Oral History interview with Carlos Villa
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 8 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 15 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 40 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Villa, Carlos, 1936-2013
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
label: Names
content: Park Place Gallery Art Research, Inc.
label: Names
content: University of California, San Francisco. School of Fine Arts
label: Names
content: Berman, Wallace, 1926-1976
label: Names
content: Bischoff, Elmer, 1916-1991
label: Names
content: Brown, Joan, 1938-1990
label: Names
content: Diebenkorn, Richard, 1922-1993
label: Names
content: Garcia, Rupert, 1941-
label: Names
content: Hudson, Robert, 1938-
label: Names
content: Neri, Manuel, 1930-
label: Names
content: Valledor, Leo, 1936-1989
label: Names
content: Wiley, William T., 1937-2021
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- California -- San Francisco
label: Occupation
content: Sculptors -- California -- San Francisco
label: Topic
content: Modernism (Art)
label: Topic
content: Latino and Latin American artists
label: Topic
content: Asian American art
label: Topic
content: Asian American artists
label: Topic
content: Filipino American art
label: Topic
content: Filipino American artists
label: Topic
content: Asian American painters
label: Topic
content: Asian American curators
label: Topic
content: Asian American educators
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Villa, Carlos, 1936-2013
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Carlos Villa (1936-2013) was a Filipino American painter, curator, and educator in San Francisco, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 134 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1995 June 20-July 10
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.villa95
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Carlos Villa conducted 1995 June 20-July 10, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Villa discusses his "progress" from Filipino background to his art world identity; the phenomena and individuals who contributed to the new awareness in the mid-1970s: "El Movimiento," Chicano "Rasquache," Rupert Garcia, Amalia Mesa-Baines; the idea of "recuperation," and the sense of Asian-American identity and community as a basis for his art. Villa recalls growing up in San Francisco; his early life; living in the Tenderloin district and his exposure to racism; the influence of his cousin, artist Leo Valledor; growing up Filipino in California and the difficulties that accompanied it. Villa discusses popular (black) culture, jazz "guapo," zoot-suit style as role models and basis for aesthetic/art; his admiration for black self-esteem; his aesthetics; viewing art as a way out of the ghetto and an escape from racism.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Villa discusses his introduction to the California School of Fine Arts (soon thereafter the San Francisco Art Institute); his need to be part of the artist community; CSFA and other students and teachers; and his self-conception as a modernist. He discusses the technical aspects of his art; the influence of various Bay Area artists on his work; his investigation of Filipino art history and his role models; the role of the women at the CSFA and women as role models. Villa recalls his first show at Pointdexter in New York; his associations with minimalists and the Park Place Gallery group; his New York minimalist phase and his need to escape the New York environment after six years. He discusses his return to the Bay Area and his use of identity/politics as subjects for his art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Villa recalls or mentions Rupert Garcia, Leo Valledor, Manuel Neri, Joan Brown, Bill Morehouse, David Stone Martin, Wallace Berman, William Wiley, Bob and Dona Hudson, Bill Allen, Elmer Bischoff, Richard Diebenkorn, Ralph DuCass, Walter Kuhlman, Wally Hedrick, Bruce Conner, Alvin Light, Claire Falkenstein, Bob McFarlane, Hayter, Tapies, Fred Martin, Nathan Oliveira, Jennifer Bartlett, Dick Maclean, Elizabeth Murray, Alfred Neumeyer, Mark Rothko, Kenneth Noland, Sol Lewitt, Mark di Suvero, Robert Grovesnor, Tom Seligman, Kurt Schwitters, Robert Rauschenberg, Angela Davis, and Moira Roth.