murals. Their resulting mural had the feel of a family photo album. See MURAL, page 6
Roberto Ariel Vargas, quien trabajó junto con Kookie en la realización del mural en los noventa, participa en una ceremonia ritual junto con su grupo Danza Xitlalli, para despedir al mural ‘Nosotros con César y Dolores’. Roberto Ariel Vargas, who worked on the mural with Kookie in the 90s, performs a blessing with his group, Danza Xitlalli, to say goodbye to the mural “Nosotros con Cesar y Dolores,” Sep. 7, 2020. Photo: Mabel Jiménez Mabel Jiménez
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El Tecolote
iembros de la comunidad se reunieron el 7 de septiembre en la esquina de las calles York y 24 para decir adiós a ‘Nosotros con César y Dolores’, un mural icónico cuyo nombre y personajes han persistido y, a la vez, evolucionado, en esta esquina desde que fue pintado por primera vez por Ray Patlán y Carlos ‘Kookie’ González en 1985. La lavandería donde se pintó el mural pronto será demolida y será reemplazada por un complejo de apartamentos a precio de mercado. Los contratistas llegaron al sitio del mural temprano en la mañana del sábado 12 de septiembre y comenzaron a cortar pedazos de la pared del edificio para rescatar el mural una sección a la vez. Algunos de los transeúntes que pasaban por el sitio ese día y no estaban enterados del destino del edificio, se sorprendieron de ver a los trabajadores extraer a Frida Kahlo, luego a Pancho Villa, Nelson Mandela y muchos otros del muro. Pero para sus creadores, Patlán y Kookie, quienes han aceptado la idea de dejar ir a su mural, lo más importante ha sido el trayecto por el que los condujo, y todas las vidas que tocó. En 1985, Raymond Patlan tenía una idea para un mural. Pero, como le dijo a El Tecolote, “tuve mucha dificultad para conseguir un muro”. Patlán ya era un artista establecido
Carlos ‘Kookie’ González mide piezas individuales del mural como preparativo a la reubicación y preservación de esa obra de arte histórica, el 2 de septiembre de 2020. El edificio que lo contenía, ubicado en las calles 24 y York, será demolido y reemplazado por apartamentos. Carlos ‘Kookie’ Gonzalez and lifetime friend Gilbert Deanda measure individual pieces of a mural in preparation to relocate and preserve the historic artwork. The building located on 24th and York street is being demolished and rebuilt later this year. Photo: Benjamin Fanjoy en Chicago, donde nació y se crió, cuando se mudó al Área de la Bahía a mediados de los setenta para ser maestro en Berkeley. Es difícil imaginarlo ahora, pero
en ese tiempo, era un extranjero a la En 1984, Patlán encabezó el ProMisión, batallando para ser incluido yecto PLACA, instalando murales en en la escena artística local: “La Mi- Balmy Alley que representaban las sión no era exactamente anfitriona luchas en Centroamérica causadas para un nuevo artista”, recuerda. Vea ARTE, página 7