Guillermo Gómez-Peña

Library Journal: A performance-and-installation piece that has appeared in museums across the country, "Temple of Confessions" features artists Gomez-Pe?a (The New World Border, LJ 8/15/96) and Sifuentes and their collaborators acting in such personae as Tex-Mex shaman and pregnant nun. Within an environment of humorous and provocative objects that serve "to open a Pandora box and let loose the colonial demons," visitors are invited to confess their secret desires either by kneeling and recording into a microphone, writing a postcard, or calling a phone number. The confessions are often emotional and reveal racism, tenderness, solidarity, or sexuality as visitors react to the Latino "other." This is art as serious social exploration.… (mehr)

Library Journal: Performance artist and self-proclaimed "reverse anthropologist," Gomez-Pena slashes and burns his way through the social jungle like a Latino Berzerker. Clear and energetic, he levels all, and I mean all, cultural dragons. He is not the first to observe that change in the late 20th century has been so enormous that the entire world, especially the United States, has plunged into a deep identity crisis, but unlike some social critics, he offers hope. First, he argues, we must recognize that no one is innocent. Then, only by accepting the inevitability of our innate hybridization will we find a healthy context for genuine growth. Taken from several projects, the author's poems and texts are astute, biting, and often painfully funny. Like any good trickster, he tries to awaken us by teaching how important it is to laugh at ourselves. Read at risk to your own complacency.… (mehr)

Amazon: Performance artist Guillermo Gomez -Pena is an incredible talent who in this, his fifth book, has put together his thoughts and recollections on his art through the nineties. In this collection of essays, interviews, and scripts, Gomez-Pena describes the preparation, processes, goals and results of his work, and muses on the whole shebang. In this book you'll meet such notable creations as "Border Brujo," "El Naftaaztec," "El Mexterminator," "Cyber-Vato" and "El Mad Mex"(from the film "Natural Born Matones"), traverse the globe from Helsinki to Vladivostok, Montana to Buenos Aires, Chiapas to Ciudad Juarez, Wales to Tijuana or from Fort Collings to back "home" in San Francisco or Mexico City.… (mehr)