Harry Gamboa Jr: Provocateur

Chicano artist Harry Gamboa Jr. also got his start with ASCO, the east Los Angeles based performace group.  

Gamboa and ASCO acquired much attention because the four original members tackled issues that they confronted everyday as young Americans of Mexican ancestry.  Chicanos had been ignored for too long; inspired and encouraged by Black American's resistance and empowerment, Chicanos also fought for and asserted their rights as American citizens.  Gamboa was politically active during his earlier years, especially during his high school years.  He participated in the Chicano Student Walk-Outs and fought for Chicanos' rights to adequate education.

Outside of school, Gamboa along with his good friends Gronk, Patssi, and Willie were taking on some of the most ignored and frustrating issues that plagued Chicano communities. 

Gamboa photographed and directed many of the performances and statements made by ASCO. Unique to Gamboa, and ASCO's work, was the direction that they took their art in.

It was popular, and still is, for Chicano and Chicana artists to take from their rich culture and history, and project their interpretations as murals, paintings, or other works of art.  Gamboa had different ideas.

Gamboa did not limit his creativity to one medium; he explored photography, film, production, performance, multi-media. Gamboa challenged and continues to challenge misconceptions and stereotypes of the Chicano and Latino communities of the United States.  Most notably, he explores contemporary and urban issues of Latino communities using not so traditional mediums. 

The beauty of Gamboa's art expression lies in that each piece of his work is able to connect the people, the issues, and the time to the same issue: misrepresentation. 

Gamboa tempers with the concept of perspective over and over, challenging the ideas, concepts, stereotypes, and assumptions about the Chicano community.

(Recurring theme in Gamboa's work: Thug, Tough, or Tame?)

Gamboa was able to provoke feelings of frustration, anger, hate, sorrow, despair, joy, hope, triumph, and a myriad of other emotions as he ventured into territory where few other Chicano artists had gone. 

Gamboa provoked outrage in some Chicanos, outrage that led to questioning not only the socio-economic conditions Chicanos were battling, but the harsh reality of the racism and prejudice that kept them there.