Nachos are a key motif in Justin Favela’s work. They are often thought of (in popular U.S. culture) as “Mexican food,” but in fact they more properly belong to a border / Tex-Mex tradition. Favela uses nachos as a symbol of hybrid cultural identity—between Mexican, Central American, U.S. Southwest, and Latinx in general. The “border” nature of the dish echoes Favela’s own mixed Guatemalan-Mexican heritage and his experience growing up as a Latinx person in the U.S. His use of nachos and Tex-Mex foods interrogates which cuisines are thought of as “authentic” Latinx, and how the dominant culture flattens those distinctions.
Favela frequently speaks about how, in the U.S., food is one of the first ways people “enter into” another person’s culture (e.g. asking “Where are you from? Oh, do you like tacos?”). Food imagery can open up more complicated conversations about culture, stereotype, and appropriation. The nacho thus becomes a kind of visual shorthand: it’s familiar, accessible, even playful — which draws viewers in — but then the work pushes beyond that initial “fun” moment into critique.
The contrast between something as “low-brow” (or everyday) as nachos and the high art setting is part of Favela’s subversive strategy. By using humor and exaggeration, he invites viewers to question why certain subjects (e.g. food, party culture, folk crafts) are dismissed as trivial or “craft-y” — and who decides those hierarchies.
𝑁𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑜 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 was commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, as part of 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝐹𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑎: 𝑃𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒 𝑁𝑢𝑒𝑣𝑜, September 10, 2019 – November 15, 2020
Come see both of these works on view at our NADA Miami booth, C313. ✨
@favyfav @newartdealers
Image 1: Justin Favela, 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖 𝑁𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑠 (𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑁𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑠 𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑦), 2017, tissue paper and glue on cardboard, 9.5 x 9 x 11 in. (24.1 x 22.9 x 27.9 cm)
Images 2–6: Justin Favela, 𝑁𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑜 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟, 2019, wire, tissue paper, glue, and found objects, 66 x 61 x 61 in. (167.6 x 155 x 155 cm)
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