ARTIST ON THE SCENE
MIGUEL CALDERON
http://www.artnet.com/artists/artisthomepage.aspx?artist_id=424048145&page_tab=Bio_and_links

I discovered Artist Miguel Calderon's 1998 collection of paintings "Aggressively Mediocre/Mentally Challenged/Fantasy Island (circle one)" while watching The Royal Tenenbaums. The paintings hung in drug addicted character Eli Cash's living room. Although the paintings were never directly referred to in the movie, their enormous stature and vivid images stood out. Miguel himself is a Mexican artist, actor, and writer whose work has been accused of pushing crass Mexican stereotypes to provocative extremes. While I don't agree with the negative hype around his art, I can see why some may be offended by the lewd display of nudity, violence and savage costumes.