Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM)
Betsabée Romero, Estalagmitas y estalagtitas urbanas (2014)
✨Stamp your path, make a mark: your path may be upward or downward at times but we are all here to leave a golden trace✨
Using tires that she carves out and paints with gold patterns, Betsabée Romero assembles sculptural installations where craft and industry coexist beautifully.
Rubber stamp that! 👏
Estalagmitas y estalagtitas urbanas (2014) is part of the US/Mexico Border exhibition, until January 7, 2018.
A Mid-Century feel with a Mexican twist.
A brightly colored and typical Mexican serape blanket (at right) has been deconstructed to its component threads, subsequently fixed onto a maze of nails on the wall.
From neon bright as threaded blanket, colors are reincarnated on the wall as if softly pencilled into a hard edge painting of muted pastels.
This contrasted and poetic exercise in construction / deconstruction is by Adrian Esparza and resonates deeply in the context of The US / Mexico Border exhibition, part of PST LA/LA until January 7.
Concrete Art is art which challenges formalist notions and a most wonderful brain teaser.
Wyllis de Castro, Objeto ativo (cubo vermelho/branco), 1962
In 1962, Willys de Castro covered a cube with a piece of canvas material, painted it red and white and fixed it to a wall. ❔❓Is Objeto ativo (cubo vermelho/branco) a painting verging on sculpture, or the other way round? ❓❔
When Concrete Art put all its energy in obtaining a “machine-made” look and finish, using paint, tape and rulers to produce art tantamount to an “industrial object”.
It turned out to be extremely difficult to remove all traces of the workman-artist.
Slide ⬅️ and look at the hard edges where the artist is “present”.
Hermelindo Fiaminghi, Alternado 2 (1957)
Carlos Almaraz “Echo Park Bridge at Night” (1989)
Stopped in my tracks by this painting by Carlos Almaraz 💕 “Echo Park Bridge at Night” (1989) depicts Los Angeles’ raw energy and heat of possibilities in vibrant colors.
These appear all the more poignant as Almaraz died from AIDS that same year.
Playing with Fire is an exhibition on until Dec 3.
José Dávila, Esfuerzo Común, 2014.
José Dávila, Esfuerzo Común, 2014.
Material, physical and psychological tension, all wrapped into a sculptural open book made of glass, rock and belts.
In French, I would call it a “tour de force”, carefully balancing industrial and natural materials while the stability of this assemblage is truly holding all the forces at work in a balancing pose. Namaste 🙏🏼
Separate, Isolate, Elevate, Levitate.
Damian Ortega, Architecture Without Architects (2010)
Before I know it, Mediate / Try Not to Hate comes to mind because, yes, I love INXS. Yet how very relevant in the context of PST LA/LA, this amazing Getty initiative to celebrate Latin American artists across 70 museums throughout California.
Damian Ortega, Architecture Without Architects (2010)
Damián Ortega, Continuous Fragment, 2013.
Genius title for 26 bronze bas-reliefs evoking language, communication, expression and all the spaces in between.
It was inspired by Ortega observing scientists communicating with their hands only, during their observations of chimps in the jungle 🙉🙈🙊.
José Dávila, M-Maybe
Mise en abyme within this José Dávila.
K-12 students from San Diego County and Tijuana were asked to express themselves on the subject of “Boundaries”, using photography as a medium…
Well, everybody needs to come and see, and learn from this Juried Exhibition at MOPA.
And then we have work to do to listen and help our children in the world they live in.
Also check out Mexican Photography in the Point / Counterpoint exhibition.
Julio Le Parc, Cloison à Lames Réfléchissantes, 1966-2005.
Do you think you’re going too slow? Or are you getting ahead of yourself ? Don’t worry you’re still where you should be.
Playful installation part of the Kinesthesia exhibition.
Step into Chromosaturation (1965, executed in 2017) by Carlos Cruz-Diez 💗💚💗
Totemic, textural strength, vibrant color contrasts…
Wonderful discovering works by Fernando de Szyszlo. Part of Modern Masters From Latin America, The Perez Simon Collection.
Playing with color variation on both sides of thin paper ridges, Carlos Cruz-Diez varied height for relief, delivering a visual effect not dissimilar to textile.
The rippling effect is a delight for the eyes to brush past, forward and backwards, basking in colorful threads which not only ignite visual and tactile senses but also an almost audible frequency (at least for me!). His works on paper are well worth experiencing along with his immersive and participative Chromosaturation, part of the Kinesthesia exhibition.
Practically jewelry or the most beautiful sunrise, I can’t decide!
Woven canvas with applied opalescent pastel shades and gold leaf accents. Showing the color subtlety of pearls’ best nacre on a large scale. 💗 Basket 73 by Olga de Amaral 💗
A rooted powerful body, a controlled twist and the gentleness of an hesitant hand…
Ricardo Martinez de Hoyos encapsulating all the tension present in so many Modern Masters From Latin America.
Defying the flatness of the canvas with beautiful dexterity, Omar Rayo’s optical illusion channels the complex folds of origami and supple volumes of a kimono belt.
Wonderful to discover this Colombian artist.
This is only a few samples of the amazing artworks and artists for you to discover. Please don’t hesitate to click on individual museum titles for details and dates.
Enjoy these exhibitions, let me know what you thought in the Comment Box, which one you prefer etc…and don’t forget to subscribe to the blog (if you haven’t already) and to follow @reinventingrid on Instagram for more art wonders.
© 2017 Ingrid Westlake
All pictures by Ingrid Westlake, unless otherwise stated.
What avalanche of information !! The Getty Foundation offers an ‘inépuisable” source of exhibitions in the American West. It is a concentration of Latin American art telling the story of artistic innovation related to Los Angeles. It’s a real wealth of heritage for the people of California.
I like what you present us and in particular the deconstructing Mexican cover and Omar Rayo’s optical illusion. I also like tires, banal industrial objects that are “détournés” from their function to become a pretty decoration.
Super post Ingrid !!
Thank you! It’s indeed an amazing project bringing such a wide range of artworks that are really striking visually as well as really bringing some interesting concepts. So glad you liked the post!
Beautiful
Thank you for reading! So glad you enjoyed the post. Did you manage yo check out any of the exhibitions? What did you think?
Thanks for assembling some examples of PST Exhibitions in LA and San Diego.
I really like the art you selected to represent the shows and how you displayed various perspectives and angles. Perfect balance between images and text. Looking forward to the next post. 🙏🏻
Thank you, Cornelia! Delighted you like the blog. I will try to catch up other PST LA/LA exhibitions: so much to see, so little time but most will continue to be exhibited in the new year. Thank you for reading 😘
LOVE Step into Chromosaturation (1965, executed in 2017) by Carlos Cruz-Diez 💗💚💗 for the colors and characters!
Love the painting with vibrant colors Carlos Almaraz “Echo Park Bridge at Night” (1989).
.Interesting to learn about different Art.
Thank you, Dominique. Those were indeed very striking. I recently passed by Echo Park in LA and could not help thinking of Carlos Almaraz’ colors. 💗