Folklore Remix (2016)
An exhibition focused on remixing mythology with street art sensibility.
Gamut Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Curated by Cassie Garner
By its nature, it is ancient but very much alive. All cultures have their mythologies, tall tales, creation myths, ghost stories, fairy tales, and hometown heroes. Whether it’s the Chupacabra or the Maco Light, each generation hears, learns, and retells their stories in their way, passing on a mutable truth through oral tradition like a centuries-long game of Telephone.
Luis Fitch does not just retell the stories of his childhood life in Mexico; he remixes them. He has retrofitted the Mexican and Minnesotan mythologies with a crisp, vibrant street art sensibility. Like old-school vinyl on a DJ’s turntable, his cultural background is spun, scratched, and remade into works of art that are fresh and new.
Luis Fitch’s Día de Los Muertos-inspired wheat paste prints can be seen gracing light poles and alleyways around Minneapolis and in cities across the continent. A native of Tijuana, Fitch went to school on both sides of the most visited border in the world and eventually landed in Minnesota.
The dichotomy of life within these two worlds, the ‘South’ (Mexico) and the ‘North’ (The United States), critically influenced artistic factors. He quickly learned to adapt, developing his own individual artistic and cultural identity. His work is immediately recognizable in its graphic simplicity: a bright, playful, vectorized update to traditional Mexican iconography that speaks to the problems of modern-day Mexico, such as government corruption and drug war violence. Combining contemporary digital technology with “Papel Picado,” the Mexican technique of colorful hand-cut paper dating back to the 18th century, Fitch’s work moves us seamlessly across cultures and through time.
