美国国家公共电台 NPR--The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture opens in California

The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture opens in California

Transcript¹

Actor and comedian² Cheech Marin has long been a collector of Latino artwork. This past weekend, he cut the ribbon on a new museum: The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Cheech Marin is part of the comedy duo Cheech and Chong. He's also an art collector and just opened his own museum in Riverside, Calif. It's no joke. NPR's Mandalit del Barco attended the opening of the country's first major museum dedicated³ to Chicano art.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE⁴: I'm standing⁵ outside The Cheech, which is filled with two floors of contemporary Chicano artworks. To welcome his guests, Cheech arrived in a 1962 Chevy Impala convertible⁶ in a caravan⁷ of lowriders - souped-up classic cars riding low to the ground, made famous in East LA, where Cheech was born.

(SOUNDBITE OF DRUMMING)

DEL BARCO: He was greeted by a group of Aztec dancers, and all day there was a street party to celebrate.

CHEECH MARIN: My heart is swelling⁸ at this point, man. This is a dream that I never dared dream, having a museum dedicated to Chicano art. It's the very first one in the world, and you should be very proud.

(CHEERING)

DEL BARCO: With that, he invited the public inside to see the original artworks of artists such as Gronk, Patssi Valdez, Wayne Healy, Frank Romero and the late Carlos Almaraz. During the artists' reception, Marin told me he's been collecting their work for decades.

MARIN: Everybody came up to me and said, hey, you should have a museum. I said, yeah, I should have a jet plane, too, you know, but I don't got either of those. So I just didn't pay attention to this. And this offer came in out of the blue. OK, thank you, you know? (Laughter).

DEL BARCO: City officials in Riverside and the Riverside Art Museum invited him to make his collection into a museum in what used to be the city's public library. It was a unique $14.5 million partnership⁹. But Marin says at first he was skeptical¹⁰.

MARIN: I don't know. The whole collection and it's going to leave my hands forever? And I need a sign that this is what to do. So help me.

DEL BARCO: He asked how big the modernist building was.

MARIN: Sixty-one-thousand-four-hundred-twenty square feet. And I said, 420 square feet? That's a sign. That's a sign. Thank you, Lord (laughter).

DEL BARCO: Four-twenty is slang for marijuana, something the comedian is known for smoking in the movies.

Four-twenty.

MARIN: Four-twenty - it was a sign (laughter).

DEL BARCO: Marin says this museum is long from the days when he faced pushback for becoming an art collector.

MARIN: Who are you, this doper comedian, to say what's what about Chicano art? You don't have degrees in art. Then they start opening the crates¹¹. That's when it changes 'cause I didn't have an agenda that I was pushing, except for art to be seen.

DEL BARCO: And what a collection. The entire second floor is a retrospective of the art by Jamex and Einar de la Torre. The brothers grew up in Guadalajara, learning English as a second language by listening to Cheech and Chong albums.

EINAR DE LA TORRE: We're part of his collection for many, many years. Cheech was like, you're opening my museum. And we were like, what could be better?

DEL BARCO: Their work includes comical blown glass sculptures and layered images that change as you walk past, what's known as lenticular art. For one installation, they constructed a large lunar lander shaped like an Olmec head.

DE LA TORRE: The earth is burning back there, and we're colonizing¹² the moon with this, and there's already taco stands on the moon. A very important element in our work is humor. Maybe that's one of the reasons that we have this dialogue with Cheech.

DEL BARCO: The de la Torres' work is an evolution of the fun and political Chicano art that grew out of El Movimiento in the 1960s and '70s, when Mexican Americans crusaded for social justice and empowerment. In the '70s and '80s, Patssi Valdez was a member of ASCO, a Chicano art collective doing performance art and activism.

PATSSI VALDEZ: I started out being really fed up of the stereotyping¹³ of my culture.

DEL BARCO: The Cheech features several of Valdez's paintings, including one called "Room On The Verge¹⁴." She told me she's proud to be part of the museum.

VALDEZ: I remember somewhere they said Chicanos don't make art, years ago when I was very young. And I'm thinking, yes, we do. We're not just crafters. So I think this museum is going to help prove that.

DEL BARCO: Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, whose work is in the collection, says the museum is long overdue¹⁵.

LALO ALCARAZ: Chicano art - it's positive, and it's truthful¹⁶, and it's beautiful. It's about our people, the land, the politics, everything.

DEL BARCO: Before the public opening, Marin hosted a reception for a who's who of Chicano artists, including Judithe Hernandez, who's been in the art world for 52 years.

JUDITHE HERNANDEZ: This is a nuclear bomb, culturally speaking. This museum has hit people's imaginations and turned the world around for the art by Chicanos and Mexican Americans. It's never had this kind of spotlight¹⁷ before.

DEL BARCO: Mandalit del Barco, NPR News, Riverside, Calif.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

3 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 convertible   

adj.可改变的，可交换，同意义的；n.有活动摺篷的汽车

参考例句：

• The convertible sofa means that the apartment can sleep four.有了这张折叠沙发，公寓里可以睡下4个人。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了。

7 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

8 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

9 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

10 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

11 crates   

n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱

参考例句：

• We were using crates as seats. 我们用大木箱作为座位。
• Thousands of crates compacted in a warehouse. 数以千计的板条箱堆放在仓库里。

12 colonizing   

v.开拓殖民地，移民于殖民地( colonize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The art of colonizing is no exception to the rule. 殖民的芸术是� 有特例的。 来自互联网
• A Lesson for Other Colonizing Nations. 其它殖民国家学习的教训。 来自互联网

13 stereotyping   

v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I realize that I'm stereotyping. 我认识到我搞的是老一套。 来自辞典例句
• There is none of the gender stereotyping usually evident in school uniforms. 有没有人的性别刻板印象通常是显而易见的。 来自互联网

14 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

15 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

16 truthful   

adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的

参考例句：

• You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心，他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
• I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。

17 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。