Thesis/Antithesis
1997

Mexican-born artist Enrique Chagoya moved to the United States in 1979, settling in California. He describes his work as “a conceptual fusion of opposite cultural realities that I have experienced in my lifetime.” Chagoya often examines interchanges between North and Central American cultures, considering how stereotypes and nationalist imagery function as means of political control. In this monotype, shiny, black wingtip shoes attached to suited legs mirror a pair of inverted bare feet below, illustrating the polarizing theme announced in the work’s title. The red and black palette may refer to Soviet agitprop as well as Aztec symbolism, in which the colors represent the duality and interdependence of opposites.