With Liberty and Justice for Some
group exhibition
co-curated by Monica Lundy
Walter Maciel Gallery
Los Angeles, CA
January 7—March 4, 2017
Children’s Museum of the Arts
curated by Jil Weinstock
New York, NY
September 26—October 28, 2018
Walter Maciel Gallery is pleased to present With Liberty and Justice for Some, featuring the work of several contemporary artists who have been invited to create portraits of immigrants to the United States. The show is a statement on the many fears surrounding the announcement of our new president elect and a powerful response rejecting the presumed policies that threaten to disrupt basic civil rights.
As soon as the shock of the election results wore off, it became clear to us as art professionals our need to mobilize and create a positive message of hope within our curatorial program. Suddenly so many communities are finding themselves under duress, attack and even deportation. We began discussing our fears and challenges in hopes of sparking up ideas to unite us and protect the laws that support minority communities. Part of that dialog included an idea brought to our attention by Monica Lundy, an artist working in the Bay Area and previously exhibited at Walter Maciel Gallery, who envisioned a collaborative group show allowing artist to comment on their anger and frustration within our new political system. The conversation was further enhanced by gallery artist Hung Liu, and together we came up with the idea of featuring portraits of immigrants; examining the very notion of our country’s foundation as a melting pot of individuals who emigrated from other places. The United States was built on many freedoms created to protect all of its inhabitants and we have spent many years securing different human rights. The new president will no doubt disrupt and change laws already in place for fair government. The exhibition is appropriately planned in conjunction with his inauguration on January 20th and we hope the show will draw attention to many of the impending challenges.
For the project, we invited artists across the country to do 8 x 8 inch portraits of various individuals who came to the United States as immigrants including historic subjects, personal friends and relatives, strangers and self portraits. Several renderings simultaneously include disenfranchised communities, such as African Americans, LGBTQ persons, Mexicans, Muslims, Jews, refugees and women, thus representing many of the communities being threatened by the new administration. The work includes many different mediums such as acrylic and oil paint on canvas, mixed media and collage on panel, photography, drawings and other works on paper. The culmination of specifically selected portraits will be assembled in an installation depicting the American Flag while others are grouped together to celebrate the diversity of our country. Some of the notable subjects include actor Bela Lugosi, entertainer Grace Jones, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Jamaican political leader Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr., Architect I. M. Pei, Province of Pennsylvania founder William Penn and several established artists such as Hung Liu, David Hockney, Marcel Duchamp, Enrique Chagoya, Wanxin Zhang and Julie Mehretu. Two gallery artists, Maria E. Piñeres and Nike Schröder, will present self portraits.
A major part of the exhibition is our commitment to support many valuable organizations that we feel will be compromised under the new administration, and who continue fighting for the rights and privileges of our communities. With the support of all of the artists involved in the project, we are donating a portion of each sale to various non-profits including ACLU, Planned Parenthood, The Trevor Project, Center for Reproductive Rights and the LA and SF LGBT Centers.
Walter Maciel Gallery extends a heartfelt thank you to Monica Lundy in our appreciation for her time, passion, dedication and overall organization in making this important exhibition possible. We encourage as much support and devotion in making the transition into our new America less fearful.
Artists included: Barry Anderson, Evelynn Aponte, Lili Bernard, Libby Black, Garry Brewer, Nyame O. Brown, Brian Caraway, Cece Carpio, Carolyn Castano, Joey Castor, Freddy Chandra, Chenhung Chen, Modesto Covarrubias, Rick Dallago, Bibi Davidson, Leonard De Greco, Yvette Deas, Diane Ding, Colin Doherty, Tim Doud, David Estrada, Diane-Sofia Estrada, Rodney Ewing, Susan Feldman, Chris Finley, Jon Fischer, Erik Flores, Gwen Freeman, Dwora Fried, Dorothy Goode, Joshua Hagler, Diane Andrews Hall, Michael Hall, Adrienne Heloise, Sarah Hirneisen, David Hollier, Phillip Hua, Marlene Iyemura, Cassandra Jones, Kevin Jones, Soad Kader, Amy Kaps, Veda B. Kaya, Dave Kim, Michael Koehle, Melanie Kusters, Danielle Lawrence, Carrie Lederer, Hung Liu, Sandra Low, Kija Lucas, Monica Lundy, Walter Maciel, Aline Mare, Kara Maria, Michael Massenburg, Randi Matushevitz, Geri Montano, Paul Mullins, Antonio Muniz, Rikki Niehaus, Damien O’Brien, Tim Okamura, Cynthia Ona Innis, Paul Paiement, Maria Pineres, Yulia Pinkusevich, Amy Pleasant, Mel Prest, Linda Price, Calida Rawles, Kate Rhoades, Karrie Ross, Ann Marie Rousseau, Maja Ruznic, Ron Saunders, Sonja Schenk, Nike Schroder, Annie Seaton, Steve Seleska, Christine Shields, Cindy Shih, Sheli Silverio, Jessica Snow, Lisa Solomon, Mike Street, William Swanson, Camilla Taylor, Jessie Thatcher, Lava Thomas, Gina Tuzzi, Linda Vallejo, Lin Wei, Dana Weiser, Rhonda Wheatley, Stephen Whistler, Diane Williams, Sandra Yagi, Andre Yi, Stella Zhang, and Wanxin Zhang.
Artists Reckon With Trump’s Inauguration, by Michael Paulson and Andrew R. Chow, New York Times, New York, January 20, 2017
Artist’s Mobilize: With Liberty and Justice for Some . . . An Exhibition Honoring Immigrants, The Huffington Post, by Amy Pleasant, January 20, 2017
Walter Maciel Gallery Shines with Politics and Poetry, by Genie Davis, Art and Cake LA, Los Angeles, CA February 5, 2017
Portraits of an Immigrant-Filled Nation at Walter Maciel Gallery, KQED Arts, by Sarah Hotchkiss and Kelly Whalen, San Francisco, CA, February 8, 2017
Press release Exhibition invitation Walter Maciel Gallery announcementThe Brown Dot Project