Pacific Standard Time LA/LA: photo essay #03
For this seventeenth post—the final one of three Photo Essays—I will present a series of images in the form of a photo essay that impressed me during my visits to museums during the inaugural week September 11–17.
At the opening Press Conference of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, James Cuno, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, declared that art doesn’t know political borders, a thought that transcends the political discourse of today. Furthermore, Mr. Cuno rightly added that we are witnesses to a historical moment of recognition when more than seventy arts and cultural institutions present exhibitions of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles and southern California. This unprecedented initiative, led by the Getty, has been in the making for years. It provides unparalleled opportunities to learn about the breadth, depth, and reach of artistic practices and histories in this scholarly collaborative undertaking. Some readers will be familiar with some of the artists’ works, and others, totally unfamiliar. Raising awareness of unknown or lesser-known artists is a core objective of this undertaking. As a result, much new research has gone into both the search for artists selected in the museums, as well as the research for the newly published catalogues.
Subjectively speaking, the compellingly interesting and often beautiful works are only a few of the countless images researched, historically contextualized, and selected by curators who have dedicated years to preparing for these exhibitions. Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA. will doubtless be an eponymous exploration. Here are some of my choices among thousands of works in Los Angeles and southern California.
Unless otherwise noted, the images were taken by the author on site. For further information regarding size, media, photo credits, museums’ acquisitions, loans, promised gifts, private collections, see the museums’ websites, catalogues or www.pacificstandardtime.org
The presenting sponsor is Bank of America
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Stefan Benchoam and Jessica Kairé, NuMu (interior view), 2012. (LACMA, History of Infamy)
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Signage Transpacific Borderlands: The Art of Japanese Diaspora in Lima, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and São Paulo
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Shinpei Takeda, Politics of Displacement (Beta Decay 8), 2017. (Japanese American National Museum Transpacific Borderlands: The Art of Japanese Diaspora in Lima, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and São Paulo)
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Didier William, They Play too much till we stop playing, 2015. (MOLLA, Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago)
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María Martínez-Cañas and Kim Brown, Untitled 012, from the Dustograms series, 2004. (MOLLA, Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago)
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María Elena González, Fishing Pole, 2011. (MOLLA, Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago)
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Janine Antoni, Touch, 2002* (still from video projection). (MOLLA, Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago)
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Marc Latamie, MALDOROR 1 Chant, 2014-16. (MOLLA, Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago)
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Leonor Antunes, discrepancies with M.G., 20011-17. (Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Condemned To Be Modern)
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Catalina Parra, Imbunche Gigante, 1977.* (Hammer Museum, Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985)
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History and Art of the Chinese Caribbean Diaspora. Introductory Text (Chinese American Museum (CAM), Circles and Circuits: Chinese Caribbean Art)
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Cisco Merel, Puente, 2016 (Chinese American Museum (CAM), Circles and Circuits: Chinese Caribbean Art)
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Margaret Chen, Ovoid/O void, 2003. (CAM, Circles and Circuits: Chinese Caribbean Art)
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Adam Williams, Ayesha, 2010. (CAM, Circles and Circuits: Chinese Caribbean Art)
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Kathryn Chan, Measure of a Life, 2007. (CAM, Circles and Circuits: Chinese Caribbean Art)
*NuMu (Nuevo Museo de Arte Contemporáneo), 2017, courtesy of the artists, installation view in A Universal History of Infamy, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, © NuMu, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA. Shiokava’s sculptures are variously identified as Untitled, Urban Totem Series, and Primal Totem Series. Although they are installed together, they are not part of a series. Antoni ©Janine Antoni. Courtesy of the artist and Lurhing Augustine NY. Imbunche Gigante, photo credit Isabel Soler Parra
