Rasquachismo doesn’t directly translate to any single English word. Scholar Tomás Ybarra-Frausto coined the term in his 1989 essay, “Rasquachismo: A Chicano Sensibility.”
By Chadd Scott
Rasquachismo doesn’t directly translate to any single English word. Scholar Tomás Ybarra-Frausto coined the term in his 1989 essay, “Rasquachismo: A Chicano Sensibility.”
“Rasquachismo is neither an idea nor a style but more of an attitude or a taste,” he wrote, further explaining it as an “irrepressible spirit manifested in the art and life of the Chicano community.”
Making do. Quick and dirty. Improvised. Resilient. Cheap, as in inexpensive. Working class.
The term derives from rasquache, slang for low class or bad taste; akin to tacky. Pink flamingos.
“To be rasquache is to posit a bawdy, spunky consciousness seeking to subvert and turn ruling paradigms upside down—a witty, irreverent and impertinent posture that recodes and moves outside established boundaries,” Ybarra-Frausto explained in his essay.
Rasquache is a way of life, a perspective on living. Rasquachismo is a genre of art, a cultural aesthetic and attitude informed by the experiences of Chicanos in the United States. Heavy on the attitude. Rasquachismo is Chicanx and Latinx artists taking inspiration from the streets, the barrio, homes, lawns, religious sites, and flea markets, incorporating “found objects”–a snooty art world term for “stuff laying around”–into their work, embodying the “do-with-what-you-have” resourcefulness of home decorators, tinkerers, grease monkeys, graffiti artists, and DIYers.
Rasquachismo goes high class through March 30, 2025, at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio during “Rasquachismo: 35 Years of a Chicano Sensibility,” a special exhibition celebrating the 35th anniversary Ybarra-Frausto’s essay.
“Rasquachismo is not a cohesive movement, but instead an ethos or aesthetic,” Mia Lopez, the McNay Art Museum’s inaugural curator of Latinx art said when announcing the exhibition.
A vibe.
Distinctly San Antonio.
Rasquachismo’s connection to the McNay’s hometown was a driving factor for Lopez choosing it to center her debut exhibition at the museum. She was born and raised in San Antonio. Ybarra-Frausto is from there. The two have known each other for years, and Ybarra-Frausto helped with the show’s vision and installation. He also lent works from his personal collection to the presentation. As did contemporary artists from around San Antonio.
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Image: “Rasquachismo: 35 Years of a Chicano Sensibility” installation view at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio. Photo by Jacklyn Velez, courtesy of the McNay Art Museum.
