"What a magnificent project-a blend of curation, art history, archaeology, and, perhaps most important, a book tinged with the trace of ludic savvy, the 'ludic' being at the heart of the Royal Chicano Air Force, a playful intervention, an intervening play, both at the same time. The volume archives in book form an artistic performance/event that has not been documented. It does so with vision and acuity and, essential here, with wit! Stephanie Sauer's gift is to have compiled a working archive that mimes the logic of the Royal Chicano Air Force without overshadowing it in any way." -- William A. Nericcio, Director of MALAS, the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences Program, Professor of English and Comparative Literature Chicana/o Studies, San Diego State University, and author of Tex[t]-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America "To make an artist-book to pay homage to the contributions of an artist collective is significant because it has not been attempted within Chicana/o art history. This is an entirely new strategy-unique, original, and witty-that allows for highly detailed accounts of RCAF history. The artist, Stephanie Sauer, is interested in the destruction and creation of history and how archival material is preserved, who decides, and how power informs knowledge production. Her book stands on its own as a work of art, a codex of the RCAF." -- Karen Mary Davalos, Professor of Chicana/o studies, Loyola Marymount University, and author of Exhibiting Mestizaje: Mexican (American) Museums in the Diaspora and Yolanda M. Lopez
A cofounding editor of A Bolha Editora and executive editor of Copilot Press, Stephanie Sauer is an interdisciplinary text-based artist and visiting lecturer at the San Francisco Art Institute.
The Accidental Archives of the Royal Chicano Air Force deftly transforms the Sacramento-based, Chicanx art collective’s history into an assemblage of artworks, essays, and documents based on a decade’s worth of material gleaned from interviewing, befriending, and working with its members...Sauer’s engagingly unique book is a welcome alternative to traditional narratives and academic archives. In it, she skillfully takes on the challenge of wrangling a history largely gleaned from conversations. While Sauer admits that the texts should not be 'looked upon as sources of historical truth,' her book nevertheless succeeds in channeling the RCAF’s spirit and voice while also helping to reclaim their role in both California and Chicanx history. (US Latina & Latino Oral History Journal)
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
