Lorna Dee on Luis Cervantes

Lorna Dee Cervantes pays tribute to her father Luis Cervantes over on her blog. You should read it - she does a much better job than I ever could. Here's the beginning of one of her blog posts on the admired and beloved artist who passed away April 27:

"Luis Cervantes: 'All I Know Is That I'm an Artist & I'm an Indian'
Lorna dice: Don't believe everything you read in the newspapers. He would not want to be remembered as a muralist, although he painted murals, and though he was the other eye in the co-founding of Precita Eyes Muralists, he considered Susan to be the Master Muralist. He was a fine arts artist, and probably one of the first postmodern artists, having come to it under siege in Antwerp, and in the sense that his art by it's very nature resists classifications, hierarchies & hegemonies. He would have spoken up, right away, interrupted the speaker had she or he called him a 'Chicano' artist. 'Call it what it is,' as he put it the last time I spoke with him, 'I'm Mexican and I'm an American (a certified WWII war hero) so I guess that makes me a "Mexican American", and that other guy over there, well, you'll just have to ask him where he comes from and where he's at.' (hearty laughter)."

Lorna Dee has posted several different pieces about the artist. It's quite a tribute. And, you can read more about Cervantes in the San Francisco Chronicle obituary.