Barrio Boogie Woogie

Artist Francis J. Rivera (born 1953)

Date1985-1990

Mediumoil, acrylic, canvas

Dimensions60 x 62 in. (152.4 x 157.5 cm)

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineAlbuquerque Museum, museum purchase, 1989 General Obligation Bonds

Object numberPC1990.18.1

DescriptionFrancis J. Rivera’s depiction of Albuquerque captures a view of the city from the perspective of the Barelas Community bringing together a patchwork of 1980s popular culture, personal experience, and local stories. Many places depicted here are based on specific locations found throughout the dowtown, West side, and South Valley from Latino barrio and car culture but also captures the landscape of the Rio Grande Valley, Tingley Beach, and the Sandia Mountains. According to Rivera, “Barrio Boogie Woogie is the first in a series of paintings named after Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie. It is influenced by a sense of urban modernism. With flat lines and chips of color, Mondrian was able to convey the sounds and speed of the city. Heavily influenced by jazz, his work reads like visual music due to its bright colors, collage type stacking of figures and items, and movement. Rivera was an important local arts leader in the 1980s helping found the Mural Coalition. His murals can still be found all thoughout the public spaces of Albuquerque. In this piece, Rivera includes military bases, industrialization, and the railroad showing how these imposed parts of infrastructure now have become part of the longstanding physical and sonic landscape.

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