ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of Chicana/o art's history of innovation and disruption, concepts that have defined the very ethos of this movement. By conducting close iconographic and formal analyses of key works in the history coupled with discussions of the social commentaries embedded in the imagery, the chapter highlights the multiple and continual ways Chicana/o artists deploy an aesthetic of disruption and innovation with their work. Moreover, the very fact that Chicanas/os make art and demand visibility of this work in a society that renders them invisible is disruptive in and of itself. That these artists should insist upon challenging the precepts of modern and contemporary art with their visual language is downright daring. To conclude, close examinations of the rich, complex and varied history of Chicana/o art reveal that these artists have created a space of disruption and rupture with their work, one that has proven to be highly productive in its capacity to generate new and innovative aesthetics.
