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westernartgirlRoberto Chavez Maintains His Sense of Humor
Probably my favorite artist in the Autry’s show Art Along the Hyphen: The Mexican-American Generation (part of the mammoth Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time) is Roberto Chavez. The six artists show a range of styles from frankly abstract to realist to surrealist. Chavez, 79, falls largely in the representational, figurative category, though there is much … Read more
An Interview with Louie Perez of Los Lobos: Evangeline’s Long Road
Louie Perez gets a little flummoxed when he reflects on his partnership with fellow Los Lobos bandmate David Hidalgo. “I’ve been writing songs with David and the band for forty years!” he said. “That’s kind of scary.” Perez chatted with me ahead of the Autry’s presentation this week of Evangeline, The Queen of Make-Believe, an … Read more
Siqueiros Exhibition Closes, but Leaves Its Own Legacy in Music and Poetry
There was poetry and music in the galleries, to add to the art on the walls, at the Autry when Siqueiros in Los Angeles: Censorship Defied closed on Sunday. As a special swan song of the exhibition, actresses Yareli Arizmendi and Rose Portillo performed a dramatic reading, simultaneously in Spanish and English, of Rey David … Read more
Los Angeles Muralists React to MOCA Controversy
Since the September opening of Siqueiros in Los Angeles: Censorship Defied, which spotlights a 1932 Los Angeles mural by Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros that was ordered whitewashed, the Autry has held panel discussions, art activities and public events to highlight discussions around the censorship of public art. But the censorship was assumed to be … Read more
Showing Some HeArt for the Arts in High Schools
Most art exhibitions are shows that stay on view for at least several weeks. But on Dec. 8, the Autry hosted a one-day lightning exhibition in its Heritage Court of art by students from The HeArt Project. In museum time, one day is the blink of an eye. But the impression on the students often … Read more
Siqueiros in His Native Language
Given all the hoopla this year in Los Angeles over the Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, and especially at the Autry with the exhibition that focuses on his time in this city, it was only a matter of time before staffers would consider offering tours in Spanish, the artist’s native language. On Dec. 2, 42 … Read more
Violeta Straley: A Singer Honors Her Own Dearly Departed
(Updated 10/4/12) If you happen to venture downstairs during the Autry’s ¡Vivan Los Muertos! event next week to see Luis Villanueva’s catrina altars — and you really, really should — stick around for the music. Linda “Violeta” Straley will be singing the old standards. We’re talking songs like “Sabor a Mí,” “Volver, Volver,” and “La … Read more
From Graffiti to Mural Art, With a Few Detours
The Autry’s current exhibition about Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros lionizes the mural América Tropical, one of three U.S. works he painted during his stay in Los Angeles in 1932. But some believe that’s very far from the treatment mural art gets today in this city. They say the murals for which it has become known … Read more
Holidays for the Living . . . and the Dead
(Updated 10/4/12) Many of us are looking in panic at the calendar and realizing that, as September ends, the holiday season threatens. Ack. There’s one holiday that is somewhat new to the Autry, though it is a long and hallowed tradition in Los Angeles (especially points East), and stretches back centuries in Mexico: El Día … Read more
Speaking of Siqueiros, Here’s a Look at His Print Side
The Los Angeles art scene has been buzzing all month about the triple-header at two museums and a gallery featuring the work of Mexican painter David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) — which makes for more attention from a U.S. audience in one year than the world-famous muralist ever got during his lifetime. On Saturday, that buzz … Read more
