The Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) is now displaying three new exhibits that will remain open to the public through Jun. 3, 2018. The main hall showcases the works of native Californian, of Mexican heritage, painter Eduardo Carrillo, including his collaboration (with three other artists) in the large mural Chicano History, which was originally created for UCLA. A second room displays several works by female artists in an exhibition entitled The Feminine Sublime, and a third room presents an immersive “garden” structure created with cardboard, paper, and bright colors by Ana Serrano. A detailed description of each of the exhibits follows. You can also click on the links for additional information and pictures.
Testament of the Spirit: Paintings by Eduardo Carrillo is the first retrospective of the renowned painter and highlights the creative efforts and social importance of Eduardo Carrillo (1937-1997) as artist, teacher, scholar, and social activist and showcases the work he created for three distinct realms: the public, the private, and the museum. As part of the public realm, on view for the first time since 1991, is the celebrated Chicano History mural by Carrillo, Sergio Hernandez, Ramses Noriega, and Saul Solache. Each artist designed and painted one section of the mural, which features a historical panorama that depicts the pre-conquest landscape to the moment of the mural’s conception.
Historically, depictions of the sublime were reserved for men whose rationality and order were posed against nature, the imagination, or the female “other.” The Feminine Sublime presents a counter-narrative that upends previous ideas of the sublime in painting with a unique feminist perspective. Exhibition artists and Los Angeles-based painters Merion Estes, Yvette Gellis, Virginia Katz, Constance Mallinson, and Marie Thibeault counter traditional landscape painters and enlist challenging aesthetics, formal inventiveness, and provocative imagery to re-imagine relationships with rapidly changing urban and natural environments.
Ana Serrano’s immersive “garden” both references a recognizable urban landscape and pays homage to the artist’s family connection to the land in Mexico. Highlighting the juxtaposition of the built environment and plant life, the installation is composed of bright-colored walls and lively plants made of cardboard and paper. The dynamic space invites viewers to move into the sculpture and immerse themselves in the disparate yet familiar elements of city living, emphasizing the balance between man-made constructions and natural elements.
These exhibits will be open to the public through Jun. 3, 2018. The PMCA is located at 490 E. Union St., Pasadena. Admission is $7 adults / seniors, students, and educators with valid ID $5 / children 12 and under free. For additional information call (626) 568-3665 or visit pmcaonline.org.
Photo: “Chicano History” at PMCA / Dena Burroughs
Shelter from the Storms: Pasadena Bad Weather Shelter open through March 1
Thanks for reading our post on Three new exhibits at the Pasadena Museum of California Art! On another matter, the Pasadena Bad Weather Shelter is open during the current bad weather season, on nights with a forecast of 40 degrees or below and/or 40 percent chance of rain until March 1. During the 2015-2016 winter, the last season with available records, the BWS was open a total of 33 nights. It served a total of 1,941 guests — 1,423 men and 518 women.
To find out if the shelter is open each night, call the BWS Hotline at (888) 915-8111. For all other questions, call(626) 797- 2402.