Visual Storyteller Extraordinaire

Photo credit: Carolina Adame

Sometimes, capturing a moment in life requires the help of an expert. When there is a special visual story to tell, Carolina Adame is the woman to call. Carolina has a true artist’s eye and a natural ability to calm even the most jittering of subjects (her palo santo spritz and poem reading at the start of a photography session helps too). With this smiling photographer behind the camera, stories and feelings seem to come alive. Quite simply, her work is mesmerizing.

When I see Carolina’s photography, I’m always struck by how she is able to find such beauty in the little quiet moments, in the seconds we want to hold on to forever. I would not be surprised to find Carolina’s work on a gallery wall sometime soon. Her images are just that magical.

Currently, the busy mama of two is working on her first book project and somehow still finds time to document tenderness during individual sessions. If you want to memorialize those lovely but fleeting moments, Carolina is well worth the wait.

Photo credit: Carolina Adame

Photo credit: Carolina Adame

Art Collector Crush

Photo credit: Stephen Kent Johnson for AD

When I grow up, I want to be like Eileen Harris Norton. The activist art collector has sparked conversations about race and gender in the contemporary art world for the past thirty years and hasn’t stopped. Recently, I came across these photos of Norton’s home and my crush went up a notch (who knew it was possible?). I can’t stop daydreaming about the way Norton lives with her art. Talk about home goals!

Photo credit: Stephen Kent Johnson for AD

Photo credit: Stephen Kent Johnson for AD

Photo credit: Stephen Kent Johnson for AD

Worth A Thousand Words

Gallery photo of the Doyennes of Photography in LA exhibit featuring diverse female photographers. Doyennes was curated by Jigisha Bouverat and Kristina Hicks at Castelli Art Space and was a part of the MOPLA calendar (Credit: Hermosa Journal)

   April and the Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA) may be wrapping up, but there is still time to take in some wonderful MOPLA photography exhibits and events.  You might consider checking out Compton Junior Posse: Daring To Claim The Sky - Photographs by Melodie McDaniel, at Space15Twenty, which highlights a Compton after school equestrian leadership program for at-risk youth.  Or, may be Not An Ostrich: And Other Images From America’s Library is more your speed if you want to peruse 500 images from the Library of Congress’ collection which have been expertly curated by Anne Wilkes Tucker.  If an exploration of loss and resilience by contemporary Latinos is more your cup of tea, then check out A Universal History of Infamy: Those of This America which was curated by Vincent Ramos.

   MOPLA is presented by the Lucie Foundation which is dedicated to honoring master photographers, cultivating emerging talent and promoting photographic appreciation worldwide. Don't miss the chance to see some wonderful photography!

A Melodie McDaniel image from the exhibit Compton Jr Posse: Daring To Claim The Sky via Space15Twenty. (Credit: Melodie McDaniel)

PST:LA/LA Officially Launches

A PST:LA/LA Opening Celebration invitation which includes a photograph of Ana Serrano's 2008 'Cartonlandia'. (Photo Credit: Hermosa Journal)

   The Getty initiative, PST:LA/LA, has officially launched!  There has been a tremendous amount of buzz around all the exhibitions, gallery openings and art related parties.  We are sooo excited for this wonderful exploration of Latino and Latin American art in the Southern California area.  Stay tuned as we share some of our favorite exhibitions!

HOME at LACMA

Installation view HOME - So Different, So Appealing, at LACMA. (Hermosa Journal)

   After years of thoughtful collaboration between artists, curators and institutions, the exhibition HOME - So Different, So Appealing has opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).  The exhibit brings together over 40 artists and uses a hemispheric approach to create a groundbreaking collection of work that investigates the notion of home.  While the idea has been explored before, this show incorporates works by Latin American and U.S. Latino artists to present a diverse and refreshing take on the concept.  Carefully curated by Chon A. Noriega (UCLA - Chicano Studies Research Center), Mari Carmen Ramírez (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) and Pilar Thompkins Rivas (Vincent Price Art Museum), HOME has materialized into a unique and impressive exhibition.  

Daniel Joseph Martinez, "The House America Built" (2004/2017). (Hermosa Journal)

   The show is filled with many thought provoking and stunning pieces that range from deconstructed furniture to a scale replica of Ted Kaczynski’s (aka the Unabomber) Montana cabin.  With close to 100 pieces, HOME occupies one the of the largest spaces at LACMA yet remains manageable, in part, because the vast subject matter is divided into thematic constellations.  By arranging the exhibit into smaller units that touch upon social and political issues from colonialism to migration, the show provides a new way to present Latin American and Latino art - one that steers away from concepts of identity.  There is so much to see in this exhibit that visitors would be well advised to allow plenty of time to enjoy and discover all that is on display (which also includes a fun outdoor sculpture).  

HOME: So Different, So Appealing curators Mari Carmen Rameríz, Chon A. Noriega and Pilar Thompkins Rivas standing next to an installation by the late Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled (North)" 1993. (Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times)

   HOME, is the first exhibition to open as part of the Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles/Latin America (PST: LA/LA) and sets a high standard for the entire effort.  Over 70 cultural institutions in the Southern California area will be a part of PST: LA/LA, with the bulk of the programming starting in September 2017.  It is safe to say that HOME (and PST: LA/LA) provides a deeper understanding of Latin American and Latino art while shattering stereotypical ideas of what these artists are producing.  The exhibition also addresses a glaring weakness in the collections and programming of most American art institutions: the lack of Latin American and Latino artists.

   This epic show gracefully pushes many boundaries while presenting work in a beautifully modern way.  We can’t wait to visit HOME again and again.

HOME: So Different, So Appealing is at LACMA from June 11 - October 15, 2017.