In recent years a new nucleus of artists, sharing background in suburban Los Angeles, has been developing quietly—or maybe it’s just the respect appropriate to the founding of a new movement. Between Pomona and Inglewood you take in the studios of all manner of Angelinx artists, who are dealing with topics as current and engaged as immigration, gender, history, the class struggle, drug trafficking, all without ever forgetting their ancestry and values, their identity. There is a discernible pattern in their work, the same for all of them: a kind of song to freedom—in the truly authentic style of the Chilean poet and singer Victor Jara—in works that recall how families have suffered in the attempt to attain a better future and gain the right to live in peace.
Self-portraits with hats, family gatherings, portraits of Latinx activists, the Virgin of Guadalupe, cockfights, chrome wheels with razor wire like that on the border walls, life between the freeways, bandanas, or the imaginary of Lowrider culture—all feature proudly in a society that has been given nothing on a plate. They are conscious of who and what they represent, what has marked them, influenced them, or led to rejection during their childhood and teenage years. This iconography is expressed, in some cases, through traditional techniques, such as adobe and ceramics, while others draw more on the urban environment they come from, as is the case of the aerosol.
The images presented will not leave any viewer unaffected, nor can any keen explorer of new trends in international contemporary art be unmoved, and through this group exhibition we are inviting you to keep an eye on this lively and exciting artistic hotspot. This exhibition seems particularly relevant in the current context, as winds of change blow across the United States, and where it appears that the country’s politics in the coming years will hopefully find recognition for those who have been considered as minorities until now, respecting diversity and defending equality. In the longer term, this shift will also probably be felt beyond the USA’s borders, as with so many others that start there, although, as these artists make clear, there is still a long way to go and it will not be easy.
Rafa Esparza
starshots: blue roses, 2019 - 2020
Acrylic on adobe panel (local dirt, horse dung, hay,
Hoosic River water, chain-link fence, plywood)
173 x 114 x 4,5 cm / 68.11 x 45 x 1.77 in
Ramiro Gomez Jr.
Boy Playing While His Parents Are Sleeping, 2019
Acrylic and house paint on canvas with wire and mesh (found wings)
122 x 122 x 4 cm / 48 x 48 x 1.57 in
Gabriella Sanchez
WE REAP WHAT WE SEW (Past and Present Patterns), 2020
Mens button up shadow plaid flannel shirts, cotton bandanas,
woven acrylic textiles, thread, fabric lining, grommets and
digital printing on nylon fabric
122 x 183 cm / 48 x 72 in
Edition of 3 + 1 A. P.
Patrick Martinez
Happy Birthday Ruben Salazar, 2020
Heavy body acrylic, acrylic, airbrush, and
ceramic cake roses on panel with gold mirror plex
65,5 x 51 x 9 cm / 25.78 x 20 x 3.54 in
Patrick Martinez
Happy Birthday Frederick Douglass, 2020
Heavy body acrylic, acrylic, airbrush, and
ceramic cake roses on panel with gold mirror plex
65,5 x 51 x 9 cm / 25.78 x 20 x 3.54 in
Eduardo Sarabia
Narcomanta número 7. Amor y Paz, 2018
Hand woven tapestry
153 x 191,5 cm / 60.24 x 75.39 in
Shizu Saldamando
La Gabbi Leather Papi, 2018
Oil, mixed media on wood panel
91 x 120,5 x 4,5 cm / 35.82 x 47.44 x 1.77 in
Eduardo Sarabia
Salón Alemán, 2008 - 2019
Neon
61 x 91,5 cm / 24 x 36 in
Edition 5 of 5
Alex Becerra
Mystic Saturn Synth Queen, 2020
Oil on canvas
250 x 190,5 x 3 cm / 98.42 x 75 x 1.18 in
Aaron Douglas Estrada
No Seas Payaso, 2020
Razor wire, beads, mirror, tik tack aguardiente keychain,
white kitty key, rubber bands, bullet hole strikers,
bolt cutter pendant, white bandana, black leather, smoke,
tequila, little trees black ice air freshener, and clown sticker
38 x 38 x 51 cm / 15 x 15 x 20 in
Alfonso Gonzalez Jr.
Fresh Cuts, 2021
Oil and enamel on canvas
122 x 194 x 3,5 cm / 48 x 76.38 x 1.38 in
Alfonso Gonzalez Jr.
K-Town Landscape, 2020
Oil and enamel on canvas
122 x 122 x 3,5 cm / 48 x 48 x 13.77 in
Alex Becerra
Memorias de un Jaripeo, 2021
Oil on canvas
122 x 182,5 x 3 cm / 48 x 71.85 x 1.18 in
Alex Becerra
Falling, Floating Dreaming, 2019
Oil on canvas
200,5 x 180 cm / 78.93 x 70.86 x 17.71 in
Diana Yesenia Alvarado
COQUETA, 2020
Glazed porcelain, flocking
47 x 24,5 x 24,5 cm / 18,5 x 9.64 x 9.64 in
Diana Yesenia Alvarado
COQUETA, 2020
(alternative view)
Michael Alvarez
Hollywood and Highland, 2017
Spray paint, graphite on panel
183 x 213,5 x 4,5 cm / 72 x 84 x 1.77 in
Michael Alvarez
Wasteland Paradise, 2018
Spray paint, graphite and found object on panel
183 x 155 x 4,5 cm / 72 x 61 x 1.77 in
Aaron Douglas Estrada
Sacred Heart, 2019
Bandanas, string, wire spoke hubcap, vinegar,
smoke, razor wire, and smudge stick
46 x 46 x 25 cm / 18.11 x 18.11 x 9.84 in
Mario Ayala
Untitled, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
127 x 117 x 4 cm / 50 x 46 x 4 in
Ramiro Gomez
Demands 7, 2019
Colored pencil on paper
24 x 24 cm / 9.44 x 9.44 in
32 x 32 x 4 cm / 12.5 x 12.5 x 1.57 (framed)
Jaime Muñoz
529 Years, 2021
Acrylic and other materials on panel (dyptich)
182,5 x 122 x 4 cm / 71.85 x 48 x 1.57 in each panel
Ramiro Gomez
Demands 6, 2019
Colored pencil on paper
24 x 24 cm / 9.44 x 9.44 in
32 x 32 x 4 cm / 12.5 x 12.5 x 1.57 (framed)
Alex Becerra
Portrait after Practice, 2019
Oil on canvas
60 x 45 cm / 23.62 x 17.71 in
Alex Becerra
Untitled, 2020
Oil on canvas
60 x 45 cm / 23.62 x 17.71 in
Michael Alvarez
Post Coital Clean Up, 2015
Oil, pencil, spray paint and paper on canvas
81,5 x 145 x 4,5 cm / 32 x 57 x 1.77 in
86 x 151 x 6,5 cm / 33.86 x 59.45 x 2.56 in (framed)
