The “Mariachi tie” is a distinctive accessory of traditional Mexican mariachi dress, often associated with music, folklore, and performative identity. In Rodney Graham’s work, it appears in various contexts, for example, in his self-portrait A Glass of Beer (2005). The Mariachi tie functions as a cultural marker and reflects Graham’s interest in music and costuming across different cultural traditions.
Similarly, the two-part print Untitled (Mariachi Tie) (2005), which features the motif of the Mariachi tie in duplicate, can be understood as a playful gesture through which Graham engages with questions of identity, cultural appropriation, and the construction of artistic personas.
