The fellows are Gary Alvarez, Connie DK Lane, Christine Nguyen, Lara Odell and Ramon Rodriguez.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”300px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Screen-Shot-2016-11-03-at-4.03.34-PM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”“Madre Tierra (Mother Earth),” oil on canvas by Ramon Rodriguez” captionposition=”right” revealfx=”off”] “This exhibition demonstrates the strong cultural expressions we have in Long Beach,” said Arts Council Executive Director Griselda Suarez. “Our fellows use identity to springboard into an aesthetic analysis of life.”
To “unpack” is to remove the contents of a package, but it is also the act of analysis through detailed examination, according to the Arts Council. Marco Schindelmann, former Arts Council president, along with co-curator and Long Beach artist group FLOOD Inc. President Kamran Assadi, created the show’s title.
“Among other things, we are seeking commonality between the five artists and the commanding space in which their work will be exhibited,” Schindelmann said.
Alvarez unpacks his identity through his films and examines his working-class, bi-cultural/bilingual, first-generation American experience. His films, such as A Good Man and Loncheros, aim to tell thought-provoking and socially conscious stories influenced by his experiences.
Lane unpacks time through her large-scale sculptures inspired by her memories growing up in Hong Kong. She uses unique materials such as shredded paper pulp, decomposed coffee grounds, wax, roofing cement and latex rubber and often suspends her sculptures from the ceiling with meat hooks.
Nguyen unpacks nature by collecting, examining and recreating it. Her work often combines drawing and photography and employs the cyanotype process— a 19th-century photographic technique that uses sunlight to expose paper and water to develop it.
Odell unpacks her anxiety through intimate gouache and paper cut-out illustrations. The cut-outs are labor-intensive and address the fragility of identity through the process, form and color.
Rodriguez unpacks duality through his memories growing up in a tiny isolated village in Bolivia and living the last 10 years in Long Beach. Through traditional painting and sculpture, he explores the duality of the countryside and the city.
The exhibit will be on view at the Packard Building through Dec. 12. More information is available at artslb.org/news or by emailing info@artslb.org. Exhibit hours are: Wednesday to Friday, 11am to 5pm; and Saturdays from 10am to 2pm. The show will be closed Nov. 24 to 26.
Source: Arts Council for LB
