This sumi ink drawing on paper by Jamie Muñoz juxtaposes nested, psychedelic images of Mickey Mouse with a drawing of a turn signal wire assembly and a depiction of the original Toyota logo (named for Kiichiro Toyoda, the member of the Toyoda family who transitioned the company from making looms to making automobiles). Muñoz’s notes in the lower section of the drawing elucidate the personal meaning these elements have for him, and interrogate the use of the term “Mickey Mouse” to denigrate something like a repair done on the cheap, and the meaning of the term “rasquache,” which describes Chicano and Mexican art practices in which the most is made from limited resources.

Within Muñoz’s studio practice, drawing serves various functions. They provide him with a break from the process of painting. They also offer him an opportunity to experiment with new images and concepts.

Says Muñoz, “Usually, in between bodies of work, I break away from the paintings to explore visual ideas in diagram drawings. Hence, another function of the drawings is to give myself space to investigate and consider imagery and the conceptual, intuitive ideas that may foreshadow subjects of the paintings. As I juxtapose different images together, I am able to sort through and examine the relationships of various images. In this way, the diagram is a space for my internal process of discovering associations.”