On Saturday the Vincent Price Art Museum held a closing program and celebration for the exhibition “Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art.” The show travels next to the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, Massachusetts where it will be on display from July 19 to Dec. 15.
Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art is the first museum retrospective dedicated to the inventive though overlooked artist Teddy Sandoval (1949–1995). A central figure in Los Angeles’s queer and Chicanx artistic circles, Sandoval was an active participant in both U.S. and international avant-garde movements. For twenty-five years, he produced subversive, yet playful artworks that explored the codes of gender and sexuality and continuously mined archetypes of masculinity in his work through his signature icon of a faceless man, often sporting a mustache.
Vincent Price Art Museum
UNCLE TEDDY — Sandoval’s nephew Steven Sandoval discusses ceramic works with Ramon Valdez. Valdez came to VPAM from Castaic for the closing celebration. Sandoval came from “down the street in Commerce.”WELCOME — Joseph Valencia, VPAM Curator, David Evans Franz, exhibition co-curator, and Steven Wong, VPAM Director welcome guests to the Teddy Sandoval closing event and share stories about Sandoval and this exhibition. RAQUEL GUTIÉRREZ — “In the Reagan Era they were absolute monsters to a generation of gay men. People today say they don’t understand ‘What’s the thing with Elizabeth Taylor?’ or Madonna. They don’t know they were responsible for so much Aids awareness. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be ignored as a gay man. This is what inspired my focus on Teddy Sandoval.”“RENEE, LA TROQUERA” — 1985, pastel on paper, Ester Hernández. In addition to numerous works by Sandoval, the exhibition includes works by many other artists, such as this pastel by Hernández. As the VPAM website states, “In the spirit of collectivity suggested by the ‘school of art,’ this exhibition includes works by other queer, Latinx, and Latin American artists who share similar graphic sensibilities, approaches to media, or thematic interests. The exhibition proposes an alternative model for the solo survey that incorporates unanticipated affinities and parallel histories across the Americas.”ALEX DONIS — shares an Ed Ruscha image on his phone with the audience. Donis said, “I love the idea of this imaginary school. My talk will be a little X-rated. So, if that bothers anyone, I’m letting you know! I went to the same alma mater as Teddy did. We’re both grads of CSULB. The whole concept of this exhibition isn’t just artists that Teddy knew, but artists around the world who work in a similar language.”BUTCH GARDENS — Exhibition co-curator David Evans Frantz wears his “Butch Gardens School of Art” jacket and lifts his phone over the crowd to take a picture of one of the speakers, Daniel Arthur Mendoza. Mendoza said, “At 27, in 2017, I made my first trip to LA as a fully out gay man. I saw a Teddy Sandoval image on Sunset Blvd., a depiction of a young, Chicano male wearing this sweater with such pride. Throughout his career Teddy depicted male on male intimacy. I love Teddy’s commitment to subverting and queering the Chicano homeboy.”DJ BLACKMUSEUMIST — spun discs from Sandoval’s personal collection at the afterparty. Here he plays Debbie Jacobs record “High on Your Love” which she autographed for Sandoval, “To Teddy, a very nice smile. Love, Debbie Jacobs.”
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