Blue Mustang by Luis Jiménez- Pop-Art and Chicano Identity in the American Southwest

When you consider some of the most influential artists in the southwest and in the Chicano culture, you must look at the works of Luis Jiménez. With his unique blend of Pop-art style coloration and depictions of scenes of the Southwest, Jiménez is easily one of the most notable artists in our area. As someone who identifies with the Southwest as my home, I believe that Jiménez does a wonderful job in connecting the past with the present, a high-brow style with the barrio, and the easily seen with the underlying subjectivity of the unseen.

Although I am not a member of the Chicano culture, I have been influenced by the art and lifestyle of those who are. It is hard to find an artist who has had such an impact on an entire culture as Jiménez. I identify heavily with this culture, having grown up in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood, a small trailer-park community on the outskirts of Amarillo, Texas. I grew up being called “Gringo” or “Wedo” although these are slang terms for the color of my skin color. In order to fit in with my friends at that time who did identify as Chicano, it was not uncommon for me to go with my friends to car shows. We would view low-riders and become mesmerized by the bold colors and glossy, glittery shine that you would find in many of the cars that were viewed as “hip” or desirable in the public sphere. "I saw him as the grandfather of Chicano art," said Denver artist Carlos Fresquez.

I relate to Jiménez’s work more than some non-Chicano artists, because although that was not my personal culture, it was familiar and had become my reality. Although you could examine the works of Jiménez as a whole, for the sake of time I will be focusing on what is arguably one of Jiménez’s largest and most well-known pieces: Blue Mustang. The piece itself can only be experienced in person at the Denver International Airport, but some still photographs of the structure have made their way to the Amarillo Museum of Art. This work was a breath of fresh air for me in bringing Chicano art back into our section of the Southwest.

At the whopping height of over 30 feet tall and weighing more than 9 tons, Blue Mustang was the last piece Jiménez would ever work on, and one that would raise more controversy than many other pieces up to this point. “Blue Mustang,” or its street name, “Bluecifer,” has made national headlines. “Blucifer” can be seen from miles away as you approach the Denver International Airport. The piece has become a prime example of what perceptions of reality can do to a subjective work of art like this. Jiménez made the horse a shimmery shade of blue much like you would find on a car flashy, new, tricked out car, no? Not just any old conservative mom-mobile. Its veins stand out and are rendered in a deep blue, maybe even black. They are supposed to show the boldness and strength of the mighty breed which helped shape the Southwest. One of the most controversial features of this piece are the large, red LED eyes on the horse that can be seen glowing in the night. These glowing red eyes are supposed to represent the brake lights of a car, although many people cannot make it past the uncomfortable demonic connotation of the red-eyed beast. The positioning of the horse shows it reared up on its hind legs, depicting movement, action, and in some ways, aggression. As an artist, Jiménez thought that the positioning of the mustang and the chosen colors painted a picture of his reality and perception of the Southwest: full of color and action; manly and powerful; wild and uncontrolled.

However, with art being so subjective, many people had a very different interpretation of the statue and the message it portrays. Some people believe that Blue Mustang is comparable to one of the four horsemen from the apocalypse, ushering in plague, war, death, and destruction to the city, instead of a warm welcoming that is typical at airports. It is easy to make this mistake if you do not look at the full context of Jiménez’s art and his stylistic work. The rhetorical spacing of this larger-than-life structure does not help the negative publicity and rumors about the airport itself. There is a surprisingly high number of people who believe that the Denver Airport is part of a much larger government conspiracy, even the “new world order.” The airport design is interesting because it is called the “circus tent,” due to its uncanny resemblance to a circus-style big top. One of the most fascinating larger arguments of the structure itself is the overall art layout found throughout the entire airport. Without this continued controversy, I believe that Jiménez’s piece would not have received as much negative feedback as it did.

As mentioned earlier, Blue Mustang was the last piece of art Jiménez was ever able to work on. When he was finishing up the construction of this large art sculpture, tragedy struck: “In 2006, while he was hoisting pieces of the mustang for final assembly in his New Mexico studio, the horse's massive torso swung out of control and crushed the 65-year-old artist” (Simon, 2009). Now people not only view the piece as a symbol of the apocalypse, but also a murderous work of art that killed its creator in one of the strangest accidents the art world has ever seen. Some people think that this was a prophetic sign of the future of the piece.

If we look into the politics surrounding the structure, I believe that we must also look at some of the politics of the airport’s construction as a whole. Many people in the Denver area were not supportive of the proposed new airport. Stapleton International Airport was a much larger airport that existed before the construction of the Denver International Airport. This had many locals in an uproar over the construction of the new airport. As for Blue Mustang, it created an uproar with locals because of its huge monetary cost of more than half a million dollars. The overall perception of the piece made many local residents feel uncomfortable. Between the spotlighting from below creating dramatic harsh shadows, and the piercing red eyes that can be seen for miles and may not put air travelers at ease, many people are still not comfortable with the structure.

What really brings this artifact “home” for me is the amount of inspiration it pulls from the Southwest. We saw a combination in the Pop-Art styling during our in-class venture to AMoA. In several works, bold colors with mixed with themes of depravity, all working together to produce a strange unsettling feeling. Where you want to look at it and see joy and happiness, the imagery appears dark and shows you a darker reality than you would expect, and creates many levels of dissonance. Wouldn’t you say Amarillo and many areas of the West have this eerie sense of dissonance? I mean look at the strange road signs and Cadillac Ranch. Moreover, Amarillo is my hometown, and we have over 1,000 horses across the city representing our rich history with the American Quarter Horse and the mustang. Wild mustangs once roamed the high plains and were slowly overcome by the encroachment of American modern development. Around Amarillo, one sees sculptures of static, individually painted Quarter Horses reflecting this heritage. However, these horses are static in nature, contrasting distinctly with the huge, dynamic Jimenez horse. And although these Amarillo horse sculptures are bold with crazy colors, they are “average” size and much less intimidating than their Blue Mustang counterpart. Horses are not anything new to the Southwest and I believe they are a great symbol in the area and what we are proud of in our culture. Horses symbolize the strength, power, and rugged nature associated with the American Southwest. The symbolism of Blue Mustang is one that paints the ideas of power, but many perceive it as so much more than just power. It becomes a symbol of domination, depravity, oppression, and the trampling of those who are inferior.

Overall the Blue Mustang structure has created a lot of justified controversy. What might have been originally designed to be a reflection of Chicano “car culture” may have been misinterpreted and became shifted from a symbol of strength to a symbol of oppression. Jiménez larger-than-life pop-art style will be symbol of Chicano culture for years to come. The impact of Blue Mustang will continue to perplex, and maybe even disturb people in a way that only adds to the layers of meaning and heritage in the Southwest.