Cluttercore, Rasquachismo, and the Indelible Need to Display

For millennia, humans have sought to arrange possessions in a way that was aesthetically pleasing, or at least, that pleased that specific person. Cluttercore, a recent maximalist interior design aesthetic that focuses on presenting one’s collections, has been gaining popularity as many strove to beautify and personalize their dwellings during the throes of COVID lockdowns. Cluttercore is based in a desire to display the objects that bring comfort and describe the owner’s life through collections, and push back against sparse, anesthetized interiors that define fashionable living. Similarly, rasquachismo is also an aesthetic and lifestyle born of a scrappiness and necessity to beautify, tied with identity projection, and in rejection of minimalism. Rasquachismo describes the mentality and design technique of Chicanos (Mexican Americans) in creating splendor from whatever is at hand, in what could often be described as detritus, junk, or kitsch. In these modes of presentation, what is centerstage is repurposing, recontextualizing found objects, and arranging them in an appealing way.

This exhibit recognizes the shared kinship between rasquachismo and cluttercore as domestic aesthetics, and seeks to interrogate the core purposes of each as they relate to curating, display, lifestyle, and distinct opposition to dominant trends.

Participating artists: Mandy Cano Villalobos, Melora Garcia, Julia Emiliani, Tessie Salcido Whitmore, Anna Valdez, Jacqueline Valenzuela

Curated by Rachel T. Schmid