Enrique Chagoya
Illegal Alien's Guide to Existentialism, or My Private Border Patrol, 2007
Pastel, acrylic paint, and water-based oil paint on canvas
60 x 80 in.
This painting appeared in Crossing the Line, an exhibition presented by the Museum in early 2017, on the heels of the 2016 election. For that exhibition we invited faculty members...
This painting appeared in Crossing the Line, an exhibition presented by the Museum in early 2017, on the heels of the 2016 election. For that exhibition we invited faculty members and students alike to offer their insights on works in the Museum’s collection. About this painting, Helen Lewandowski ’12 wrote:
As implied by its title, this painting reflects societal vitriol surrounding illegal immigration as well as the artist’s personal perspective. The border patrol officer gives a stern command to a figure of Death, who responds with a facetious assent and a tip of her bottle while continuing to dance. Death reigns, and the officer’s attempt to unnaturally exile the inevitable and universal is mocked as an absurd self-preservation mechanism that denies reality. In the eyes of Death, a status of “legal” or “illegal” is a temporal and ultimately meaningless distinction.
