Continuing through July 18, 2015
Los Angeles has overcome a significant number of hurdles in recent years in overturning a mural moratorium and rebuilding trust between artists and city officials. The southland has a rich history of outdoor art that stretches back decades, a fact celebrated in a 1990 exhibit here featuring the studio work of five L.A. muralists. Twenty-Five years later, the same gallery welcomes a new generation of artists that identify themselves as muralists in a second rendition of this show, “L.A. Muralists: In Their Studios II.” A mix of the old and new, the roster is an impressive grouping whose aesthetic ranges from mural to non-mural work, from portraiture to graffiti and street art.
Kent Twitchell’s name is synonymous with public art in Los Angeles. His commanding and highly detailed images have defined neighborhoods and left a lasting impression on the city. A painting of Nelson Mandela by Twitchell adorns a fragment of the Berlin Wall on Wilshire Boulevard, and a much more graceful portrait of the revolutionary politician is included in the gallery. Whether it’s Richard Wyatt, John Valadez, David Botello, Judithe Hernández or Wayne Healy, these historically important artists form the foundation for the exhibition. Their studio work feels intimate and approachable, a departure from the commanding proportions of their public art. In contrast to this aesthetic and history are Alex “Defer” Kizu and Augustine Kofie, artists aligned with graffiti and street art. Their abstract imagery is packed with an energy and vitality that jumps off the canvases. Existing somewhere in the middle, Pablo Cristi, Lydia Emily, and Angelina Christina combine the worlds of realism and abstraction in their work and offer a bridge between the past and present that balances the exhibition and creates an accurate spectrum of what we celebrate in and outside the gallery.
Published Courtesy of ArtSceneCal ©2015
