” captionposition=”left”] The Port to Learning Gallery at the Museum of Latin American Art (MoLAA) will present Artists Assemble!: Empowerment and Inspiration in Contemporary Comics, an exhibition that features artists who highlight characters, events and stories traditionally excluded from mainstream comic book art and culture. Artists Assemble! includes individual sketches, hand-drawn panels, minicomics, comic books, video art and digital images, as well as illustrations, sculptures, installation, paintings, and photographs.
The narrative format and fantastical nature of comics provide readers with the opportunity to explore new and imagined worlds enriched by both historically based and invented mythologies, according to MoLAA staff.
While classic American comics generally focused on white male superheroes whose mission was to protect and defend the status quo, some publications in both the U.S. and Latin America tackled controversial socio-political issues and featured marginalized groups.
As the U.S. becomes more diverse, so do comics, with independent artists repurposing or developing narratives that revolve around marginalized communities and cultures, contemporary concerns and changing identities.
Artists Assemble! highlights topics like indigenous rights and mythologies, gender roles and sexual identity, environmental activism, and contemporary political movements on both sides of the border, validating the stories of groups and movements historically silenced in popular media.
Featured artists include Lalo Alcaráz, JOON Alvarado, Juan Bastardo, Cory Bilicko, Boudika Comics (Claudia Aguirre & Eva Cabrera), Enrique Chagoya, Donovan Vim Crony, Miguel Det, Dog Knit Sweater (Daisy Rosas & Danny Miller), Andre Ducci, Kim Dwinell, Daniela Edburg, El Polaco Scalerandi, Kat Fajardo, Felipe Flores, José Flores, Eric GarcÃa, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Crystal González, Raúl González, Javier Hernández, Samuel Jernigan, Kapitan Ketchup, Paulina Lily LaBare, Leigh Luna, Liz Mayorga, Silvya E. Luna Manquero, Edu Molina, Laura Molina, Mariana Monteagudo, Rhode Montijo, NAVA, Rafael Navarro, Brenda Obregón, Daniel Parada, Ricardo Peláez, Ricardo Pérez, Irene Pressner, Felicia Rice, Jules Rivera, Cristy C. Road, Cassandra Rowden, Stephanie RodrÃguez, Eduardo Sarmiento, Galamot Shaku, Santiago SolÃs, Eduardo Sarmiento, José Vargas, Vicko, Ms. Yellow, Luis Zavala.
Artists Assemble! was curated by Esperanza Sánchez and Naiela Santana with Gabriela MartÃnez and Nalini Elias. Exhibition support is provided by the Port of Long Beach.
MoLAA will host an opening reception that is free and open to the public on Sunday, July 17 from 1pm to 3pm.
The event will include a drop-in comics workshop from 1pm to 4pm and an artist Q&A from 3pm to 4pm. Related programs can be found on MOLAA’s online calendar at molaa.org .
Source: MoLAA
