By Sarah Rose Sharp – HyperAllergic.com – Image artist unknown.
Image: “The Last Supper” on black velvet, artist unknown
DETROIT — Velvet painting collector Elena Herrada began her introduction of Black Velvet: A Rasquache Aesthetic to me with a definition of the word “rasquache.” An exhibition in Detroit’s Mexicantown takes an in-depth look at the black velvet painting tradition in Chicano communities, from renderings of a Nahuatl legend to portraits of Elvis and Zapata.