Skip to Main Content

Hasta La Casta

2017
(American, b. 1985)
(American)
(American, 2015-)
America
color screenprint
Image: 45.7 x 61 cm (18 x 24 in.); Sheet: 53.3 x 71.9 cm (21 x 28 5/16 in.)
gift of Jack and Linda Lissauer in memory of Pearl and Rabbi David Hachen 2020.416
© Michael Menchaca
State: Only
Edition: 4/25
Location: not on view
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Download, Print and Share

Did You Know?

Michael Menchaca is influenced by the aesthetic of video games; for example, the red, white, and blue round form at upper right is adopted from the Japanese gaming franchise Pokémon.

Description

Texas-based artist Michael Menchaca uses the stacked forms and flattened compositions of Mayan codices—the earliest books in Latin American culture—to comment on current social issues in the United States. This artwork’s title references castas, a racial classification system developed around the 1600s by the Spanish conquerors of Mexico. The print shows catlike creatures in different colors guarded by uniformed wolves, meant to evoke this discriminatory practice of categorization. Combining fantastical and historical images, the artist writes that they hope to compare such inequality of the past with the treatment of undocumented immigrants by the American government today.
Hasta La Casta

Hasta La Casta

2017

Michael Menchaca, Julia Samuels, Overpass Projects

(American, b. 1985), (American), (American, 2015-)
America

See Also

Visually Similar Artworks

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.