to the artist, provided a much needed sense of manhood,” Christopher Cook, a curator at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City said. The members of this gang acted as father figures in Vasquez’s life. Friendly Father Figures (2005) is a series of art pieces created by Vasquez to acknowledge the gang members who played an important role in his life. The fifties father figure in comparison to the thugs represented in Vasquez’s portraits differ at great lengths. Illustration of the Caucasian father figure represents a fabricated thought of what a father should be like, and yet in the picture it seems the ideal father is aggravated with stereotypes and expectations demanded from him. However, the portraits of Friendly Father Figures depict the real images of real fathers.
Michael Vasquez Father didn't want anything to do with it, 2007 Graphite on paper. 30 in. x 22 in. (76.2 cm x 55.88 cm) Gift of Fredric and Kathy Snitzer
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