Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A.

In collaboration with The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, this exhibition marks the first historical presentation of groundbreaking art, music, and performance from a network of queer Chicana/o artists in Southern California.

Presented simultaneously at two locations in West Hollywood:

Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. maps the intersections and collaborations among a network of queer Chicano artists and their artistic collaborators from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. This period was bookended by the Chicano Moratorium, gay liberation, and feminist movements on one end, and the AIDS crisis on the other. For many artists in the exhibition, Axis Mundo marks the first historical examination of their work to date. Over two decades of artwork encompassing painting, performance ephemera, print material, video, fashion, and photography will be presented. The exhibition broadly considers the work of the artists in the context of significant artistic and cultural movements: mail art and artist correspondences; the rise of Chicano, gay, and feminist print media; the formation of alternative spaces; fashion culture; punk music and performance; and artist responses to the AIDS crisis.

Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. is organized by David Evans Frantz, Curator at ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, and C. Ondine Chavoya, Professor of Art and Latino/a Studies at Williams College in collaboration with The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Artists in Axis Mundo include: Laura Aguilar, Jerri Allyn, Carlos Almaraz, Skot Armstrong, David Arnoff, Steven Arnold, Asco, Judith F. Baca, Alice Bag, Tosh Carrillo, Monte Cazazza, Edward Colver, Vaginal Davis, DIVA TV, Jerry Dreva, Simon Doonan, Tomata du Plenty, Elsa Flores, Anthony Friedkin, Harry Gamboa Jr., Roberto Gil de Montes, Gronk, Jef Huereque, Michael Intriere, Louis Jacinto, Ray Johnson, Alison Knowles, Robert Lambert, Robert Legorreta (Cyclona), Zoe Leonard, Les Petites Bonbons, Scott Lindgren, Mundo Meza, Judy Miranda, Ray Navarro, Nervous Gender, Richard Nieblas, Pauline Oliveros, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Clemente Padín, Phranc, Ruby Ray, Albert Sanchez, Teddy Sandoval, Joey Terrill, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Patssi Valdez, Ricardo Valverde, Jack Vargas, Gerardo Velázquez, Johanna Went, and Faith Wilding.

Purchase the catalogue for Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. here. 

Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. is a part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a farreaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. Supported by grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA takes place from September 2017 through January 2018 at more than 70 cultural institutions across Southern California, from Los Angeles to Palm Springs, and from San Diego to Santa Barbara. Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty.

Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. has been organized as a traveling exhibition by Independent Curators International (ICI). Find more information on the tour here.

Exhibition Tour Schedule

• The Hunter College Art Galleries, New York (205 Hudson Gallery and Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery): June 22, 2018 – August 19, 2018
• Vicki Myhren Gallery, University of Denver: September 13 – November 11, 2018
• Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, University of Nevada, Las Vegas: January 11 – March 16, 2019
• Lawndale Art Center, Houston: April 5 – June 9, 2019
• Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA: September 6 – December 9, 2019
• The Gund Gallery at Kenyon College, Gambier, OH: January 17 – April 12, 2020
• Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland: July 15, 2021 – January 2, 2022

Awards for the Axis Mundo Catalogue 

• AIGA & Design Observer: 50 Books Competition (2017)
• American Alliance of Museums (AAM): Museum Publication Design Competition, Category "Exhibition Catalog" (2018)
• Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC): Awards for Excellence for a Catalogue, C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz (2018)
• Association of Latin American Art (ALAA): ALAA-Arvey Foundation Exhibition Catalogue Award (2019)
• International Latino Book Awards: First Prize, Category "Best LGBTQ Themed Book" (2018)
• International Latino Book Awards: Second Prize, Category "Best Art Book" (2018)
• Book Industry Guild of New York (BIGNY): New York Book Show, First Prize, Category "Special Trade: Fine Art – Under $75 Cover/Jacket" (2018)
• Book Industry Guild of New York (BIGNY): New York Book Show, Second Prize, Category "Special Trade: Fine Art – Under $75" (2018)
• PRINT: PRINT Regional Design Awards Regional Winner (2018)

Related Programs

• A Conversation with Alice Bag: Friday, October 6, 2017, 7pm at MOCA Grand Avenue
• Origin Stories: A Workshop by Nicole Rademacher and Jerri Allyn: Sunday, October 8, 2017, 1-3pm at the West Hollywood Library Community Room
• Constellations and Connections: A Panel Discussion on Axis Mundo: Sunday, October 22, 2017, 3pm at the West Hollywood Council Chambers
• Beethoven Was a Lesbian: A Tribute to Pauline Oliveros: Sunday, October 29, 2017, 4-7pm at ONE Archives
• Joey Terrill Walkthrough of Axis Mundo: Sunday, November 12, 2017, 3pm at MOCA Pacific Design Center
• Simon Doonan on Mundo Meza: Sunday, November 19, 2017, 3pm at the West Hollywood Council Chambers

Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. has been made possible through major grants from the Getty Foundation.

This exhibition is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support has been provided by The Calamus Foundation of New York, Inc., the City of West Hollywood through WeHo Arts—the City’s Arts Division and Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission, Kathleen Garfield, the ONE Archives Foundation, the USC Libraries, and the Luis Balmaseda Fund for Gay & Lesbian Archives, administered by the California Community Foundation.

Lead support for MOCA Pacific Design Center is provided by Charles S. Cohen.  

Exhibitions at MOCA are supported by the MOCA Fund for Exhibitions with lead annual support provided by Sydney Holland, founder of the Sydney D. Holland Foundation. Generous funding is also provided by Allison and Larry Berg, Delta Air Lines, and Jerri and Dr. Steven Nagelberg.

In-kind media support is provided by KCRW 89.9FM and  

Image: (top) Installation view of Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A., September 9–December 31, 2017 at MOCA Pacific Design Center. Photo by Zak Kelley. Courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries