‘SHUT UP THE MUSIC’ BY RAY SMITH (1980s)

An early mixed-media collage on Masonite from contemporary Mexican-American painter and sculptor RAY SMITH (b. 1959). Smith often employs art historical references in his postmodern compositions, and he pays conspicuous tribute here to the Spanish Cubists of the early 20th century with stenciling and newsprint. The vaguely aggressive title and the newsclippings from global political hotspots point toward the radical daring that much of his later work manifests and signal his bona fides as heir to the Mexican muralist tradition. Signed en verso and contained in a fluted, gold-colored frame. RAY SMITH was born in Brownsville, TX, in 1959, into the fabled Yturria ranching dynasty, on land that his family had settled before the American annexation of Texas. He was raised in Central Mexico and attended art academies in both Mexico and the US. He studied fresco painting with traditional craftsmen, and their influence is seen in his choice of subject matter and reflected, along with an indeb