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Phantom Sightings Exhibit Brings Chicano Art Back to El Museo Del Barrio

By DNAinfo Staff on March 26, 2010 6:11pm  | Updated on March 26, 2010 5:33pm

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

EAST HARLEM — A new art exhibit hopes to shed some light on the bicoastal battles waged by Puerto Rican and Chicano activists during the 1960s and ’70s.

El Museo del Barrio's new exhibition, "Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement," brings those two histories to East Harlem as part of the show running through May 9.

"Bringing Phantom Sightings to El Museo del Barrio highlights the coast-to-coast legacy of revolutionary movements in Latino art during the 1960s and 70s," said Deborah Cullen, director of curatorial programs for the museum, in a statement.

The exhibition, inspired by artist Harry Gamboa, Jr., whose art is also featured in the show, looks at the unrecognized contributions of the Chicano community to mainstream American society.

Carlee Fernandez's
Carlee Fernandez's "Self Portrait: Portrait of My Father, Manuel Fernandez", from El Museo Del Barrio's "Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement" exhibit.
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El Mudeo del Barrio

In a multimedia showcase of more than 100 artists, the show comments on the intersections of culture — from Margarita Cabrera's yellow vinyl version of a Volkswagen Beetle to Juan Capistran's American flag collage of found and altered images.

El Museo del Barrio is the only East Coast venue to host the traveling show, which was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Chicano Studies Research Center of the University of California, Los Angeles.

It has been about 15 years since the museum last exhibited Chicano art.