Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Additional Online Media

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Villa, Carlos, 1936-2013  Search this
Interviewer:
Karlstrom, Paul J  Search this
Subject:
Valledor, Leo  Search this
Garcia, Rupert  Search this
Neri, Manuel  Search this
Brown, Joan  Search this
Berman, Wallace  Search this
Wiley, William T.  Search this
Hudson, Robert  Search this
Bischoff, Elmer  Search this
Diebenkorn, Richard  Search this
University of California, San Francisco. School of Fine Arts  Search this
Park Place Gallery Art Research, Inc.  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Place of publication, production, or execution:
California
Physical Description:
134 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 8 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 15 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 40 min.
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Summary:
An interview of Carlos Villa conducted 1995 June 20-July 10, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art.
Villa discusses his "progress" from Filipino background to his art world identity; the phenomena and individuals who contributed to the new awareness in the mid-1970s: "El Movimiento," Chicano "Rasquache," Rupert Garcia, Amalia Mesa-Baines; the idea of "recuperation," and the sense of Asian-American identity and community as a basis for his art. Villa recalls growing up in San Francisco; his early life; living in the Tenderloin district and his exposure to racism; the influence of his cousin, artist Leo Valledor; growing up Filipino in California and the difficulties that accompanied it. Villa discusses popular (black) culture, jazz "guapo," zoot-suit style as role models and basis for aesthetic/art; his admiration for black self-esteem; his aesthetics; viewing art as a way out of the ghetto and an escape from racism.
Villa discusses his introduction to the California School of Fine Arts (soon thereafter the San Francisco Art Institute); his need to be part of the artist community; CSFA and other students and teachers; and his self-conception as a modernist. He discusses the technical aspects of his art; the influence of various Bay Area artists on his work; his investigation of Filipino art history and his role models; the role of the women at the CSFA and women as role models. Villa recalls his first show at Pointdexter in New York; his associations with minimalists and the Park Place Gallery group; his New York minimalist phase and his need to escape the New York environment after six years. He discusses his return to the Bay Area and his use of identity/politics as subjects for his art.
Villa recalls or mentions Rupert Garcia, Leo Valledor, Manuel Neri, Joan Brown, Bill Morehouse, David Stone Martin, Wallace Berman, William Wiley, Bob and Dona Hudson, Bill Allen, Elmer Bischoff, Richard Diebenkorn, Ralph DuCass, Walter Kuhlman, Wally Hedrick, Bruce Conner, Alvin Light, Claire Falkenstein, Bob McFarlane, Hayter, Tapies, Fred Martin, Nathan Oliveira, Jennifer Bartlett, Dick Maclean, Elizabeth Murray, Alfred Neumeyer, Mark Rothko, Kenneth Noland, Sol Lewitt, Mark di Suvero, Robert Grovesnor, Tom Seligman, Kurt Schwitters, Robert Rauschenberg, Angela Davis, and Moira Roth.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral History interview with Carlos Villa, 1995 June 20-July 10. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Funding:
The digital preservation of this interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.
Biography Note:
Carlos Villa (1936-2013) was a Filipino American painter, curator, and educator in San Francisco, California.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Modernism (Art)  Search this
Latino and Latin American artists  Search this
Asian American art  Search this
Asian American artists  Search this
Filipino American art  Search this
Filipino American artists  Search this
Asian American painters  Search this
Asian American curators  Search this
Asian American educators  Search this
Theme:
Latino and Latin American  Search this
Asian American  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)5561
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)215877
AAA_collcode_villa95
Theme:
Latino and Latin American
Asian American
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_215877