This is why I left the "Commercial Art" major, and the "Photography" major, as well. I was enjoying making art, and our classes started to get crimped down into How to Make Money, or How to Get Hired, and hey—I guess that's cool, eh? I mean, that's school....we do want it to teach us to make money. But I'm a bit mad, you see. I have these weird impulses and beliefs, and I always have. One quirk in my makeup is that anytime conversation turns to things like that, my heart stops beating. I fall asleep on the spot. I didn't want to learn how to inject soap bubbles into coffee to make it look like hot, fresh coffee; or how to photograph glue-milk, or glass ice cubes in warm drinks that have been sitting in a darkbright studio for eight hours. I dig the talk on Ansel Adams, and absorbing his fotografia, but I don't see him out there shooting baby pictures at Sears. And though my name ain't Ansel, I'm also not a technician or a salesman. I'm someone who was born with a spiral hole punched into his gas tank, and the fumes that make me dizzy also make me dream. The limit on my tank means that some places I can't drive. Not if I want to make it home.

This aversion to commerce or the nonart side of art is why cinematography started turning me off when it began to fill up with bitter competition, or schmoozing and networking, and personal politics of power between the Director, the Editor, and myself (Cinematographer). I walked away from the profession, and I was a working cinematographer in NYC (indie films, of course!). This predilection for the creative and the creative only is why I got yelled at as a stockboy when I took too much time drawing Sale signs and making them pretty instead of workin' to beat the clock. I could go on and on and on and on with examples. I'm just best at doing art, at making stuff up. I'm not saying that's what would be best for me or anyone else. Just admitting that's how I am!

This is all my long way of saying I only talk money when I think the idea behind the talk is about more than money.

If we look at Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, David Siquieros, José Clemente Orozco and many others, we know how important art can be to the Chican@ identity, and to the Chican@ movimiento. Or perhaps we know just because we know. Art is important to any culture's identification, political dialogue, and historical presence.

SIMPLY PUT, this post is really nothing more than an urge to chip in if you can, and get yourself a subscription to Chican@ Art Magazine. And not as "charity"; because this mag rocks, and because if you help it rock, you help all of us. (All images in this post are taken from issue #1 except the very last one, and if you click on any, you'll get the subscription order form). Quick stats: A year's USA subscription is only $32, outside the US is $49, and you can even order a signed print if you got big bank. (The next 88 sub orders are entered in a contest for one of these beautiful signed prints, too).

Now, I have multiple reasons for making this post, and I'll disclose the most suspect one right away: Issue #2 features yours truly doing commentary on Mel Gibson's new Mayan-flavored flick, Apocolypto. I get that out of the way first, but that is not my primary reason. I write tons of words; I post them all over, I have books, etc, essays online. I don't need to come on here and pimp one more article I have out there. If that were the sole reason, I wouldn't have the energy for this post. My main reason, really, is that the site/mag is asking on their blog for help getting orders, and to me that says that this is a mag that is run pretty low to the ground, and with minimal resources. (I can also tell from the huge sum they are paying me for my words).

I know what that's like. This is how artists do! We are not bankers. We are not stockbrokers. Well, not for the most part. I'm sure that Rivera juggled a few pricey investments in his ti—no? Well, who knows. Anyway, I don't mean to draw lines (pardon the pun) and tell artists what they can do or not do; only to say that very often, artists need sponsors; they need help getting off the ground, managing their affairs or paying for food, or doing those regular human things (feeding themselves? getting dressed?). Artists are sort of beasts, in a way. Angelic cripples. Well. I have all my own crazy visions on what an artist is, but that's definitely not important. The point is, the magazine is excellent, it's all about corazón and La Raza and people like me and you, vision, the histories of our People and what is drawing us together now, or what we are dreaming on the way. Or hallucinating.

As you can see, I've flipped issue #1 open, and photographed a few pages. My first thoughts were that the stock (paper) is expensive, the colors are rich, and the pages glossy. This is not a cheap mag to put together. I've worked in publishing, and even if you haven't, it's clear by holding it that is it not cheap. If their budget was tight, they could have skimped on paper stock and inks, and they did not. That is a decision of which I heartily approve, and it says good things about their agenda and view.

There are a variety of artists shown, and a variety of styles. This is a magazine that has minimal ads—and the ones it has are enjoyable and very relevant (no Absolut, no Chanel, no Fox News, no Coors)—brown faces, workshops, art exhibition notices, book release notices, chican@ website URLS, personal stories, beautiful art, and LOTS OF LUCHA LIBRE MASKS!! (You know how I feel about masks.)

Best of all, it's a way for you and me to take direct action to help the Chican@ movimiento. If you have passion, it can be easy to feel very distanced from action, though I know we do what we can, given an opportunity. This is a direct way to help support Chican@ expression and the communal conversation that is going on now—and to keep it going. Sometimes the most rewarding actions are ones that really make a difference because of your personal contribution, and the small scale of the operation. And I think this is one of those opportunities.

Also, who knows where the mag will go? Who knows what important voices will be given a venue here? Who knows what history we can make? Perhaps your voice will be one of those voices. Perhaps your hand will do the lifting (or the feeding). This is not throwing money at a FOUNDATION, or an abstract idea. This is a new source of expression and the dissemination of information and passion as it relates to our agenda. Fund the medium, and you fund countless messages and moments of beauty and yeah, Chicanismo!

This magazine will be dedicated to who we are now, and will rely upon the contribution of those artists and scholars that wish to declare and empower Chicano Art by their creative endeavors. It is not confined to only that which by an elite consensus is hailed as the next best thing; instead, it is made more expansive by embracing all which comes forward, letting the context dictate their value; let the artist make thier own statements."

Laura Molina, Editor in Chief, Chicano Art Magazine

Of course, after all this talk of money, and not being so great at making it, I have to admit that you may well not have the thirty frogs for a subscription! And if that's the case, maybe you can send the link to someone who does, and who would be interested. Let's lend our hand somehow.

If I could, I'd flip through the whole mag for you. I'm sure it would sell itself better than my words could.

...and Issue 2!