David Zamora Casas

    

STATEMENT:
I'm sitting in one of San Antonio's many taquerias, El Milagrito Cafe, contemplating answers to the question: What do I love about being a gay chicano artist?

I love the fact that I am inspired by family, history, lovers and music to create work which allows me to vent, admire, and question universalities in two languages and in various cultures, including queer culture.

I love being bohemian and rasquache. I love the idea of being in love and live my life as a daily performance piece.

Love is a phenomenon, volatile with emotions and sensations. My Fortunate blessing is to be able to translate life experiences onto canvas in my search for answers and knowledge.

Creating art gives me a voice and fuels euphoria into rapture. Spirituality, nature, the past, and the present lend themselves to my creativity enabling me to create my version of reality in a fusion which includes folklore, devotional mediation and collective and personal experiences.

Life and Death constantly reminds me to have humility. To be sensitive to other people's ideas. To be happy (cheerful, bright and gay). To strive for peace and justice.

I started painting 15 years ago as a way to express my love for a man. Painting allowed me to say something intimate when words were not enough.

My passion for painting soon surpassed my passion for him.

My quest for identity became my favorite obsession.

Painting became a way to reflect on memories, myths and on contemporary issues such as Aids, Sexism, Homophobia and my heritage. I wanted to know what was my place in relationship to those realities.

In addition to using oil and acrylic paint, materials such as lace, bones, ribbons, branches, thorns, flowers, religious statuary, prints and images cut and collaged from pornography magazines find their place in my paintings. Tableaux, installations, altars and performances are also part of my work.

Days after my lengua taco (lengua is cow tongue)... poor little cow her tongue is so delicious, I find myself drinking a lone star beer at 10:45 in the morning at the Esquire Bar contemplating still.
What do I love about being a queer Chicano artist?
From the artists speech given at the UCLA symposium, Otro Corazon: Queering the Art of Aztlan - Los Angeles, February 2001

EXHIBITS:
David has had previous installations and solo exhibits at ArtPace, Blue Star Art Complex, Sala Diaz, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Planta de Arte Nuclear, the Anti-Oppression Church, IV Artspace, The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, and the Bonham Exchange. He has participated in selective group exhibits including Corpus Christi’s 6th Annual CineSol Film Festival, "Collective Visions" and "Los Dias de los Muertos" at the San Antonio Museum of Art. He was in a group show at DiverseWorks, Houston, University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, The Hertzberg Museum, and the Instituto Cultural Mexicano. Both UTSA and San Antonio’s Central Library have featured David’s work as well as galleries in Austin and Dallas. Several local school have highlighted his work including Brackenridge High School and Page Middle School.

AWARDS:
David has been selected for numerous awards including an international Artist in Residency program for study in London from ArtPace in 1995 and as one of ten artists to receive a grant from the Andy Warhol and Rockerfeller Foundation in 1992. He has also been the recipient of several individual artist grants from the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs.