Gurba as Cantinflas from Painting Their Portraits in Winter . Photo courtesy the artist. Interview with Myriam Gurba by El Art Pocho Ed. Note: The following exchange between Myriam Gurba and resident alchemist, seer, arts writer and keen cultural observer @pancho_lipschitz AKA Harry Liflan, was originally published in our Nov./Dec. 2016 (Vol. 7; No. 8) print edition. We proudly offer a reprisal of a conversation that, strangely enough, foreshadows Gurba ’s searing critique gone viral of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, the floodgates of justifiable indignation from the Latinx literary community it opened, the dismissive excoriation by publishing industry elites determined to paint her as the leader of a dangerous, book-burning lynch mob, and the tangible threats of violence she has been subjected to for simply having had the audacity to offer her honest--and brilliantly elucidated--opinion about a literary work she was asked to review. We now all know that her opinion was ...

By Pancho Lipschitz, El Art Pocho Before I was hanging out in John Valadez’ new Boyle Heights studio a few miles from where he grew up, before he poured two shots of good mezcal into styrofoam cups and we toasted to nada y todo, I always thought he was one of the best painters working in America over the past 40 years. After we hung out, I realized he’s just a cool vato who happens to be one of the best painters working in America over the past 40 years. (Left: Emerald Float, 2016, pastel. Courtesy of John Valadez) Pancho Lipschitz: I know you said you grew up in Boyle Heights but I didn’t know you worked at the Fine’s Market. John Valadez: I always had a job. I lied and said I was 16 when I was 15. I was there about four and a half years. Every week I would buy an album. PL: What was the first art that influenced you? JV: I liked drawing, and I remember in grammar school when the Flintstones were the big rage. I spent one night looking at Fred Flintstone and trying to draw ...