América Tropical: Oprimida y Destrozada por los Imperialismos

América Tropical was a mural created by David Alfaro Siqueiros and has stood unseen for almost half a decade on the external rooftop of the Italian Hall in Olvera Street, Los Angeles.^[1] Siqueiros came to Los Angeles as a political refugee in 1932 and was sponsored by the Plaza Art Center to create a mural that was supposed to be about happy men, parrots, palms with falling fruit into the mouths of people.^[2] However, Sequeiros completely disobeyed the institutional project request in exchange of his own unique artistic idea by creating his own mural, which turned out to be one of the most controversial art pieces in Los Angeles history, Tropical America (full name: América Tropical: Oprimida y Destrozada por los Imperialismos, or Tropical America: Oppressed and Destroyed by Imperialism).^[3] The mural became the center of controversy, as the painting clearly depicted a Maya like pyramid with surrounding twisted trees and in the center was an indigenous person crucified, dead on a double edged cross. There is sculptures laying at the bottom of the mural destroyed, which signify pre-Columbian architecture and ancient indigenous civilization.^[4] On the left side of the pyramid there are two snipers overlooking the imperial American eagle whom is on top of the crucified indigenous person and the two Mexican revolutionary snipers look ready to shoot at any time.^[5]

Although, the mural is almost non-existent today because of the damage that it has sustained from being unprotected from sunlight, rain and even layers of paint that were thrown over it 70 years ago because of the requests of Angelino Anglo elites.^[6] América Tropical is an emblematic part of the Mexican muralism movement that happened from 1920s-1970s and later inspired the Chicano art movement in the United States for Mexican-Americans. Siqueiros also belonged to one of the most elite groups of artists from the Mexican Revolution known as "the big three", Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. The three of them went around all over Mexico, Latin America and the United States painting murals that depicted the struggles of people. América Tropical is not only a mural but it is an intricate part of Los Angeles history, as restoration for Siqueiros' mural continues today, the Getty Foundation has spent 3.95 million dollars in restoration project, while the city of Los Angeles has also contributed 5 million dollars for the conservation of the mural.^[7]

References

1. Piqueè, Francesca, M. Derrick, A. Parker, M.Schilling and D. Scott (1995). "Original technique of the mural America Tropical by David Alfaro Siqueiros". MRS Proceedings .352: 365.
2. Goldman, Shifra M. "Siqueiros and Three Early Murals in Los Angeles." Art Journal 33, no. 4 (1974): 321-327
3. Del Barco, Mandalit. "Revolutionary Mural To Return To L.A. After 80 Years". http://www.npr.org/. NPR Hourly Newscast. Retrieved 25 February 2016. External link in |website= (help)
4. Goldman, "Siqueiros and Three Early Murals in Los Angeles.", 324.
5. Goldman, "Siqueiros and Three Early Murals in Los Angeles.", 324.
6. Hernandez, Daniel. "'America Tropical': A forgotten Siqueiros mural resurfaces in Los Angeles [Updated]". latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
7. Muchnic, Suzanne. "L.A.'s long-running Siqueiros affair". http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 February 2016. External link in |website= (help)