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Popular Culture Review
In the Beginning
These figurines embody different characters that the artist, David
Gonzalez, created to represent the Chicano experience in the barrio. As part of
the overall marketing efforts, Gonzalez also created a Web site where the
figurines were pictured along with short narratives about their “lives.” These
biographies added a depth to the characters and provided for their potential
adoption in a larger social context (e.g., outside of the barrio). They also allowed
the artist to proactively address criticisms and offer his artistic vision for his
subcultural products.^ These characters have created some controversy, and this
paper will primarily focus on three themes that may help illustrate their cultural
importance and situate the locus of contention they represent for some agents of
social control. ^ To begin this analysis it is important to first understand the
history of the figurines and in this way begin to recognize their social and
cultural relevance as representations of the reality of barrio life.
Beginning in high school, Gonzalez started to draw what he knew—the
life and times of a male Hispanic youth living in the barrio. These subcultural
depictions, first known as “Adventures of Chico Loco,” then “Adventures of
Hollywood,” were based on his life and observations of the world around him.
After many years and several name changes, his comic representations began to
run consistently in Lowrider magazine. Thus, the artist began the journey from
being an underground artistic phenomenon to having his figurines become more
mainstream, popular art forms.
Gonzales began creating his collection of Homies with six characters:
Eight Ball, Smiley, Big Loco, Droopy, Sapo, and Mr. Raza. As of 2002, the line
of figurines had expanded to 130 and they were in wide circulation. As the
characters grew in popularity, and perhaps in response to some criticism that
they evoked, Gonzales expanded his universe of characters fi-om the original six
to include human characters, like a schoolteacher and a gang counselor, as well
as culturally specific icons like certain breeds of dogs. The artist even gave
homage to a chili pepper by creating a character that embodies what some
consider the mainstay of Chicano ethnic cuisine. It is clear that these characters
do not represent some fictionalized stereotype of gang figures alone (one of the
more visible criticisms ), but they embody a range of human experiences that one
would encounter in the barrio, at least from the standpoint of the artist: that of a
male working-class youth/young adult.
While the diversity of the Homies collection is somewhat evident, this
group of characters is dominated by male Hispanic figures. As noted in Table 1
below, the 130 Homies are primarily Hispanic (89%) but do include characters
from various other origins: African, Asian, Native American, and Anglo.
Likewise, the table indicates that the gender composition of the figurines is
heavily slanted towards males (76%).