VISIÓN Magazine by Luis Mark Gonzalez Jr

ENGLISH

VOL. 3 JAMES JEAN CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA JULIAN CALLOS KRISTINA COLLANTES MIGUEL LUCIANO REY ORTEGA ROBERT PALACIOS

Damian Fulton

Robert Palacios

July 2-25, 2011 Opening Reception Friday, July 2nd, 8-11 pm

molaa

museum of latin american art 4

La Luz De JesĂşs Gallery

Eric Fortune

Glenn Barr

Gallery Opens June 1st

4633 Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90027-5413 (323) 666-7667 5

Rebus Rebus

James James Jean Jean

Brooklyn Museum of Art Brooklyn Museum of Art April 1st-May 30 April 1st-May 30

BOUNDARIES

BREAKING THE LIMITS.

SELECTIONS FROM THE MOLAA PERMANENT COLLECTION JANUARY 13 - JULY 3, 2012

OUNDARIES: BREAKING THE LIMITS is a collection composed of three sections. This collection rotation, like previous ones, aims to present a broad picture about Latin American art, both historical and contemporary, ranging from traditional to contemporary electronic media. This exhibition includes important new acquisitions and works never displayed before. The historical section in this new display introduces a selection of works by Chilean artist Roberto Sebastian Matta that focus on the portfolio of aquatint etchings titled Come Detto Dentro Vo Significando. The second section introduces a two-channel digital video installation by Mexican artist Gabriel de la Mora, titled 39-G.M.C.-23.sept.2007, a performance in video where the artist appears destroying a lifesize realistic self-portrait piñata containing entrails and the likeness of blood. This unique video is part of a series dealing with issues of personal identity within the context of family and his Mexican heritage. The largest and final section gives its name to the exhibition as it deals with issues of boundaries –geographical, political, ideological or cultural. Some works in this section deal directly with forms of mapping, while others function as emblematic symbolic elements around which identity and politics are defined.

As a result, they create a complex conceptual interplay between the works. Some artists in this section include: Ricardo Benaim, Benvenuto Chavajay, Milagros de la Torre, Miguel Fernández, Roberto Huarcaya, Walterio Iraheta, Marcos Maggi, Marcos Montiel-Soto, Carlos Motta, Mario Opazo, Ricardo Rodríguez, Doris Salcedo and Gastón Ugalde. A work that may be seen at the intersection of this rotation is Doris Salcedo, Shibboleth I-IV, a series of four renderings of Salcedo’s site specific installation in preparation for the presentation at the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London in 2007. Shibboleth, was a fissure that ran as a hairline crack at the top of the ramp near the west entrance of the hall and zigzagged down to the far end, gradually widening and deepening as it ran. For Salcedo, the crack reveals a “colonial and imperial history has been disregarded, marginalized or simply obliterated… the history of racism, running parallel to the history of modernity and… its untold dark side.” Boundaries is presented with support from Robert Gumbiner Foundation, Verizon Wireless, the Arts Council for Long Beach and the City of Long Beach. Article by: MOLAA Linda Fox Photography by: Juan Alvarez, Flickr.com

LATIN AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY

1990-2005

rganized and curated by MOLAA, Changing the Focus: Latin American Photography 1990-2005 is the first survey exhibition to be presented in the Los Angeles area of Latin American photography and photo-based art generated between 1990 and 2005. The exhibition explores the artist’s personally-charged response to local and global issues grounded in the contemporary Latin American experience. Over 83 works created by 37 artists range from traditional photography, to manipulated digital photography, installations, light-boxes and photo-based art. During the 1990s Latin American photography finally gained a strong foothold in the international art scene and took advantage of thematic and technical innovations to generate a new aesthetic, especially after the emergence of the digital media. The transformations in the photographic art world developed at the same time as deep sociopolitical changes. All these sociopolitical circumstances had an effect on the artistic production. As a result, the critical discourse of the photographic medium of the last two decades approaches reality using a variety of languages, from more conceptual solutions to more traditional answers.

The works presented in the exhibition are organized in three sections; each focusing on different ways artists chose to represent reality: The Documentation of Surroundings, the Theatricalization of Real and the Construction of an Artificial Reality.

THE DOCUMENTATION OF SURROUNDINGS,

the first theme of the exhibition is the examination of surroundings through the representation of mostly urban space and the use of found photographs and objects, usually related to social conflicts and the contradictions evident in the development of the metropolitan areas of Latin America. Several of the photographs that show architectural images are by Manuel Piña and Carlos Garaicoa and relate to the end of social and political utopias formulated in the previous decades. Works by Melanie Smith and Jaime Avila deal with issues of overpopulation in major cities of the region.

MARIO CRAVO NETO “Lord Of The Head”

ANDRES SERRANO “The Morgue (Homicide Stabbing)”

RUDI ROEL “Bolivian Child”, 1995

“ISSUES OF

OVERPOPULATION IN MAJOR CITIES.”

The approach to the objects and their documentation develops from a perspective where artists use decontextualization and recontextualization as means to stress the subjective power of the image. The works are grounded in the critique of the reality shown in the original found objects. Violence is one of the most prominent subjects of this section which includes works by Juan Manuel Echavarría and Milagros de la Torre. THE THEATRICALIZATION OF THE REAL Moving towards the manipulation of reality, the works in Changing the Focus become theatricalized images. This is especially true of those related to issues of identity. In this section the body is a bearer of identities and social roles through photographs in which theatricalization is used as a questioning tool. The 1990s saw a distancing from the issue of cultural identity. Up until that point it had been an important subject typically approached through anthropological and documentary images. In the 1990s identity developed as being something individualistic rather than collective, thus the proliferation of self-portraits. There is a special interest in themes related to the syncretic religion of Santeria by artists such as Mario Cravo Neto and Marta María Pérez Bravo, preHispanic imagery by Tatiana Parcero and Gerardo Suter and the identity of different social classes,

especially of those who are members of an affluent socioeconomic group which is shown through the work by Daniela Rossell and Natalia Iguiñiz.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN ARTIFICIAL REALITY In the last section of Changing the Focus irony is combined with artificial often kitsch settings where reality is increasingly distorted yet criticism or reinvention becomes more evident. The works in this section raise questions about identity, violence and different religious issues. Artificiality serves as an escape route from a reality we do not want to face, and simultaneously, it makes us question that reality, which the artist has made artificial. Artificiality becomes a much more complex exercise than that of a documentary image. Artists may approach artificiality in different ways; by using an irreverent aesthetic such as Nelson Garrido does, to a more transgressive one used by Jonathan Harker or a playful style such as the one Liliana Porter employs. However, ultimately the works presented in this section and throughout Changing the Focus show the heterogeneity and the intercultural character of Latin American photography. Article by: MOLAA Idurre Alonso Photography by: MOLAA Collection/Artists Personal Sites

MELANIE SMITH “Freeway”, 2001 (As seen on headline to article) (left) MELANIE SMITH “Freeway”, 2001 (bottom left) MELANIE SMITH “Vanishing Landscape No. 2 ”, 2005 (bottom right) MARIO CRAVO NETO “Retrato de Clyde Morgan”

molaa exhibit runs February 14th through May 2nd, 2012 628 Alamitos Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90802

KRISTINA COLLANTES “Untitled 1” (next page) KRISTINA COLLANTES “Untitled 2”

future facing figure in profile, her inhuman ear accentuated by a new spring of what looks like a plant growth. From the side, her head reflects the colors of a constrained rainbowfixated in the violent band and fractured into component magenta, cerise, heliothrope. Is it a heat map? A diagram of the component parts of an alien brain? The lines, like the hues, between clothing and anatomy are open and blurred. This piece is entitled “Lone Ranger”, but this is not your grandfather’s lone ranger.

Kristina is a self taught artist who began to take her work to the next level when friends asked her to create work for posters, album covers, and other projects. That led to a career as an illustrator, which includes publications around the world and illustration work with GQ.

Her personal work, as evident in Growth and Mars, is itself evolving and progressing. She has recently gone through a simplifying phase. Concerned that her illustrations were getting cluttered with over detailed and busy The recent work of southern California-based backgrounds, most scenes in Growth and Mars Kristina Collantes is dominated by ideas of are backed with a single plain color. mysterious future development. MARS and GROWTH, her two ongoing series, feature White has become an important and intentional humanoid female figures literally growing before element in her work. Kristina credits Canadian our eyes-plant like buds and blooms emerging illustrator Jillian Tamaki, one of her favorite artist from their bodies. While Growth tends to focus and big influence, with bringing this use of white on an individual, personal level of change into focus for her. and progression, Mars takes place in a sci-fi landscape, suggesting larger storylines amongst “I was really inspired by a drawing of Jillian the alien terrain. Tamaki’s called “Rude Boy”. The white doilies in the background create such a great finishing Growth began during a time of personal change touch to the illustration…I gradually decided to for the artist. The women in this series are adopt the same technique”. developing in both body and mind, as sprouts emerge from the body. Mars in contrast brings in Her white is an absolute white that fills the eye science fiction elements and more complex back shapes of her figures, appears as blossoms and stories, in fact these female are shape shifting stalks, and finds expression in numerous other plants that have grown to become women. details. Used sparingly but appearing in every

KRISTINA COLLANTES “Untitled 3” (left page) KRISTINA COLLANTES “Traitor” (bottom) KRISTINA COLLANTES “Gardener”

“Her work suggests numerous influences

1960s and early 1970s from

the

reminiscence of rock

“

especially European psychedelic art and

albums & posters.

one of her illustrations, it serves as a grounding element relative to the charged pastel colors that feature most prominently in her work.

small tent in the foreground of “Two Traitors”; in another piece it appears in the background, on a wall beside a poster.

Her work suggests numerous influences from the 1960s and early 70s, especially European psychedelic art and reminiscence of rock albums and posters. Peter Max is perhaps the most obvious. Kristina admits, “I’m a huge fan of his work…I started incorporating color gradients and shading (because of him).” The Mars series brings to mind the giant aliens of the 1973 animated feature Fantastic Planet, A Frenchczech co-production, of which she is a big fan.

Collentes continues to make new art in both of these series and recently exhibited new graphite sketches from growth in late march 2010 at Back To The Grind in riverside California. She will also contribute new work to I believe in unicorns this June at WWA gallery in Culver City, California. Article by: Mikl Em Photography by: Hi-Fructose & Kristina Collantes.com

Another unexpected inspiration was 1970s Krautrock album covers. Specifically one from the band Can. She says “The pure simplicity of Ege Bamyasi was refreshing. Just a lone can of okra with a simple white font.” one particular piece from Growth, “It’s All For The Best” takes a turn for the titillating, as a naked woman-the only human in either series with no signs of growth – sits on a bed exchanging empty cartoon conversation clouds with a semi transparent companion. This second woman’s body is copiously blooming including sturdy, multi budded stalks arising from each nipple. The blood vessels beneath her skin are visible and resemble a root system supporting the growth, she reclines, her face is unshown, off the right side of the image. Kristina signs her work with an artistic display of her initials. The “KC” sign is inspired by the tradition of Japanese woodblock artists. But her sometimes whimsical way of including her mark in her work also suggests the stylized autograph of 60s poster artists and cartoonists. It adorns a

ulian Callos is a Los Angeles based artist who creates beautiful dreamy water coloured illustrations full of flexible limbed humans and water washed backgrounds. His unique style has led him to exhibit widely across the globe from San Francisco to London, building an impressive and consistantly brilliant portfolio of sculptures and paintings. Julian is one of those artists who never produces a bland piece of work, I absolutely love everything he’s done so far and cannot wait for his next show over here in the UK. Julian recently took time out from his extremly busy scedual to answer our questions, heres what the talented young artist had to say:

You regularly blog ideas and early sketches of your work; how close do your finished pieces match what you aimed to achieve in you mind? It really depends on the project…sometimes my final piece, after various stages of sketches and revisions, is completely different from what I had originally conceived in my mind. Other times I’ll come up with an idea that I’m happy with from the very beginning and just stick with it through the entire process. I just try to make sure that my final sketch is something that I would enjoy turning into a finished painting, regardless of whether or not that sketch was exactly what I had in mind in the beginning. How long has it taken you to develop your style to where it is today? Well I’ve been drawing ever since I was about three years old, and my style has evolved throughout the years along with changes in what inspires me, what interests me, etc. I guess what you see now has mostly been developed in the past couple years in college. I’ve really tried to take all the inspirations I’ve had in the past and the present — cartoons, comics, pop culture — and mash them up into my own thing. I’m still learning new things all the time, though; my tastes are changing, different things are starting to inspire me…I think these changes will certainly influence my work, as change has always done. What is your typical work process and what conditions do you work under? Do you like to draw and paint to music for example? I love to work while music is playing. Sometimes I’ll work with the TV on in the background, or with a movie playing. Other times I’ll work in complete silence. It really just depends on my mood. Looking on inprint.com i noticed that you will sell any one print in a varity of sizes and prices. How important do you think it is to make your art accessible and affordable to everyone?

I think accessibility and affordability, especially in this economy, is very important. And it seems like art prints are a good market these days…It’s nice to own something by an artist, but not everyone can afford an original, so it’s pretty cool when you can buy a print. What has had the biggest influence on your work recently? Recently I’ve been looking to a lot of indie comics for inspiration. Pen/brush and ink stuff. You can create such beautiful lines with a brush; combine that with bold colors and lots of contrast and you’ve got a stunning piece of art to look at. One thing i’ve noticed from reading comments on blogs and various sites is how impressed the audiance is with your ability to create soft movement in your pieces. Do you have any plans of creating an amimation? Actually when I was younger I wanted to be an animator because I love cartoons, but I never really pursued developing that particular set of skills. I’d love to see my characters in motion, though! Do you have any exhibitions planned for the near future, either as a group show or on your own? I’m in a few shows in different galleries coming up before the end of the year. Off the top of my head there’s a group show with Black Maria Gallery in Los Angeles called “Skip the Mall,” as well as “Paper Pushers” at Gallery 1988 San Francisco. If you follow my blog (http://juliancallos.blogspot.com/) I’ll keep you updated on any and all shows I’ll be participating in. And I’m hoping to have my own website up soon, so look out for that as well. Article by: Mikl Em Photography by: Hi-Fructose & Kristina Collantes.com

JULIAN CALLOS “Adrift 2”

JULIAN CALLOS “High Spirits”

JULIAN CALLOS “Afloat”

CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Mirror, White Mirror” (next page) CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Hunters and Warriors”

TELLING HER OWN FAIRYTALE rom a childhood visit to Disney World, I remember the “It’s a Small World” ride as a slow boat that drifts you around the globe while animatronic children and animals from different continents serenade you. I remember thinking at the time, This must be what life is like in other countries: different clothes; same smiles; harmonious colors; everyone very stylish.

A filthy deer in Antarctic Suburban Outpost (2006) strikes a tense, bashful pose on sharp terrain. A wan baby elephant in Aquamarine Slumber (2005) belches pictures of dancing pills as an owl sidekick cries giant blood-tears.

If Disney characters are wholesome Ashleys, Camille’s characters are emaciated Mary-Kates, their beauty rooted in danger and scariness. Camille Rose Garcia was born in Los Angeles in I first encountered Camille’s work as an art school 1970 and grew up in the era of Dead Kennedys. undergrad in Indiana. A newspaper reproduction As a child she’d visit nearby Disneyland and of Creepcake Annihilation Plan (2000) caught my experience the contrast between life inside and eye in the scrap paper bin and I was hooked. I outside the park. How unpleasant it is to think cut out the art and pinned it to my studio wall. of local children growing up and coming to understand that Disneyland is a broken-promise I was haunted by that image and I didn’t know land; that the world capital of fantasy is merely exactly why. Partly because she was so good the proprietary product of an aggressive, self- at what she was doing—love it or hate it (and I loved it)—and I was afraid I’d never be that good interested business. at anything. That drawing hung in my studio for In Camille’s acrylic-and-glitter-on-wood artwork several years, and it scared and motivated me. paintings, characters read as medicated, PG-13 Then I lost it. doppelgangers of the G-rated Disney populus.

(left) CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Disguises of the Empire” (top right) CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Witch Tricks”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was originally published as an illustrated novel by “Lewis Carroll” as you know. Did you and if so, how much did you use the original illustrations as reference? Or, did you imagine up everything yourself? I am a mad book collector, and I own 4 copies of “Alice In Wonderland” with the original John Tenniel illustrations, so I found it was impossible for me to think about any of the characters without automatically thinking in my head about the original illustration. So, I looked at this more as an homage to Tenniel, a way to honor those illustrations. I did use a lot of his compositions as reference, as I realized after doing a bunch of sketches, that he came up with the best composition in the first place! There were some exceptions, of course. I always hated how you couldn’t see the Caterpillars’ face in the original drawing, so I drew that one from the opposite point of view. Also, The Lobster Quadrille was never illustrated, so that was open for interpretation. What’s your favorite character from Alice in Wonderland? After this project are there any new favorites or challenges to draw? The Mock Turtle has always been one of my favorites, he is so gloomy and non-huggable, he just looks really clammy, like he would smell like some sad old starfish you found on the beach. I’m always attracted to the most unlikeable ones, the un-huggables.

of pace? How did you like this transition? Gallery. Should we expect some new character designs in the future? It sort of developed out of necessity, the time Thanks! Yes, I have a new design, “Jr. Eggbert” constraints and the amount of work dictated that will be available in the next few weeks. that I work on the artwork smaller than I PITCO is such a labor of love, it is really DIY and normally would. I am much better at smaller I only make about 25 dolls at a time, so that’s work if it is pen & ink kind of stuff. So originally, why the availability has been so spotty. I have I wanted to do it all in pen & ink, black & white, been trying to avoid mass producing anything, but they were printing the whole book in color, but that makes the production process harder so my minimalist idea was out the window! because no one wants to make 25 or 100 So the watercolor, I felt, would work well with things, they want to make 1000 things. Sol the delicate linework I wanted to do. Stupidly, until I have the PITCO headquarters set up, I thought it would be faster than the way I which will probably be in Portland, Oregon, it’s usually layer and build up the surfaces, but it just going to be a very little empire. was actually way harder, and the small scale made me develop an eye tick, like a throbbing You did a poster for Death Cab for Cutie. Any of the inner eye muscle, every time I sat down other bands/projects we should be seeing to work. The whole project practically drove you workingfor 2010? me insane. None lined up at the moment, but I do love Are you excited about the new “Alice working with bands, I would love to do an in Wonderland” movie coming out? It animated video, that would be cool. seems too much of a coincidence that your book is being released around the Garcia’s work is dark and macabre, haunting same time. Was this planned from the and liberating. I love her use of muted colors, very beginning or just serendipity? the layers, how you can’t tell if it’s the future or the past. I love how her worlds look both I am very excited to see the movie! I am, of depressed and beautiful; cartoony and course, a huge Tim Burton fan. And yes, the surreal—is that a lollipop tree or a mushroom project was planned to come out when the cloud? I can’t help but be drawn into her movie was released. I guess that’s how they world, and why shouldn’t we be? It is the world have to pitch projects in the book world, have we live in. It’s Camille’s world after all. some kind of hollywood tie-in. It’s kind of annoying that it has to be that way, because Article by: Hi-Fructose the release date of the movie dictated my Photography by: Hi-Fructose & CamilleRoseGarcia.com deadlines, which is lame.

We heard from Hi Fructose that you’re branching out into watercolors for this We loved your recent collaboration plush one as opposed to your usual repertoire of figures from Pitco that you premiered using acrylics. Any reason for this change at Scope Art Fair with Jonathan Levine

CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Mirror, Black Mirror”

CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Leaky Refuge”

JAMES JEAN “Tango 2” (bottom) JAMES JEAN “Excavation” (next page) JAMES JEAN “Hunting Party 1”

THE EVOLUTION OF

JAMES DEAN J

ames Jean is a bit of an anomaly. With a style that defies classification, and work that openly ignores convention, the L.A. based artist appears to be on a singular mission: to create continually a fresh body of work unlike anything his viewers have ever seen from him. This is a substantial undertaking considering the fan base Jean has built up over the span of his career. But considering his deft hand, keen imagination, and unnerving proclivity for experimentation, it just might be possible for James Jean to rewrite his own artistic biography. When VISIÓN last visited James Jean in 2007, he was still psychologically and creatively enmeshed in the world of commercial projects, struggling to get back into painting personal work. At the time, he was more apt to use photoshop than he was oil or acrylic on canvas, and his images had already appeared on everything from comic covers to CD art. So let’s recap. James Jean was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1979, but grew up in New Jersey. He earned his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York before moving to L.A. in 2003, beginning what would become a very lucrative career as a commercial illustrator. Jeans star continued to rise, gaining him critical accolades, Eisner Awards (for Best Cover Artist, from 2004 to 2008), famous

“PEOPLE TEND TO THINK OF

IMAGINATION AS SOME KIND OF

MAGICAL THINKING,

BUT IT’S REALLY JUST THE ABILITY TO MAKE

CONNECTIONS BETWEEN IDEAS.”

clients and multiple book and animation deals. Good thing, but this is neither here nor there. In 2008 James Jean walked away from this exponentially successful career to pursue full time his own brand of fine art. Given the restrictions of commissioned work, its no wonder the artist is currently branching out and taking risks, dipping his brush in a variety of techniques and styles. One gets the idea that Jean is focusing his attention on experimentation rather than perfection, perhaps assigning himself the greatest challenge of his entire career, not to imply any sense of fear or apprehension on his part. “In a sense, I feel as if I could almost paint or draw anything.” Jean says. “I’m interested in the entire spectrum of visual art and design.” Coming from the mouth of any other artist, this statement would likely come across as pretentious or arrogant, but when James Jean says he feels that he’s capable of anything, I am inclined to believe him. Commercial, fine art, loose, figurative, raw, abstract…he’s done it all and done it well. The scary part is that it only feels like he’s just begun. On January 10, 2009 Jeans first solo fine art show, Kindling, opened at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York. The show revealed a collection of large scale, mixed media paintings and drawings that share a lingering tone rather than revolve around an explicit theme.

JAMES JEAN “Hunting Party 2”

James Jean “Tango 1”

(top right) James Jean “Liber Novus”

“I let my subconscious desires take over”, Jean says, “allowing these pent up images to finally take shape. It took some time before I could abandon a certain way of working and thinking that I developed during my career as a commercial illustrator. Kindling represents a bridge between my previous predilection of making polished narrative images, and my current interest in exploring painting in all its expressive forms.” Otherworldly, evocative and swimming in dreamy color schemes, the paintings in Kindling display a looser, less restricted version of James Jean. Each figure and landscape appears rooted in the purgatorial realm between reality and fantasy, with subplots of mortality, transformation and eroticism mixed in for extra drama. Much like Chinese silk scrolls or Japanese screens, several of the paintings were divided into panels. To some degree, the pictures were all over the map, taking on the atmosphere of a retrospective, rather than a debut show. The lack of any specific subject matter or style did not detract from the overall unity of the work, however.

trundling, to piñata smashing, to hiding and seeking. Though veiled in the prettiness of the environment and the innocence of the activities, there is an underlying sense of menace in the narrative, perhaps hinting at thwarted desires and a corruption of innocence.”

(top left) James Jean “Hive”

Evidence that Jean never does anything half way, kindling is accompanied by a book containing 12 removable prints from the show and a 24”x16” poster. Since his debut, Jeans methods have continued to oscillate. His newer work is a showcase of graceful, fluid movements and strokes, slightly more abstract and fleeting than the work he was producing just one year ago. “People tend to think of imagination as some kind of magical thinking, but it’s really just the ability to make connections between ideas.”

“I LET MY SUBCONSCIOUS DESIRES TAKE OVER”

Article by: Jane Pappas Photography by: Hi-Fructose & JamesJean.com

“It was only after seeing the work together in a group that I was able to see connective thread through the series of pictures. The characters in the paintings are mostly engaged in games and rituals of some sort, from hoop

PLATANO PRIDE

MIGUEL LUCIANO 44

BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART

MAY 2ND-JULY 16TH Caribbean symbol. It proudly signifies national culture, yet also references a history of labor and exploitation among Caribbean banana republics. In Puerto Rico, the plantain is further embedded with vernacular references to race and class. For example, plantation workers could be identified by the notorious stains that harvesting plantains left upon their skin and clothing. La mancha del plátano, or the stain of the plantain has long been a euphemism that refers to skin color, equating blackness to a stain upon skin or culture. However, the expression’s meaning is often inverted when used colloquially, as an assertion of pride of ones roots. Plátano references were also applied to Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants in New York who had “just arrived” and struggled to assimilate. Pure Plantainum is a commemoration of the plátano, both a celebration and lament of its symbolic capital. The exterior of the plantain is covered in platinum, its surface precious, pristine, and jewel-like, while the actual fruit decomposes on the inside.

y work addresses playful and painful exchanges between Puerto Rico and the United States questioning a colonial relationship that exists to the present and problematizing the space between the two cultures. I am interested in examining how colonial subordination is extended through globalization as communities have shifted gears from a production based society to one that is grounded in consumption. Exploring different mediums, from painting and drawing to interactive sculpture and public art; community interaction and accessibility have always played an important role in my work. From cereal boxes and children’s books, to vintage product labels and historic publications, my work draws upon a range of visual references, often reorganizing popular, religious, commercial and consumer iconography into fluctuating new hierarchies - creating meaning anew from a site of resistance. I recently began a body of work entitled Pure Plantainum, which centers on a sculptural series of actual green plantains that are plated in platinum. The plantain (plátano) is la Musa Paradisiaca, or the Muse of Paradise, a stereotypical yet iconic Puerto Rican and

I have always wanted to raise the question, what makes you hispanic? Is it the way you look, or the way you feel about your country-the pride. Is being hispanic within us, or what we show? I myself never get considered to be Puerto Rican because of the way I look, and the way I carry myself, but dammit I’m the most passionate person about my island and culture, born and raised but not recognized because of my appearance. This is what drove me to create work that highlighted those questions. The overall insecurity of yourself as an individual that you must present yourself in a generic and redundant way to fit the idea of hispanic. With its emphasis on exterior and superfice, it alludes in part to the hapless pursuit of materialist fetish, while also extending a more fragile metaphor towards the duality of external vs. internal consciousness, and the balance of pride over shame. . Article by: Miguel Luciano Photography by: MiguelLuciano.com

LOUD & CARELESS HUGE DIAMOND EARRINGS

EXCESSIVE NECKLACES (CROSSES)

3XL SHIRT VIRGIN MARY OR CHILDS NAME TATTOO

SILVER WATCH THAT DOESN’T FIT

THE STEREOTYPE

59/50 HAT

PANTS SO BIG & BAGGY THAT THEY FIT 2 GROWN MEN

EXPENSIVE COLLECTION OF SHOES

THE SHADOW THEY ARE TRYING TO FILL

hese are the stereotypes to being hispanic, and what I really want to do in this world is break that view on the culture. We’re all different, no cookie cutter mold that everyone falls under. It’s really sad when I see people selling themselves short, playing dumb, being lazy, acting as if they are owed or that they are forced to live this way. In reality it doesn’t have to be this way. It gives our culture a bad name. Being Hispanic is not in how you look, dress or act. It’s who you are on the inside, the passion and love you have for your culture. So go out, educate yourself, and work hard to give yourself a good life. You aren’t owed. Be proud of your culture, but most of all be proud of yourself as an individual. Article by: Luis Mark Gonzalez, Jr

Illustration by: Luis Mark Gonzalez, Jr

NATALIA FABIA “Untitled”

Punks and Hookers: The Paintings of Natalia Fabia I

f there is such a thing as reincarnation, L.A. based painter Natalia Fabia, in part, comes from another time, of an old world painter stock, a meticulous draftswoman who captures even the tiniest details to create narcotic images. Yet her work is also tinged with the fierce, wholly independent femininity of the new world. Her subjects appear unabashed in their sexuality and their modern freedoms. Their buxom, tattooed bodies cross over one another in moments of camaraderie, engaged in glamorous acts of womanhood often kept secret from the world of men. Natalia bravely and defiantly uncovers this world, and thusly, the work is inbued with a forbidden excitement—we feel like voyeurs but cant stop looking.

This early interest in painting figures would transition into her current oeuvre; clusters of her beauties appear huddled together within densely decorated interiors, painting each other’s bodies, playing poker or smoking together in a cluttered bathroom as they prepare for a night out. Curiously it’s not only her incredible technique that attracts viewers to her work, but also the strange vernacular conjoined to each body of paintings, most alluringly, the word “Hooker.” Politically incorrect as some of her imagery may appear to conservatives, the word balances on a tricky, flimsy line. It’s plump with negative connotations; more pointedly, it’s generally used as a derogatory word against women. In Natalia’s world however, it has been reassigned to mean quite the opposite:

Born overseas in Poland but raised in the Valley of Los Angeles, Natalia “ I don’t know exactly where the whole ‘hooker’ recalls having been exposed to art thing started, but I was always playfully by both her parents since childhood: calling my girlfriends and everyone around me hookers, just how people say ‘dude’… I “Art has always been in my life. It is all I was just obsessed with the word and the idea. remember doing and know. Both of my parents Everyone became ‘hooker’ and everything was were artistic, my father was a wood worker/ ‘hooker-something.’ Like ‘hooker-doodle’ etc. carver and also painted. My mother was an Since I can remember I have been fascinated architect. During childhood I was constantly with burlesque and pin up girls, Toulouse drawing and trying to paint, always asking my Lautrec and his brothels basically sexy women father to help me draw… primarily draw girls for in general. The word ‘hooker’ sounded very me. In elementary school I remember drawing provocative and sexy to me (I have never meant X-Men and selling the drawings to classmates it literally). My favorite meaning for hooker is for .25 cents each, then in sixth grade, friends a definition that I found in a dictionary that I would sit for me during lunch breaks and I’d think is amazing: ‘ A hooker is someone who draw them. I would make them look older so sells their talent or abilities’… So everyone is they were excited to see the outcome.” a hooker! Especially us artists. Eventually the

“A

HOOKER IS SOMEONE WHO SELLS THEIR TALENT OR ABILITIES’… SO EVERYONE IS A HOOKER! ESPECIALLY US ARTISTS.” 47

NATALIA FABIA “Pool Party”

NATALIA FABIA “Kawai Puzzle”

NATALIA FABIA “Peacock Dancer”

NATALIA FABIA “Getting Butterflies”

term ‘hooker’ has developed to mean a strong independent, talented, hot chick for me… And I am lucky because all of my friends happen to be hookers and that is who I paint a lot.” Through these renderings of modern yet alternative beauty, a paradox that only seems to make her work more provoking, the women appear as strong, sultry, confident creatures, wholly in command of their bodies, choices, worlds. They lounge in the shade of trees while on safari, they play dress up in staggering heels and layers of tulle, they eat dessert, drink beer, handle shotguns and live in hot pink walled rooms overflowing with the toys of childhood. This proximity to childhood objects, as seen in her most recent exhibition Fashionable Aftertaste Without End that debuted at Corey Helford Gallery in 2010, is contrasted with the inclusion of her first full nude painting, “Nude of Toy” in which a lithe beauty is haloed by slick toy robots. This fascination

they appear engaged in ordinary ritual acts of intimacy, made fantasy by the choice to permeate a fleeting moment, generating a sustained trance of sensuous. Everyday experiences and the natural candors of her The personal relationships she maintains with subjects, usually only captured in snapshots the subjects of her paintings successfully or diluted into cloudy memories, appears new translates to the emotional landscapes and alluring under the careful eye of the artist: captured within her compositions, reflected in the clothing and accessory choices she “My models are mainly my friends, friends of uses to fashion her figures. The women friends, people I meet out that are intriguing immortalized in her work are real life to me or that are über talented. I tend to look friends, some also painters, others often for interesting looking, stylish, colorful people. appearing creative, charismatic and tattooed. I prefer to paint creative people with their own style and strong personality, whether it is a In “Pool Party”, a gathering of friends creates huge personality or quiet shy one. Personality a vivid scene in which the watery rendering always affects the final painting. I feel it always pool water contrasts with the smooth, half shows through, and if I have a connection with nude, tattooed skins of its inhabitants. The the model that helps well. The emotion I want focal figure holds a cigarette between two to evoke from my models is natural. No posing! fingers as someone offers a lit match. This They are interesting and sexy on their own!” seemingly casual encounter is elevated by the physical act of the creation of work . A palpable dramatic tension is formed with “Kawaii” objects and toys was echoed in the stunningly neon, six foot chandelier created with cut outs of images that reappear in her work, such as cupcakes and hearts.

fashion, always looking at tons of highend and foreighn fashion magazines for inspiration. In junior high I was obsessed with vintage clothes and making outfits… I was a little punk rocker. I made a lot of my own clothing, as I do now for some shoots. Nature is a wonderfully interestingly lit environment and is just as, if not more, important than fashion to my work! I am as attracted to a space and light as I am to clothing. An environment can tell tell a story or promote a mood. I love painting nature and interiors!”

“In my studio I have tons of crap. I keep all things around for inspiration, from family photos, fashion tear sheets, images I like, toys, plants, to lots of knick-knacks. This ‘clutter’ (which is actually pretty organizedI need clean space to work) makes me feel comfortable. I like to be able to look up at something’s and be provoked to start or add something to my work.”

Even the vision of Natalia in person seems to be an inspirational font from which she culls her creativity. With an ever-growing collection of vivid tattoos, expressive eyes and a sincerely friendly demeanor, she exudes the life she has architected in her paintings. In this way the work is akin to an archive in which she catalogues friends and documents experiences, snaring every detail of her life “The heart of my work is all about life and into a daring opus that is imbued with the grit light and color. I have this need to produce of sub-culture and glittering decadence. my paintings. They are overflowing my head Article by: JL Schnabel and the conjunction of representing what I Photography by: Corey Helford Gallery feel and see in my head into paint is the most exhilarating!” This electric vigilance of life is applied to the rigorous undertaking of her work. While preparing for her East Coast debut at Jonathan LeVine Gallery early next year, she sleeps light and paints for up to eighteen hours a day, a consuming routine that is only freckled by trips to practice yoga:

To create these scenes with paint, Natalia first creates them for photograph sessions. Occasionally she even makes fashions of the models in clothing she made (and her lasercut jewelry line “Hooker Feathers” makes glittery cameo appearances as well). Scenes are carefully curated before captured on film and then used as reference material. This Inspiration of these imaginings lingers in marriage between landscape and fashion every corner of her studio; the walls are is synonymous: I’ve always been really into papered with images of glossy women that 52

gaze down at her from all angles as she works:

(above) NATALIA FABIA “Electric Marshmallows For Real Eyes”

NATALIA FABIA “Aileen Ice Cream”

MAY 1ST-JUNE 15TH

ey Ortega is a graduate of the Sheridan Institute of Design and Technology’s B.A.A. Illustration program. His work has previously been shown at Show & Tell Gallery in Toronto and has since produced editorial, advertising, and comic works both locally and abroad. Ortega’s been able to apply his craft in a variety of disciplines, each time striving to maintain the spirit of drawing. Rey Ortega lives and works in Toronto, Canada. Rey Ortega’s exhibit opening tonight at WWA gallery, The Land, is about a fictional people and place of his own design. Ortega explores the fantasy world of The Land as though from an anthropologist’s or historicist’s point of view by examining the land, its people, their architecture, objects, and culture.

Ortega uses several different methods of image- making in this collection of new works, in order to make The Land a real place and to give its people a rich history and culture. By creating a piece painted with ink and brush on rice paper, as if it were an ancient scroll depicting a place or event (not unlike the ukio-e scrolls in Japanese art) and then recreating the same place or event, but this time drawn “years later” by an adventurer in a sketchbook, Ortega allows the viewer to look at The Land as it would have been seen overtime by its own people and by outsiders alike. Rey Ortega’s The Land opens tonight, Friday, May 7th at WWA Gallery. Article by: JUXTAPOZ Photography by: JUXTAPOZ & ReyOrtega.com

MAY 1ST-JUNE 15TH ey Ortega is a graduate of the Sheridan Institute of Design and Technology’s B.A.A. Illustration program. His work has previously been shown at Show & Tell Gallery in Toronto and has since produced editorial, advertising, and comic works both locally and abroad. Ortega’s been able to apply his craft in a variety of disciplines, each time striving to maintain the spirit of drawing. Rey Ortega lives and works in Toronto, Canada. Rey Ortega’s exhibit opening tonight at WWA gallery, The Land, is about a fictional people and place of his own design. Ortega explores the fantasy world of The Land as though from an anthropologist’s or historicist’s point of view by examining the land, its people, their architecture, objects, and culture.

NATALIA FABIA “Aileen Ice Cream”

between these authentic encounters and the outer landscapes in which the figures are set. The environments appear as visual extensions of the moods of the figures, every eyelashthin detail of these scenes is agonized over with the same careful attention shown to the main figures; shower water sparkles in a dazzling spectrum of color, tattoos appear watery and “real” under their skins and trees sport glittering punk rock studs. These lush environments not only provide the backdrops to the energetic, fashionable women entangled in them, but also project a radiant spectacle, in which the eye jumps to devour this feast of details. These visual choices also further the confessional aspect of the work; these are not imagined settings, but instead, tangible places in Natalia’s life. The women are as much a part of her life as the atmospheric settings she conjures them into. To create these scenes with paint, Natalia first creates them for photograph sessions. Occasionally she even makes fashions of the models in clothing she made (and her lasercut jewelry line “Hooker Feathers” makes glittery cameo appearances as well). Scenes are carefully curated before captured on film and then used as reference material. This marriage between landscape and fashion is synonymous: I’ve always been really into

fashion, always looking at tons of high- gaze down at her from all angles as she works: end and foreighn fashion magazines for inspiration. In junior high I was obsessed with “In my studio I have tons of crap. I keep all vintage clothes and making outfits… I was things around for inspiration, from family a little punk rocker. I made a lot of my own photos, fashion tear sheets, images I like, clothing, as I do now for some shoots. Nature toys, plants, to lots of knick-knacks. This is a wonderfully interestingly lit environment ‘clutter’ (which is actually pretty organizedand is just as, if not more, important than I need clean space to work) makes me feel fashion to my work! I am as attracted to comfortable. I like to be able to look up at a space and light as I am to clothing. An something’s and be provoked to start or add environment can tell tell a story or promote something to my work.” a mood. I love painting nature and interiors!” Even the vision of Natalia in person seems This electric vigilance of life is applied to be an inspirational font from which she to the rigorous undertaking of her work. culls her creativity. With an ever-growing While preparing for her East Coast debut at collection of vivid tattoos, expressive eyes Jonathan LeVine Gallery early next year, she and a sincerely friendly demeanor, she exudes sleeps light and paints for up to eighteen the life she has architected in her paintings. hours a day, a consuming routine that is only In this way the work is akin to an archive in which she catalogues friends and documents freckled by trips to practice yoga: experiences, snaring every detail of her life “The heart of my work is all about life and into a daring opus that is imbued with the grit light and color. I have this need to produce of sub-culture and glittering decadence. my paintings. They are overflowing my head Article by: JL Schnabel and the conjunction of representing what I Photography by: Corey Helford Gallery feel and see in my head into paint is the most exhilarating!” Inspiration of these imaginings lingers in every corner of her studio; the walls are papered with images of glossy women that

(above) NATALIA FABIA “Electric Marshmallows For Real Eyes”

NATALIA FABIA “Getting Butterflies”

term ‘hooker’ has developed to mean a strong with “Kawaii” objects and toys was echoed they appear engaged in ordinary ritual acts independent, talented, hot chick for me… And in the stunningly neon, six foot chandelier of intimacy, made fantasy by the choice to I am lucky because all of my friends happen to created with cut outs of images that reappear permeate a fleeting moment, generating be hookers and that is who I paint a lot.” in her work, such as cupcakes and hearts. a sustained trance of sensuous. Everyday experiences and the natural candors of her The personal relationships she maintains with subjects, usually only captured in snapshots the subjects of her paintings successfully or diluted into cloudy memories, appears new translates to the emotional landscapes and alluring under the careful eye of the artist: captured within her compositions, reflected in the clothing and accessory choices she uses to fashion her figures. The women immortalized in her work are real life friends, some also painters, others often appearing creative, charismatic and tattooed. Through these renderings of modern yet alternative beauty, a paradox that only seems to make her work more provoking, the women appear as strong, sultry, confident creatures, wholly in command of their bodies, choices, worlds. They lounge in the shade of trees while on safari, they play dress up in staggering heels and layers of tulle, they eat dessert, drink beer, handle shotguns and live in hot pink walled rooms overflowing with the toys of childhood. This proximity to childhood objects, as seen in her most recent exhibition Fashionable Aftertaste Without End that debuted at Corey Helford Gallery in 2010, is contrasted with the inclusion of her first full nude painting, “Nude of Toy” in which a lithe beauty is haloed by slick toy robots. This fascination

In “Pool Party”, a gathering of friends creates a vivid scene in which the watery rendering pool water contrasts with the smooth, half nude, tattooed skins of its inhabitants. The focal figure holds a cigarette between two fingers as someone offers a lit match. This seemingly casual encounter is elevated by the physical act of the creation of work .

“My models are mainly my friends, friends of friends, people I meet out that are intriguing to me or that are über talented. I tend to look for interesting looking, stylish, colorful people. I prefer to paint creative people with their own style and strong personality, whether it is a huge personality or quiet shy one. Personality always affects the final painting. I feel it always shows through, and if I have a connection with the model that helps well. The emotion I want to evoke from my models is natural. No posing! They are interesting and sexy on their own!” A palpable dramatic tension is formed 58

NATALIA FABIA “Peacock Dancer”

NATALIA FABIA “Kawai Puzzle”

NATALIA FABIA “Pool Party”

NATALIA FABIA “Untitled”

Punks and Hookers: The Paintings of Natalia Fabia I

f there is such a thing as reincarnation, This early interest in painting figures would L.A. based painter Natalia Fabia, in part, transition into her current oeuvre; clusters of comes from another time, of an old world her beauties appear huddled together within painter stock, a meticulous draftswoman densely decorated interiors, painting each who captures even the tiniest details to other’s bodies, playing poker or smoking create narcotic images. Yet her work is also together in a cluttered bathroom as they tinged with the fierce, wholly independent prepare for a night out. Curiously it’s not only femininity of the new world. Her subjects her incredible technique that attracts viewers appear unabashed in their sexuality and their to her work, but also the strange vernacular modern freedoms. Their buxom, tattooed conjoined to each body of paintings, most bodies cross over one another in moments of alluringly, the word “Hooker.” Politically camaraderie, engaged in glamorous acts of incorrect as some of her imagery may appear womanhood often kept secret from the world to conservatives, the word balances on a of men. Natalia bravely and defiantly uncovers tricky, flimsy line. It’s plump with negative this world, and thusly, the work is inbued with a connotations; more pointedly, it’s generally forbidden excitement—we feel like voyeurs but used as a derogatory word against women. cant stop looking. In Natalia’s world however, it has been reassigned to mean quite the opposite: Born overseas in Poland but raised in the Valley of Los Angeles, Natalia “ I don’t know exactly where the whole ‘hooker’ recalls having been exposed to art thing started, but I was always playfully by both her parents since childhood: calling my girlfriends and everyone around me hookers, just how people say ‘dude’… I was just obsessed with the word and the idea. Everyone became ‘hooker’ and everything was ‘hooker-something.’ Like ‘hooker-doodle’ etc. Since I can remember I have been fascinated with burlesque and pin up girls, Toulouse Lautrec and his brothels basically sexy women in general. The word ‘hooker’ sounded very provocative and sexy to me (I have never meant it literally). My favorite meaning for hooker is a definition that I found in a dictionary that I think is amazing: ‘ A hooker is someone who sells their talent or abilities’… So everyone is a hooker! Especially us artists. Eventually the “Art has always been in my life. It is all I remember doing and know. Both of my parents were artistic, my father was a wood worker/ carver and also painted. My mother was an architect. During childhood I was constantly drawing and trying to paint, always asking my father to help me draw… primarily draw girls for me. In elementary school I remember drawing X-Men and selling the drawings to classmates for .25 cents each, then in sixth grade, friends would sit for me during lunch breaks and I’d draw them. I would make them look older so they were excited to see the outcome.”

“A HOOKER IS SOMEONE WHO SELLS THEIR TALENT OR ABILITIES’… SO EVERYONE IS A HOOKER! ESPECIALLY US ARTISTS.” 62

59/50 HAT LOUD & CARELESS HUGE DIAMOND EARRINGS

EXCESSIVE NECKLACES (CROSSES)

3XL SHIRT VIRGIN MARY OR CHILDS NAME TATTOO

SILVER WATCH THAT DOESN’T FIT

THE STEREOTYPE

PANTS SO BIG & BAGGY THAT THEY FIT 2 GROWN MEN

EXPENSIVE COLLECTION OF SHOES

THE SHADOW THEY ARE TRYING TO FILL

MIGUEL LUCIANO

PLATANO PRIDE

BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART

I recently began a body of work entitled Pure Plantainum, which centers on a sculptural series of actual green plantains that are plated in platinum. The plantain (plátano) is la Musa Paradisiaca, or the Muse of Paradise, a stereotypical yet iconic Puerto Rican and

“I let my subconscious desires take over”, Jean trundling, to piñata smashing, to hiding and says, “allowing these pent up images to finally seeking. Though veiled in the prettiness of take shape. It took some time before I could the environment and the innocence of the abandon a certain way of working and thinking activities, there is an underlying sense of that I developed during my career as a commercial menace in the narrative, perhaps hinting at illustrator. Kindling represents a bridge between thwarted desires and a corruption of innocence.” my previous predilection of making polished narrative images, and my current interest in Evidence that Jean never does anything half way, exploring painting in all its expressive forms.” kindling is accompanied by a book containing 12 removable prints from the show and a 24”x16” Otherworldly, evocative and swimming in dreamy poster. color schemes, the paintings in Kindling display a looser, less restricted version of James Jean. Since his debut, Jeans methods have continued Each figure and landscape appears rooted in the to oscillate. His newer work is a showcase purgatorial realm between reality and fantasy, of graceful, fluid movements and strokes, with subplots of mortality, transformation slightly more abstract and fleeting than the and eroticism mixed in for extra drama. Much work he was producing just one year ago. like Chinese silk scrolls or Japanese screens, several of the paintings were divided into panels. “People tend to think of imagination as some kind of magical thinking, but it’s really just the To some degree, the pictures were all over the ability to make connections between ideas.” map, taking on the atmosphere of a retrospective, Article by: Jane Pappas rather than a debut show. The lack of any Photography by: Hi-Fructose & JamesJean.com specific subject matter or style did not detract from the overall unity of the work, however.

(top right) James Jean “Liber Novus” (top left) James Jean “Hive”

“I LET MY SUBCONSCIOUS DESIRES TAKE OVER”

James Jean “Tango 1”

JAMES JEAN “Hunting Party 2”

JAMES JEAN “Tango 2” (bottom) JAMES JEAN “Excavation” (next page) JAMES JEAN “Hunting Party 1”

THE EVOLUTION OF

JAMES DEAN J

“PEOPLE TEND TO THINK OF

IMAGINATION AS SOME KIND OF

MAGICAL THINKING,

BUT IT’S REALLY JUST THE ABILITY TO MAKE

CONNECTIONS BETWEEN IDEAS.”

CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Leaky Refuge”

CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Mirror, Black Mirror”

(left) CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Disguises of the Empire” (top right) CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Witch Tricks”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was of pace? How did you like this transition? originally published as an illustrated novel by “Lewis Carroll” as you know. Did It sort of developed out of necessity, the time you and if so, how much did you use the constraints and the amount of work dictated original illustrations as reference? Or, that I work on the artwork smaller than I did you imagine up everything yourself? normally would. I am much better at smaller work if it is pen & ink kind of stuff. So originally, I am a mad book collector, and I own 4 copies I wanted to do it all in pen & ink, black & white, of “Alice In Wonderland” with the original but they were printing the whole book in color, John Tenniel illustrations, so I found it was so my minimalist idea was out the window! impossible for me to think about any of the So the watercolor, I felt, would work well with characters without automatically thinking in the delicate linework I wanted to do. Stupidly, my head about the original illustration. So, I I thought it would be faster than the way I looked at this more as an homage to Tenniel, usually layer and build up the surfaces, but it a way to honor those illustrations. I did use was actually way harder, and the small scale a lot of his compositions as reference, as I made me develop an eye tick, like a throbbing realized after doing a bunch of sketches, that of the inner eye muscle, every time I sat down he came up with the best composition in the to work. The whole project practically drove first place! There were some exceptions, of me insane. course. I always hated how you couldn’t see the Caterpillars’ face in the original drawing, Are you excited about the new “Alice so I drew that one from the opposite point of in Wonderland” movie coming out? It view. Also, The Lobster Quadrille was never seems too much of a coincidence that illustrated, so that was open for interpretation. your book is being released around the same time. Was this planned from the What’s your favorite character from Alice very beginning or just serendipity? in Wonderland? After this project are there any new favorites or challenges to draw? I am very excited to see the movie! I am, of course, a huge Tim Burton fan. And yes, the The Mock Turtle has always been one of my project was planned to come out when the favorites, he is so gloomy and non-huggable, movie was released. I guess that’s how they he just looks really clammy, like he would have to pitch projects in the book world, have smell like some sad old starfish you found some kind of hollywood tie-in. It’s kind of on the beach. I’m always attracted to the annoying that it has to be that way, because most unlikeable ones, the un-huggables. the release date of the movie dictated my deadlines, which is lame. We heard from Hi Fructose that you’re branching out into watercolors for this We loved your recent collaboration plush one as opposed to your usual repertoire of figures from Pitco that you premiered using acrylics. Any reason for this change at Scope Art Fair with Jonathan Levine

Gallery. Should we expect some new character designs in the future? Thanks! Yes, I have a new design, “Jr. Eggbert” that will be available in the next few weeks. PITCO is such a labor of love, it is really DIY and I only make about 25 dolls at a time, so that’s why the availability has been so spotty. I have been trying to avoid mass producing anything, but that makes the production process harder because no one wants to make 25 or 100 things, they want to make 1000 things. Sol until I have the PITCO headquarters set up, which will probably be in Portland, Oregon, it’s just going to be a very little empire. You did a poster for Death Cab for Cutie. Any other bands/projects we should be seeing you workingfor 2010? None lined up at the moment, but I do love working with bands, I would love to do an animated video, that would be cool. Garcia’s work is dark and macabre, haunting and liberating. I love her use of muted colors, the layers, how you can’t tell if it’s the future or the past. I love how her worlds look both depressed and beautiful; cartoony and surreal—is that a lollipop tree or a mushroom cloud? I can’t help but be drawn into her world, and why shouldn’t we be? It is the world we live in. It’s Camille’s world after all. Article by: Hi-Fructose Photography by: Hi-Fructose & CamilleRoseGarcia.com

CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Mirror, White Mirror” (next page) CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA “Hunters and Warriors”

TELLING HER OWN FAIRYTALE rom a childhood visit to Disney World, I A filthy deer in Antarctic Suburban Outpost remember the “It’s a Small World” ride as a (2006) strikes a tense, bashful pose on sharp slow boat that drifts you around the globe terrain. A wan baby elephant in Aquamarine while animatronic children and animals from Slumber (2005) belches pictures of dancing different continents serenade you. I remember pills as an owl sidekick cries giant blood-tears. thinking at the time, This must be what life is like in other countries: different clothes; same If Disney characters are wholesome Ashleys, smiles; harmonious colors; everyone very stylish. Camille’s characters are emaciated Mary-Kates, their beauty rooted in danger and scariness. Camille Rose Garcia was born in Los Angeles in I first encountered Camille’s work as an art school 1970 and grew up in the era of Dead Kennedys. undergrad in Indiana. A newspaper reproduction As a child she’d visit nearby Disneyland and of Creepcake Annihilation Plan (2000) caught my experience the contrast between life inside and eye in the scrap paper bin and I was hooked. I outside the park. How unpleasant it is to think cut out the art and pinned it to my studio wall. of local children growing up and coming to understand that Disneyland is a broken-promise I was haunted by that image and I didn’t know land; that the world capital of fantasy is merely exactly why. Partly because she was so good the proprietary product of an aggressive, self- at what she was doing—love it or hate it (and I loved it)—and I was afraid I’d never be that good interested business. at anything. That drawing hung in my studio for In Camille’s acrylic-and-glitter-on-wood artwork several years, and it scared and motivated me. paintings, characters read as medicated, PG-13 Then I lost it. doppelgangers of the G-rated Disney populus.

JULIAN CALLOS “Afloat”

JULIAN CALLOS “High Spirits”

JULIAN CALLOS “Adrift 2”

small tent in the foreground of “Two Traitors”; in another piece it appears in the background, on a wall beside a poster.

one of her illustrations, it serves as a grounding element relative to the charged pastel colors that feature most prominently in her work.

KRISTINA COLLANTES “Untitled 3” (left page) KRISTINA COLLANTES “Traitor” (bottom) KRISTINA COLLANTES “Gardener”

“Her work suggests numerous influences from the 1960s 1970s

and early

especially European psychedelic art and reminiscence of rock

“

albums & posters.

Article by: Mikl Em Photography by: Hi-Fructose & Kristina Collantes.com

KRISTINA COLLANTES “Untitled 1” (next page) KRISTINA COLLANTES “Untitled 2”

future facing figure in profile, her inhuman Kristina is a self taught artist who began to take ear accentuated by a new spring of what looks her work to the next level when friends asked like a plant growth. From the side, her head her to create work for posters, album covers, reflects the colors of a constrained rainbow- and other projects. That led to a career as an fixated in the violent band and fractured into illustrator, which includes publications around component magenta, cerise, heliothrope. Is it a the world and illustration work with GQ. heat map? A diagram of the component parts of an alien brain? The lines, like the hues, between Her personal work, as evident in Growth and clothing and anatomy are open and blurred. This Mars, is itself evolving and progressing. She piece is entitled “Lone Ranger”, but this is not has recently gone through a simplifying your grandfather’s lone ranger. phase. Concerned that her illustrations were getting cluttered with over detailed and busy backgrounds, most scenes in Growth and Mars are backed with a single plain color. The recent work of southern California-based Kristina Collantes is dominated by ideas of mysterious future development. MARS and GROWTH, her two ongoing series, feature humanoid female figures literally growing before our eyes-plant like buds and blooms emerging from their bodies. While Growth tends to focus on an individual, personal level of change and progression, Mars takes place in a sci-fi landscape, suggesting larger storylines amongst the alien terrain. Growth began during a time of personal change for the artist. The women in this series are developing in both body and mind, as sprouts emerge from the body. Mars in contrast brings in science fiction elements and more complex back stories, in fact these female are shape shifting plants that have grown to become women.

White has become an important and intentional element in her work. Kristina credits Canadian illustrator Jillian Tamaki, one of her favorite artist and big influence, with bringing this use of white into focus for her. “I was really inspired by a drawing of Jillian Tamaki’s called “Rude Boy”. The white doilies in the background create such a great finishing touch to the illustration…I gradually decided to adopt the same technique”. Her white is an absolute white that fills the eye shapes of her figures, appears as blossoms and stalks, and finds expression in numerous other details. Used sparingly but appearing in every

molaa exhibit runs February 14th through May 2nd, 2012 628 Alamitos Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90802

“ISSUES OF

OVERPOPULATION IN MAJOR CITIES.”

especially of those who are members of an affluent socioeconomic group which is shown through the work by Daniela Rossell and Natalia Iguiñiz.

RUDI ROEL “Bolivian Child”, 1995

ANDRES SERRANO “The Morgue (Homicide Stabbing)”

LATIN AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY

1990-2005

THE DOCUMENTATION OF SURROUNDINGS,

The exhibition explores the artist’s personally-charged response to local and global issues grounded in the contemporary Latin American experience. Over 83 works created by 37 artists range from traditional photography, to manipulated digital photography, installations, light-boxes and photo-based art.

During the 1990s Latin American photography finally gained a strong foothold in the international art scene and took advantage of thematic and technical innovations to generate a new aesthetic, especially after the emergence of the digital media. The transformations in the photographic art world developed at the same time as deep sociopolitical changes. All these sociopolitical circumstances had an effect on the artistic production. As a result, the critical discourse of the photographic medium of the last two decades approaches reality using a variety of languages, from more conceptual solutions to more traditional answers.

MARIO CRAVO NETO “Lord Of The Head”

SELECTIONS FROM THE MOLAA PERMANENT COLLECTION JANUARY 13 - JULY 3, 2012

100

BOUNDARIES

BREAKING THE LIMITS.

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Rebus Rebus

James James Jean Jean

Brooklyn Museum of Art Brooklyn Museum of Art April 1st-May 30 April 1st-May 30

La Luz De JesĂşs Gallery

Eric Fortune

Glenn Barr

Gallery Opens June 1st

4633 Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90027-5413 (323) 666-7667 104

Damian Fulton

Robert Palacios

July 2-25, 2011 Opening Reception Friday, July 2nd, 8-11 pm

molaa

museum of latin american art 105

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ESPAﾃ前L

VOL. 3 JAMES JEAN CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA JULIAN CALLOS KRISTINA COLLANTES MIGUEL LUCIANO REY ORTEGA ROBERT PALACIOS