Artist Lecture | Myra Yepez

Early on in the year the University had the pleasure of hosting Guillermo Gómez-Peña. Known best for some of his performance pieces, Gómez-Peña gave a lecture that was both eye opening and at points quite entertaining. He discussed politics and his thoughts on the recent historical election while also touching on the economy. As for the entertaining, he gave a bottle of hard liquor to be passed around in the audience which some people received very gladly and others decided to politely pass on.

His art is not confined to the studio arts, and the lecture he gave shows that. His performance fused language, politics, and interactivity with the audience. He would talk to some of the audience members and rouse questions and bring up points. One of the first statements he set on the table was “God Bless…” which the audience took and finished by naming and incredible amount of different countries. His spoken words melt away English and Spanish into one, allowing boundaries to melt away in his rhetoric. While not everyone in the audience may have understood some of the Spanish, he still managed to convey his messages across using his hands, emphasis, and enunciation.

While his reception at USC was quite warm, he told an anecdote about a time he did a performance for a large group of US soldiers. According to Gómez-Peña, his reception was not quite as welcoming. There were no laughs when he intended things to be funny and some of his political opinions may have clashed with that of the military and government in general. To add to the hurt, not only did they not enjoy what he was saying, but they were probably confused at the sight of Gómez-Peña himself. His eyelined and painted face grouped with a mix of ethnic Mexican and Native American clothing caused confusion and skepticism.

Regardless, his lecture was much appreciated by the audience sitting in the courtyard in front of Fisher. He gave comforting words in terms of the recession and artists in general. He brought up the point that artists have been struggling for years and in a joking manner said the recession would probably hurt people in other professions more than artists. While Gómez-Peña has grown to be a respected performer and artist in the world, I thought it was very amusing when he said that his aunt in Mexico still doesn’t understand what he actually does for a living.