The Most Cultural Thing You Can Do
1983
Juan Sánchez
Artist, American, born 1954
Artwork overview
-
Medium
oil, photo collage, and mixed media on canvas
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 147.32 × 113.03 cm (58 × 44 1/2 in.)
-
Accession Number
2025.33.1
-
Copyright
© Juan Sánchez, courtesy of HM&C and Guariken Arts Inc
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
The artist; purchased 2025 through (Hutchinson Modern & Contemporary, New York) by NGA.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1989
Juan Sanchez: Rican/Structed Convictions, Exit Art, New York, CU Art Galleries, University of Colorado Boulder, 1989, repro.
2022
Juan Sánchez, Ricanstructions: condiciones que existen, Hutchinson Modern and Contemporary, New York, 2022, repro.
2023
Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección, El Museo del Barrio, New York, 2023, no catalogue.
Bibliography
2022
Dávila, Arlene. "Juan Sánchez's Nuyorican State of Mind. From painting to photography, the artist's sophisticated hybrid aesthetic echoes the very condition of being Nyorican", Hyperallergic 23 October, 2022, https://hyperallergic.com/772248/juan-sanchez-nuyorican-state-of-mind/. Accessed 6 May 2025.
Inscriptions
upper center: We're not gonna go into a trip glorifying the pava, which is a straw hat or/the guayabera, which is a kind of shirt 'cause ain't hat or shirt gonna free/anybody our people, when put up against the wall have managed to kick ass for centuries/that's why we say that's 'the most cultural thing you can do is pick up the gun to defend ourselves/ The Young Lords, 1971
recto, lower left on canvas: ©Juan Sanchez_____