Defiant Chronicles is the second exhibition organized by The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) for its new satellite space, The Collaborative, located in downtown Long Beach at 421 West Broadway.
Co-curated by MOLAA Curator Idurre Alonso and Slanguage founders Mario Ybarra Jr. and Karla Diaz, Defiant Chronicles focuses on representing current strategies for artistic production derived and influenced by urban and street art, including graffiti, stencil and stickers. The exhibition is composed of two multi-media installations by artists aka Acamonchi from Tijuana, Mexico, and Los Angeles-based artist aka Perl from the graffiti female collective FDS (From the Streets).
The invited artists share a similar concern for utilizing artistic tactics of research-based projects, documentation and investigation. The exhibition challenges the traditional approach to street art/graffiti as a practice that is meant to be singled-out from its place and context, exclusive to an insider audience, and contradicts the perception of urban art as a male-dominated art form that rarely addresses gender issues in its content.
Perl researches and documents any kind of historical building, streets, neighborhoods, old signs, landmarks, alleys, or abandoned buildings for her artistic practice. She uses the research to develop blog posts, photos and walking tours, among other forms of cultural production. On the other hand, Acamonchi’s work, heavily influenced by images in old magazines, fanzines and the skateboard-punk countercultures, mostly addresses gender issues and includes a critical view of the notion of “the ideal woman” commonly promoted by the media.
The Arts Council for Long Beach and MOLAA are partners at The Collaborative, providing curatorial and administrative oversight for this innovative space. The Collaborative engages visitors through a series of non-traditional exhibitions and site- specific installations. Each organization is responsible for planning two exhibitions a year. Defiant Chronicles is made possible through a special collaboration between MOLAA, the Arts Council of Long Beach, the City of Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, and Lyon Management Company.
Admission is free. Hours of operation are Wednesday through Sunday, 11am to 5pm.
