Book Alert / Gronk

Gronk by Max Benavidez, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press '07, $60, 120 pages, ISBN #978-0-89551-105-8, DVD included. Index, bibliography, exhibition history, source notes, dozens of full-color glossy images.

When the East Los Angeles artist Gronk painted the set for the Santa Fe Opera production of Ainadamar in 2005, The New York Times review noted that "Energy runs like an underground stream beneath this piece," in which color suffused every wall of the stage, even the floor. The Washington Post and Cincinnati Enquirer  said Gronk's set -- "nothing short of spectacular" -- could only be compared to Picasso's Guernica.

Not bad for a Chicano boy from East L.A. But as Gronk's career has proven, he's much more than an artist. He has been deeply involved in the Chicano art movement, which since 1965 has mingled political protest with art. And his use of gay themes in his work has left an indelible mark on the gay community as well as the punk scene and, indeed, the cultural world stage. Filled with full-color images printed on glossy stock, this volume is a pleasure to leaf through.