Tigers and Jaguars: LA’s Asian-Latino Art Phenomenon
Craft and Folk Art Museum
Curated by Kathy Mas-Gallegos, Director
Los Angeles, CA
June 30-October 29, 2006
Developed in collaboration with the Ave. 50 Studio, the Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture and the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum
Artists included: Chaz Bojorquez, Richard Duardo, Clement Hanami, Bari Kumar, Shizu Saldamando, and Linda Vallejo
The pioneering exhibition Tigers and Jaguars: LA’s Asian-Latino Art Phenomenon examines the relationship and interaction between Asian and Latino communities featuring artists who have forged this uniquely Los Angeles-based phenomenon.
Tigers and Jaguars explores the evolution of cross-cultural, grass-roots experiences that occur between Latino and Asian communities. The artists included in this exhibition do not forsake their cultural traditions. Rather, they explore the meshing of ethnicity in development of visual and sonic hybrids by intermingling symbols and iconography from both Asian and Latino cultures. Curator Kathy Gallegos points out, “In an increasingly globalized world, these artists share a desire to bridge cultural borderlines and to create new multicultural modes of artistic expressions.”
The artists exhibited include a self-taught street tagger as well as a university-trained fine artist influenced by Renaissance symmetry. Artist Richard Duardo creates prints that span a visual library from Mexican popular culture to Japanese portraiture. Chaz Bojorquez began his artistic trajectory as a graffiti artist in the streets and riverbeds of Los Angeles, and his signature style is influenced both by West Coast “Cholo” graffiti and by Asian calligraphy.
Linda Vallejo has incorporated the Asian “mandala” into a new series of environmental and political installations. Painter Bari Kumar, born in India, creates works that combine images sampled from newspaper headlines, street art, art history, and the artist’s personal travels.
“Tigers and Jaguars is a unique exhibition that combines the sensibilities of two striking cultural communities. The resulting artwork represents the influence of diversity that occurs daily in our city, and this is an important exhibition for all Angelenos to see,” said Maryna Hrushetska, Executive Director of CAFAM.
About Kathy Gallegos
Kathy Gallegos is the director of Avenue 50 Studio, Inc., a non-profit art gallery formed to support the cultural vitality of the Mexican and Central American community of Highland Park. Avenue 50 Studio provides an ongoing structure to enhance public recognition and appreciation of our multicultural art community, and engender support for visual artists, writers and poets.
About The Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture
Founded in the early 1990s, The Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture has served the Latino community through commemorative exhibitions of artists such as Paul Sierra, Patria Portatil and Cesar Chavez. Having lost its building through a City eminent domain action, the Latino Museum has been without its own site for over 3 years. Within the next 12 months, the Latino Museum will have a permanent space at the Los Angeles Theater Center when renovations are completed in mid-2007.
About The Craft and Folk Art Museum
The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) is a Los Angeles nonprofit cultural arts organization dedicated to the public presentation and preservation of folk arts and contemporary craft. Founded in 1965, originally as “The Egg and The Eye” by the late Edith Wyle, who passionately promoted traditional artisans and the virtue of handmade art the Museum opened in 1973. As a local Museum with global reach, CAFAM seeks to promote international goodwill and global understanding among its citizens. The Museum works to preserve and strengthen the folk culture of our community based on its belief that the quality of urban life is directly related to the vitality and diversity of viewpoints and traditions.
Exhibition invitation Artist walk-through invitiation Press release Avenue 50 Studio Craft and Folk Art Museum