The Diabetic Luchador (Nothing but a Nothing.) Final Version. When the Body Speaks. Full. A Night of Performance Art by Xavier Lopez. Cast: Xavier Lopez, Grace Larenard, Basil Mayan, Girlgoth and Kaz. Supported by Artists Up - Grant Lab Award from Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, 4 Culture and Artist Trust. Music changed to adhere to copyright laws. Performance Art. InArtsNW. Seattle, WA. 2017. Filmed by Loren Herrera.
The Diabetic Luchador was a new character created with this "night of performance, part of the "Putoh" night's events.
In this part of the night's performances, the Diabetic Luchador tears apart the sheet ghost of the prior scene.
In 2017, I was awarded the "Artist-Up Grant," presented by three amazing arts organizations--4Culture, Artist Trust and The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. I was asked to take my work to the next level. The plan, with guidance from Irene Gomez, was to be in a completely different place with my work afterward--little did I know just how much I would grow.
The first part was to put together my own art book--which was amazing. But it was the second project that made me truly nervous! I was to present a short "one-man performance" dealing with issues of "Latinoness," entitled "When The Body Speaks," it would be about Illness, specifically illnesses targeting Latinos and which run through my family tree, directly through my body and in my blood!
Ultimately, however, I would craft a longer, more complex event than initially planned, enlisting five other artists--a first for me! I did a forty-five minute performance and I was extremely nervous because of my ailments. Would the nerve-endings in my feet flare up? Would I suffer from vertigo? Before this, my longest performance was 25 minutes and I was much younger then. But over the year of practice I brought my weight down by twenty pounds and when I hit the stage I was certain I could do it.
The event, itself was part biography, part endurance and part conceptual art. I introduced Seattle to "Putoh" a mestizo hybrid of cultures and performance genres! On top of that, I did something I thought I never could have--I sang in front of a live audience! That night I grew as an artist, possibly even extended the definition of Latinx art today, but more importantly, I expressed the way that I see the world. I was overjoyed and proud of what I had accomplished!
In the background, two figures, one dressed as a blind ghost and the other dressed as a vampire bat chant, "You're Nothing but a Nothing, You're Nothing but a Nothing."
My work is always intensely personal and conceptual--it comes from me. I work with a variety of materials and in many methods. I tell stories and create new connections questioning the meanings of our most commonly held notions. My work is about associations and creating a discourse between myself and the viewer. I love these connections, they are my joy, they are the things I look for at all times and which permeate my work. It is my goal to completely change current discourse and deconstruct the way that we view art and race.
I am part of a new breed of Latinx artists for whom artmaking is autobiographical and personal, yet eschews the most obvious tropes of masculinity and race. As a Latino artist working much of his life with materials that have been pared down to their core elements, minimalized and purified, creating fiercely personal narratives, I have long been forced to deal with oversimplified views of color, masculinity and biography, but in a world and at a time, in which so many of these definitions are changing, my shift in point of view is fiercely important. I am intent on making my own way as an individual artist, speaking my own name and making art that comes from my experience of this world. I connect to a post-postmodern dialogue and speak to personal obsessions and desires that are not bogged down by obvious cultural history. This is a very important stance of liberation, which in and of itself is powerful and revolutionary. Now, having said this, mine is not a simplistic stance, nor is it a mere ignoring of reality--instead it is a journey, an intellectual investigation and as an artist, I am aware that we are not post-race and my work is not either.
This year's version is a wonderfully multicultural affair, in tune with a world that is getting smaller and more open-minded, even while the news tries to tell us the opposite. The first act sets the stage for the rest of the production as we are presented with a very Derridean frame within a frame, has a wonderful tree and a beautiful window--wherein we can see some of that Nutcracker magic. We get some really nice costumes, starting with Herr Drosselmeier's togs, which include an Olivian reference in his red-and-white-and-black cape--we also get lovely costumes for the various toys and all the celebrants--and that is just Act 1--the costumes in act 2 are even better!
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