Down with the ‘‘Homies”
79
Table 1
Race
Hispanic
Origin
Number of
characters
(N=122*)
Gender
Number of
characters
(N=122*)
109
(89%)
African
Origin
6
10
/.
Male
Female
93
(76 %)
29
(24%)
Asian
Origin
Native
American
Origin
Anglo
Origin
1
( 1%)
*Nonhuman
characters
were
excluded from these variables. These
characters include a chili (El
Chilote), death (La Muerte), a ghost
(Lil Ghost), 2 dogs (Chato, a pit
bull, and Cochino, a Chihuahua), a
pigeon (Homie Pigeon), the Devil
(Diablo), and one character who is
deceased (Dreamer).
Art?
The idea that the Homies are an artistic expression, one that is socially
subjective and subculturally influenced, is difficult for outsiders to fathom. That
these characters are part of everyday life, a popular cultural presentation of self
for the attentive observer of the barrio, is likewise difficult to imagine, let alone
comprehend for many outsider observers. In these characters, the artist has
captured something about his social system; he has frozen a moment in time, a
place in memory, and a subculture at its most vulnerable and proud, with warts
aplenty.
The question of whether these figurines are art points to the debate
about what is deemed worthy of being considered artistic. The aesthetic
definition® of culture presented and refuted by Edles (2002) points to a cultural
classification that is distinguished by an artistic sensibility usually cultivated
within elitist circles.^ Typical explanations of culture embody a hierarchy in
which some forms of expression are cultured, cultivated, or refined enough to be
classified as art forms within this highbrow conceptual framework. In contrast,
popular culture products like collectibles (as the Homies have become over
time) are not up to this standard; thus they and those who covet them are
considered by some as lowbrow and unrefined.
Considering these arguments, it is apparent that Gonzales’s Homies
figurines fall outside the arena of “high culture” for a variety of reasons. For
example, Gonzales’s art form reflects his working-class, ethnic status. For
critics to dismiss these figurines as art (whether they are good or bad forms of