Oklahoma 4
Artist:
Luis Cruz Azaceta
(Cuban, born 1942)
Place made:United States
Date: 1997
Medium: Acrylic and enamel paint, photos, found objects, tape, plastic fencing, and metal studs on wood.
Dimensions:
h. 48 in. (121.9 cm); w. 192 in. (487.7 cm); d. 20 in. (50.8 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Ruthe and Benjamin Birdsall, Jr.
Object number: 2009.13.a-b
Copyright: © Luis Cruz Azaceta
Label Text
"I saw on television the devastation of the building, the killing of so many innocent people and children. A lot of children! Seeing toys, tricycles, stuffed animals, etc., scattered all over the perimeter . . . that was like a loud Scream emanating from the wreckage. That made me start making works of art reflecting this horrendous act, with the hope to silence that pain and create consciousness and compassion and poetic visual beauty to [counter] such [an] innocuous act of violence against humanity."
Luis Cruz Azaceta
In this assemblage, Azaceta combines painting with metal and found objects to memorialize the victims of the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. On the wood support, he painted an explosive abstract pattern and included images of a severed leg and his own somber self-portrait. Metal scraps refer to the ruins of the destroyed building, while attachments include objects that could have been found in the rubble-such as shoes, stuffed animals, a toy car, and a baby doll. The wreckage is further alluded to in attached photos of old and broken mattresses and flowers. Throughout the composition, these various elements are tied together with caution tape, normally used by police officers to keep spectators away from a scene of violence or disaster.
As a youth in Cuba in the 1950s, Azaceta witnessed shootings and bombings firsthand during Fidel Castro's overthrow of the government led by Fulgencio Batista. Since moving to the United States in the 1960s, he has addressed many social themes in his paintings and sculptures. Most notable are works devoted to raising awareness about the plight of the Cuban "boat people" (who in the late 1980s-early 1990s attempted to escape from Cuba on rafts), the AIDS crisis, gang violence, and Hurricane Katrina.
(David Rubin, 2010)
Luis Cruz Azaceta
In this assemblage, Azaceta combines painting with metal and found objects to memorialize the victims of the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. On the wood support, he painted an explosive abstract pattern and included images of a severed leg and his own somber self-portrait. Metal scraps refer to the ruins of the destroyed building, while attachments include objects that could have been found in the rubble-such as shoes, stuffed animals, a toy car, and a baby doll. The wreckage is further alluded to in attached photos of old and broken mattresses and flowers. Throughout the composition, these various elements are tied together with caution tape, normally used by police officers to keep spectators away from a scene of violence or disaster.
As a youth in Cuba in the 1950s, Azaceta witnessed shootings and bombings firsthand during Fidel Castro's overthrow of the government led by Fulgencio Batista. Since moving to the United States in the 1960s, he has addressed many social themes in his paintings and sculptures. Most notable are works devoted to raising awareness about the plight of the Cuban "boat people" (who in the late 1980s-early 1990s attempted to escape from Cuba on rafts), the AIDS crisis, gang violence, and Hurricane Katrina.
(David Rubin, 2010)
Not on view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
