MARISSA SEAN CRUZ with ELIZA BARRIOS
On Marissa Sean Cruz's "lewis vauton" (2018) Identity and authenticity are complicated terms, even before they come up for consideration by diasporics, including immigrants. As a poet, I've seen criticism in some quarters of those not overtly referencing Filipino experiences in their work (such can be one peril of (“abstract”) art by a person of color not moved to spoonfeed visual or literary narrative to anybody). Partly due to my history with such matters, I was drawn to Marissa Sean Cruz’s “lewis vauton” (2018) (1 x 2 ft., acrylic on canvas) as soon as I saw its image online: Louis Vutton is one of the most faked brands in luxury goods—there is a healthy market for its popular but pricey products. My own purse-loving mother possessed a fake LV bag which I’d (half-jokingly) given her after purchasing it for $8.00 at a local consignment store: For decades, aspiring fashionistas counted on counterfeit bags and products to allow them to (p...