| From April 22 ‚ May 20, 2006, The Folk Tree presents GILBERT "MAGU" LUJAN: Cultural Vehicles. The exhibition features several of this celebrated artist's custom "carritos," in which he uses the powerful southern California symbol of the car and interprets it to address the area's ethnic connections to meso-America. He also shows other two and three-dimensional works in various media that explore the Latino community's shared cultural history. The reception for the artist is Saturday, April 22, 2006, 2 ‚ 6 P.M. The local conjunto band, Los Pochos, performs at the opening, playing music that celebrates a tradition originating in border music from Northern Mexico. Magu has never limited himself to one medium. Instead he uses materials, including paper mache, clay, wood, and painting and drawing media, that best serve his subject matter. Among the works on view are the mixed media vehicles "Ethnic Carrito on Parade" and "Limoztlan," (both constructed with paper mache, joint compound and acrylic paint), in which Lujan pays homage to the craft traditions of Mexican artesanos. Also on view are the paintings "Angel on Board" and "Bringing up the Past" (both acrylic on wood), and painted clay figures including "La China" and "Ancient Female Warrior". Lujan grew up in East Los Angeles and attended college there in the sixties, where he became a student assistant in the Art Department. During this period, he began to embrace ethnic oriented art and its mythological heritage, particularly as it related to the Chicano experience, ultimately creating a body of work that is a merging of various cultural influences. In the 1970s Lujan began doing murals. For the next several years, he collaborated with Frank Romero, Carlos Almaraz, and Roberto de la Rocha on numerous murals and public art installations throughout California. In 1973 their group, known as "Los Four," had an exhibition at the University of California, Irvine, which was curated by Lujan. His intention was "to showcase the group both to challenge the social status quo of Chicanada and to push for validation of Chicano art forms." Their show became the first Chicano exhibit presented at a major local mainstream institution, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In his continuing role as a major figure in Chicano art, Lujan utilizes social commentary and fantasy to create new mythologies. He says, "Anthropomorphic dog themes, custom carritos, graffiti expression and narrative installations espousing cultural icons have been my common motifs. Developing fresh cultural mythologies has been an undercurrent of my artistic responses to our society and racism." "My aesthetic path began with a folk arts influenced grass roots attitude and was subsequently built from that initial artistic vision. Then research of Meso-America helped to transform that perspective into a continuum from an ancient to a contemporary context. Therefore, to build a concept based on this continuum addressing our social circumstance through artistic resolutions and perceptions." The Folk Tree is at 217 S. Fair Oaks Ave., walking distance from the Gold Line's Del Mar Station (and fifteen minutes from downtown Los Angeles off the end of the 110 freeway) near the heart of Old Pasadena. Gallery hours are: M-W, 11-6; Th-Sat, 10-6; Sun, 12-5. Contact The Folk Tree at 626/795-8733, or Gail Mishkin at 626/793-4828. |
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