Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA: photo essay #1

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.

As a counterpoint to posting an announcement on a specific museum as I have since March, I will post a series of images in the form of photo essays, that impressed me during my visits to museums during the inaugural week September 11-17. Subjectively speaking, the compellingly interesting and often beautiful works are also 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  

*Please note there are 25,000 images created by photographers who photographed for the newspaper La Raza. These are being digitized at the Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA.