First of all, thank you so much, Calixto Robles for graciously accepting to be interviewed. Serendipity seems to be the name of the game here: I ran into you and your family at the April 5 Hands Off demonstration in San Francisco, you were sitting behind a table in front of the San Francisco Public Library printing and handing out silk screen posters that read “Immigration Built This Nation”, next to the image of the Statue of Liberty, and in the lower section a list of 20 countries from which people have more recently immigrated.
Your daughter handed to me the last of the posters and that’s how our interaction started. Later I discovered that we were already Facebook friends… It’s a great privilege to be in conversation with you, an artist for whom the connection between art, life and social activism does not require a lot of explaining.
Pina Piccolo: I have listened to the interview you gave to the San Francisco Public library in 2021 on the evolution of your work, from your early years in Oaxaca to your journey to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1983. I was struck by your recognition of how many things in the path of your development seemed to happen by chance: you grandfather renting rooms to textile artists and ceramists, which gave you an early exposure to and a fascination for color and materials; though you were prevented from pursuing formal education in the fine arts in Mexico, when you came to San Francisco in the early 1980’s, while working as a waiter, you stumbled into the Mission Cultural Center and attended drawing classes with Chilean artist René Castro, and through him your exposure to Arte Grafica and commitment to screen printing as an art form. After your initial focus on Mesoamerican art forms and symbols, your later exploration on North American Indigenous themes came from a constant engagement with a different art form, the Native American drumming circles; the topic for the “Water is Life”, a project selected and funded by the San Francisco Art Commission, came to you from chancing upon women led healing ceremonies on the Pacific Ocean shores. In the contemporary US art scene, which seems to be dominated by formally trained artists relating in some way to corporate infrastructure set aside for the arts, your story stands out and is truly inspiring. With all of this in mind, though I know it is an extremely broad question, please tell us about your thinking about the relation between Art, Life and Action.
Calixto Robles:For me, the relation between Art, Life and Action is very natural. I try to create my art from my heart, with a good purpose and intention, the same way I live my life. And as a human being I respond to racism, abuse of power, with Action, with solidarity with the People.
P.P.: Can you please tell us what in the screen-printing process captured your imagination and allowed you to unleash your creativity? Please describe a project that was very important for your artistic growth. What do you think is the potential for public art as well as community art, especially at times like these when reactionary trends and repression are on the rise?
C.R.: Screen printing captured my imagination when I saw people pulling the squeegee and putting color in a big area of the paper with a big stroke, and seeing how quickly you could print 100 – 500 sheets of paper with the screen printing process. At the beginning of my screen printing experience, in 1986, 1987, my first projects were inspired by my Mexican Native roots, and I enjoyed a lot that time.
Now, in these times of reactionary threats and repression on the rise, it’s very important for any artist or people to come out to create resilient art to inform the community.
This recent interview with the lancasteronline website gives us more insight on Calixto Robles contributions as “Warrior Art”
P.P.: Can you tell us how the symbolism of ancient art forms from Mesoamerica and North America are not only a link to the past of many marginalized communities but are also the repository for a vibrant kind of imaginary that is universally relevant today? What is your thinking on more recent debates on identity, cultural appropriation, trauma and healing? Are there big differences in the way these issues are approached in the US and Mexico?
C.R.: The symbolism of ancient forms from Mesoamerica or North America is very important to me because learning about our roots, ceremonies, rituals make us aware of the great people we come from.
P.P.: Has your perception of color and form and then their integration into your art, undergone big changes in your transition from living in Mexico and then the US? I am thinking of the great impact of Mexican and Latin American art on San Francisco and on California in general, the murals and the statues. Do you see signs of the influence of North American art when you return to Mexico? In your opinion what are the positive and problematic aspects? What impact do you think Trump’s hateful politics and policies will have on exchanges in the arts between the two countries?
C.R.: I don’t think my color and form have changed because of being her in the US. I think as an artist or as a person you always are in a process of change. When I go back to Oaxaca I don’t see any influence from North American art in the art produced there.
And yes, there will probably be some cuts in funding that will limit the arts exchange between Mexico and USA
P.P.: Your direct life line with different communities really stands out in your work. Can you please tell us how things have changed in San Francisco over the decades, and particularly the impact of gentrification in the past twenty years.
C.R.: When I came to San Francisco in 1983, it was a cleaner city, then came the dot.com and the displacement of neighborhoods began as gentrification arrived. Now the drugs; the synthetic drugs are the big problem.
P.P.: You do a lot of work in the schools; do you see differences in how young people are approaching art these days? What do you think the impact of technology is and will be?
C.R.: I see that art teachers are doing a great job in the schools. The students love to create, to put their hands in the paint, clay, paper, play with color, texture. I wish schools would encourage Traditional Art and control the technology, especially for the younger students.
P.P.: The period that we are currently in and that looms ahead presents great challenges for artists. What comes to my mind is you and your family with your table, across the street from the protest, with your portable screen-print equipment, ready to go art. A dynamic image of art on the move, standing side by side with resistance and the demand for justice. What are your thoughts about the challenges ahead for us as artists and writers, in a period in which, unlike the past, ideological compasses are murky and chaotic? What lessons can you contribute from your long, committed experience of art and resistance, drawing from all the communities you are part of?
C.R.: I believe that if We The People get together, united against the bad politics of any government and organize, we will resist and at he end save our democracy.
Peace!
Thank you so much also for the images of your work that you have generously contributed to The Dreaming Machine.
A few examples of Calixto Robles work in the community, including this Spanish language video on El Dia de los Muertos in the Mission, a vibrant district in San Francisco where many people of Mexican, Latin and Mesoamerican origin live and produce art.
And here are some images from the inauguration of his exhibit at the Mission Cultural Center
The personal website for Calixto Robles is: Calixto Robles – Spirit of the Mission
Calixto Robles’ paintings from Sin Titulo Gallery
Image 1: Calixto Robles, Ceremonia (Ceremony), 2005, Oil on canvas, 54.50 x 44.50
Image 2: Calixto Robles, Camino a Ixtlan (Road to Ixtlan), 2010, Oil on canvas, 20 x 30
Calixto Robles (b. 1957, Oaxaca, Mexico) is a painter, printmaker, and teacher. His work is inspired by the ancestral myths and symbols of the indigenous traditions of Mesoamerica. His most recent work changed from jaguars and warriors to angels, lotus flowers and images of peace – relying on spiritual iconography. He works without sketches, preferring to seize the moment and release thoughts of love, peace and compassion. Robles’ work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including the Museo Nacional de la Estampa in Mexico City; the Centro Cultural de México in Paris, France; Biblioteca Nacional de la Habana in Havana, Cuba; and the Legion of Honor and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California. He has been a member of the California Society of Printmakers since 1993, and has taught silkscreen printmaking at the Mission Cultural Center. Robles’ work is part of important collections including: The Oakland Museum of California, the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C., University of Notre Dame, Millersville University, and Carlos Santana’s art collection. He lives and works in the Mission District in San Francisco.
