 | Cinco de Milo California artist unveils new statue by Victor Payan
Pocho Border Art Critic
May 6, 2001. San Diego, CA--To commemorate Cinco de Mayo, Chicano artist Pablo Picoso cut the arms off the statue of a Mexican man
reaching up with hands outstretched that he had erected in his yard. "It was a tough decision, but I did what I had to do," explains Picoso, who has named the statue the "Cinco de Milo. Picoso claims that he was not bowing to censorship from people who disliked the statue, although he received severe criticism for the original work . Picoso explains that this drastic measure came after more than a year of trying to erect a statue dedicated to Latino immigrants. |
| "I wanted to create a statue that powerfully spoke to the strength and possibility of today's Chicano/Mexicano community but also openly addressed the questions of the past," said Picoso, "but no city I went to would have that."
Picoso's first idea was to create a tribute to the early Californios by putting a statue of Pio Pico, California's last Mexican governor, in the historic section of Monterey, the city that once served as California's capital
"I presented it to the local art commission, but they were less than receptive," said Picoso. "They informed me that they would only fund projects that dealt with official California history from the Bear Flag Revolt to the present. So I made another proposal."
Picoso's second proposal, a piece called "The Bare Flaggers," was to erect a statue of nude mountain men raising the original Bear Flag.
"I thought it was very Iwo Jima-esque," says Picoso, "but the arts commissioners said it looked more like a gay homeless orgy. Plus, they didn't appreciate the misspelling."
To maintain historical accuracy, Picoso's depiction contained the original misspelling on the Bear Flag, which omitted the letter "l" from the word "Republic."
"Imagine the shock of the well-educated Californios when all these grungy street people come out of the mountains proclaiming the birth of the 'CALIFORNIA REPUBIC,'" says Picoso. "The arts commissioners thought I was being disrespectful, but I was only being historically accurate."
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