Possible Worlds: Mario Ybarra, Jr., Karla Diaz, and Slanguage Studio Select from the Permanent Collections

Ahmanson Building, Level 2
July 2, 2011–September 25, 2011
Image

Possible Worlds: Mario Ybarra Jr., Karla Diaz, and Slanguage Studio Select from the Permanent Collections connects a residency site in Watts, California with the LACMA collection and campus.

In collaboration with LACMA and the Watts House Project, an artist-driven urban revitalization project centered around the historic Watts Towers, Ybarra, Diaz, and Slanguage, the artist’s team of collaborators, participated in a residency at the home of longtime residents of Watts, the Garcia family.

The exhibition component of this residency takes at its point of departure the legacy of Simon Rodia and the impulse to create alternative or possible worlds out of unconventional materials or according to unorthodox impulses. The installation features assemblage, folk art, vernacular graphics, images of the Watts Towers and art from the LACMA collection selected by Ybarra, Diaz, and the Slanguage Studio, as well as a newly commissioned sculpture by Ybarra that connects the public art works done at the Watts residency site with the LACMA campus.

 

 

 

 

Image: Yayoi Kusama, Untitled, 1985, oil on canvas, canvas: 35 3/4 x 28 3/4 in. Gift of Regina K. Fadiman Trust, Stephen O. Lesser Trustee.
L.A.P.D. Uniform
Chris Burden
1993
L.A.P.D. Uniform
Chris Burden
1993

Fabric, leather, wood, metal and plastic

88 x 72 x 6 in.

Modern and Contemporary Art Council Fund

Mask with Inlaid Teeth
Mexico, Teotihuacan
A.D. 200–750
Mask with Inlaid Teeth
Mexico, Teotihuacan
A.D. 200–750

Black stone with white shell inlay

6 3/8 x 6 1/4 x 2 1/2 in.

Gift of Constance McCormick Fearing

Factory, study for Transportable City (Fábrica, estudio para Ciudad Transportable)
Los Carpinteros
2000
Factory, study for Transportable City (Fábrica, estudio para Ciudad Transportable)
Los Carpinteros
2000

Watercolor and watercolor pencil on paper

29 1/2 x 41 1/2 in.

Gift of Rosa Lowinger and Fred Brandfon

Mask
Korea
Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), 18th century
Mask
Korea
Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), 18th century

Carved wood with brown lacquer

8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.

Purchased with Museum Funds

This Weekend: Possible Worlds Opening

July 1, 2011

On view starting tomorrow is a new exhibition, Possible Worlds: Mario Ybarra Jr., Karla Diaz, and Slanguage Studio Select from the Permanent Collection. Like our current Burton Selects show, we invited artists to comb through our permanent collection to create an exhibition. The show is in conjunction with Ybarra, Diaz, and Slanguage’s LACMA-sponsored collaboration with Watts House Project on the revitalization of a house just across the street from Watts Towers...

Exploring Possible Worlds with Slanguage

July 6, 2011

About ten years ago, Mario Ybarra Jr, Karla Diaz, and Juan Capistran founded Slanguage Studio in Wilimington, California. Slanguage began modestly as an expanded studio providing work space for the artists as well as an open space for the community to come in draw, sculpt, dance, or just tell stories and hang out...

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