Betsabeé Romero
Mexican artist Betsabee Romero was for a short time associated with the Mexican artists that pursued the trend of Neo-Mexicanidad in the 1980s. This painting is from that period, and is a composite image of several appropriated popular elements found in Mexican history and culture. At the bottom edge of the painting appears the refrain from a popular Mexican song, Cielito Lindo or “beautiful little heaven.” The script appears on the textured surface of a geometric patterned background of yellow and blue squares which represent the famous Talavera ceramic tiles that decorate the exterior and interior of Puebla, Mexico’s colonial buildings. Superimposed on the tile is a nostalgic depiction of a group of rancheros mounted on horseback, galloping in the open terrain of the Mexican haciendas and cattle ranches during the golden-age period of the1940s and 50s.
Romero’s painting re-interprets the cultural object—the famous Puebla Talavera ceramic tile—to be viewed as a signifier of identity representing Mexican heritage and history. In the late 1600s, Talavera ceramics were created in Puebla, Mexico after the Spanish monks and ceramic craftsmen of Talavera de la Reina, Spain arrived to teach the indigenous people the ceramic tradition. The production of Talavera tile can be viewed as a fusion of two cultural traditions to create a new tradition. Referencing the painting in this way, the artist implies its’ representation of mestizaje or the ethnic blending of Indian and European heritage that forms the mestizo identity since the conquest.
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