Artist Statements

 he original idea was to celebrate the first centennial of Tijuana by building a large statue of a woman who would represent in some way the spirit of the great city. My classmates and the instructor in a sculpture class failed to accept my invitation to participate in the project. The instructor thought I was a little loco and thought it would cost a million pesos. Unable to get financial support from cultural institutions, wealthy patrons or anyone else, I decided to build it in the back yard of my house and make it fifty-six feet high out of reinforced concrete using a new building technique discovered by a herd of dam neurons in my head and with funds earned by assorted employment. A number of skeptical licensed engineers predicted its collapse. The owner of a chain of hardware stores told me, “No! I won’t give you even one sack of concrete.” A women in charge of civic improvement in the city slapped her legs, stood up and exclaimed, “No! You artists are always asking for help, bla, bla bla.” With the help of Teresa Cervantes, Gustavo Luna, Teresa Aleman, Lety Gonzales and Teresa Thames, who carried materials and fed my stomach, the18-ton statue “Tijuana III Millennium” (La Mona) was completed and inaugurated March 22, 1990 by the Governor of Baja, California and the Mayor of Tijuana and celebrated by hundreds of dignatories, signatories and ordinary citizens. - Armando Muñoz

rmando Muñoz and I met in Puerto Nuevo, Baja, California, at the site of his second monumental sculpture project, the naked mermaid he calls “Eva Marina.” The time was Fall of 1996.  On the way back to the States we visited “Millennium III” (La Mona),  his first large scale sculpture where I obtained the first of many 23 inch high reproductions of the naked lady. A short time later, Armando and I agreed to collaborate on a project to transform the small ceramic statues into representations of alluring, beguiling, fascinating, unique and interesting women, the series to be called “Infamous Babes.” Armando made the blank statues, Statue of Liberty bases, six transformations and handled the exhibition details with CECUT for  the first show. I made transformations, wrote the biographical text for each babe and handled administrative chores for this second show. - Bob Matheny