formas de familia Duo exhibition by Hedy Torres and Daniela García.

Curated by Summer Bernal.

When I was approached by Carlos Rittner to curate this exhibition I felt a strong connection to the idea but I didn’t know, at the time, that it would take on a whole new meaning.

"Formas de Familia” took me on a journey that guided me towards my own upbringing and the history of my family.  Some of us are born from resilient people. We are our Mother’s daughters and our fathers too as well as their parents and generations past. It’s embedded in our DNA and in our bones.

So I sat with thoughts of what the show could be. At that time, I had this idea of having multiple artists in the exhibit but Hedy Torres and Daniela García were the two I had strongly connected with, and the pairing as a duo exhibition ended up making sense.

The juxtaposition of these two artists from different but similar backgrounds, sharing visceral bodies of work and telling the stories of their upbringing and part of their parent’s stories of how they came to live in the U.S. The bodies of work are not only visually striking but they bring you back to the idea that oftentimes our similarities are greater than our differences.

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Come see and experience what it means to grow up in a city full of dreams as we carry and honor the history of our past and pave the way to a different future. We can only build a better way by acknowledging our past and committing to do better for ourselves, our families and friends, and those people we cross paths with.

One story,

One memory,

One moment at a time.

DANIELA GARCÍA

Daniela Garcia is a first-generation Mexican American artist. Originally from the Antelope Valley California, she spent her childhood living between the rural town of Lake Los Angeles (CA) and her father's hometown, Las Canas Guanajuato, Mexico. As a child, she was constantly surrounded by immigrant culture, both the artist's parents were the first to immigrate to the United States in the 1980s. Dani works mainly in drawing and painting, creating work responding to her immersion within Mexican immigrant culture and her dual cultural identity. She was the first to pursue and receive higher education in her family. She received her B.F.A. in Drawing and Painting from California State University Long Beach. Dani received her start in the arts from her high school art teacher Bruce Harris, this led her to pursue a teaching credential in Secondary Education to pass on the opportunity given to her. Dani is a strong believer in Arts Education and the importance of exposing students to artists of color as well as female artists and the potential to tell their stories through art. She is currently teaching art at the High School level in Ventura County and continues to make work from her home studio.

HEDY TORRES

Hedy Torres is a contemporary Mexican painter living in Los Angeles. She immigrated to the United States of America in 2006 and began studying Liberal Arts at Porterville College, then graduated in 2013 with an Associate Degree in Fine Arts. Hedy transferred to California State University, Northridge, and in 2015 received her Bachelor’s in Art with an Emphasis on Painting. In 2018, she obtained her Master’s in Art with an Emphasis in Drawing and Painting at California State University, Northridge. Immigration, human rights, homelessness, and social justice are themes present in her Art. Unfortunately, in June 2021, Hedy Torres lost most of her art pieces in a massive fire. Currently, Mrs. Torres is focusing her Art to bring light to Street vendors from Los Angeles and various locations of Mexico.

Under Investigation is a solo exhibition by Alberto Lule, organized by the VAMA Gallery at Los Angeles City College and curated by Summer Bernal and curatorial assistant Sandra Ramirez. Opening reception March 10, 2022, 4:00 – 7:00 pm; at Los Angeles City College, 855 North Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Exhibition run: March 10, 2022 - April 15, 2022

The exhibition highlights Alberto Lule's recent activist artworks focusing on the prison industrial complex, gentrification, surveillance, and identity designation. Lule, a former Graffiti artist incarcerated for a total of 14 years at several California prisons, draws on his own experiences in the prison industrial complex to creates artworks that explore institutional roles of gatekeepers of knowledge, authorities of culture, and administrators of discipline and punishment.

Bernal has chosen several different yet interconnected bodies of Lule's work to immerse the viewer in his vision. For example, The Privatization of Correctional Institutions features mannequins wearing clothing created by prisoners. Lule questions prison labor in the private sector and counters these prison-made products with his series Prison Readymades, handmade objects created by prisoners for personal use that are most often deemed contraband by prison authorities.

In another intersection of works, Lule's Investigation series presents large plexiglass pieces which he presses against his bare skin, then dusts with forensic fingerprint powder in a similar process employed by a forensic lab. This large out-of-focus imagery complements his digital format video WE SELL HOUSES FAST that explores the possible signs one sees in neighborhoods that are being "cleaned up". In combination, these works encourage and challenge the viewer to investigate the investigators.

A medical x-ray Lightbox provides the armature and light source for Am I truly free? (New forms of identification) to display Lule's mug shot overlaid with digital forms of language, such as barcodes. Through this work specifically and his larger practice, Lule explores how the automatic designation of identity perpetuates public perception, particularly on marginalized groups, particularly the formerly incarcerated.

Several events support and extend the exhibition, focusing on activism and the visibility of the current cohort of formerly incarcerated students at LACC. The second week of Under Investigation will include a panel discussion with Break It to Make It, a program at LACC that supports formerly incarcerated students of higher learning. Also, Lule will be in discussion with Homeboy Industries' Art Academy director and artist Fabian Debora around the need for activism and social justice in art-making practices.

In 2020 Lule graduated with a BA from UCLA's School of Arts and Architecture, where he also co-chaired of the Underground Scholars Initiative. This student organization supports formerly incarcerated students in the University of California System by reversing the school-to-prison pipeline and creating a prison to school pipeline. Lule is currently an MFA candidate at the University of California, Irvine, and serves as the current outreach coordinator of the Underground Scholars Program of UC Irvine.

Please call (323) 953-4000 ext 2515 for further information regarding the exhibition or email Summer Bernal sb@summerbernal.com or Alexandra Wiesenfeld wiesena@lacitycollege.edu.

These things will fuck with your eyes is a body of work that reflects and represents this poppy, high energy, bright colored aspect of pop art. 

The pieces in this exhibit are meant to play on the very surface level content that pop art usually offers. The color palette of this work is meant to be eye candy for the viewer, but each piece has an undertone of a more complex and cautious-like message.

The context of each piece is meant to make you reflect on what you’re reading not just seeing.

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The topics range from things I saw and experienced in my everyday life to my personal opinions of how I have felt as I’ve navigated my way through this life as an artist in the ArtWorld, in politics, in my life  in general and upbringing. 

Some of the everyday issues that I saw and experienced felt as though no one around me was addressing or even wanting to talk about. It felt as though people feared they would be criticized by their peers or they would lose followers or lose some sort of respect from other socialites in the social scene. It was as though it would jeopardize their social status within that scene. But for me it was important to just touch base on these topics and put it in your face. 

I want to make people feel uncomfortable about some of the topics I painted and wrote about. I too, wanted to feel uncomfortable because I  knew that I would probably receive some criticism for some of the opinions that I shared. None the less I felt that these things are important to share with the public, so I did. 

SEK

Opening | August 21, 2021 /// 8:00 - 11:00 | RSVP 🔗: https://bit.ly/SEKCESS821

601 South Anderson Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90023

Exhibit runs through September 18, 2021 by appointment only.

Click here to set an appointment: APPT

Futuro Pasado is a two person art exhibit featuring  Emilia Cruz and Rick Ortega that explores the concepts of hybridity, historical culture, relationships and self-actualization. The work embraces the concept that culture can guide us into the future but continues to evolve as we build relationships and awareness with one another. 

Exhibition run July 16 - September 18, 2021 | Tues-Sat. By appt. only

Set appt. here 🔗: https://bit.ly/futuropasado2021