January 5 – February 2, 1996

Opening Reception: 6:00pm – 8:00pm, Friday January 5

Betty Ramirez Was Here is a series of paintings on wood. The fictitious Latino pop star Betty Ramirez is represented through the portraiture of various female icons. Painted in glossy, loud bubble gum colors, the compositions are reminiscent of old fifties and sixties magazines and cinema. Castano describes Betty as “a down-home girl” turned “fabulous movie star” whose “ dazzling gowns and aqua-netted helmet do’s…are not simply those of a suburban housewife gone urban diva, but seminal emblems of her persona.” Under the humor, glamour and rumba beat, Castano paints a portrait of Latina sterotypes, fame and anonymity.