The iconic work of the late Yolanda López, one of the Mission District’s most influential Chicana artists and activists, is currently on display at Arte Américas in Fresno. Titled “Yolanda López: Portrait of the Artist,” the exhibition showcases 50 original pieces the artist produced from 1975 until her death in 2021.
The exhibit showcases López’s most memorable projects in three spacious galleries, including exuberant portraits of herself in running shoes, highlighting her time as a UC San Diego graduate student in 1975. Of course, you’ll also see her groundbreaking and controversial “Guadalupe” series. The large and colorful portraits show López, her mother and grandmother boldly wearing, sitting on and sewing la Virgin de Guadalupe’s sacrosanct star-studded mantel.
The pieces on display are primarily pastel and acrylic paintings and charcoal pencil drawings. They often touch on indigenous themes and depict herself, her family and other Chicana working class women. When you look at the totality of the work, López’s message is clear: the power of feminism and the right to self-determination.
López died at 70 in her San Francisco home on September 3, 2021 after a lengthy battle with liver cancer. Her “Portrait of the Artist” exhibition was shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego in 2022, as well as at the San Jose Museum of Art in 2023. Her current exhibition ends on May 18. Fresno may be a 4-hour drive from the Bay Area, but it could be the last chance to get to see her work in person. Don’t miss it.
Arte Américas Casa de la Cultura is located at 1630 Van Ness Ave in Fresno. For gallery hours call 559-268-6130.