LACMA

Art of the Americas, Level 4: Artworks on view

In 1997, the collectors Edith and Bernard Lewin added more than two thousand works by Mexican modernists to the collection, making LACMA one of the main U.S. repositories of Latin American art. The museum has since expanded its collection with works from throughout Latin America, ranging from the colonial to the contemporary periods. The modern collection includes works by Diego Rivera, Roberto Matta, and Rufino Tamayo. Postwar and contemporary artists represented include Francis Alÿs, Hélio Oiticica, and Jesús Rafael Soto.

Francis Alÿs

Following Oiticica’s Directions

September 17, 2009

Profoundly interested in color and space, in the 1960s he invented his series of penetrables, chromatic and dynamic environments meant to be experienced by the viewer who penetrates them. After moving to a favela (slum) in Rio de Janeiro in 1964, where he became a lead samba dancer, Oiticica made ephemeral three-dimensional installations based on the housing of those communities. These architecturally scaled structures are intended to be traversed bodily and experienced by all the senses.

Installing “Burn, Baby, Burn”

May 13, 2009

Once the painted canvas was correctly positioned on the stretcher, conservators then proceeded to attach it by stapling on the back side of the stretcher. This process requires a lot of pulling and tugging to make sure the painting is completely flat and wrinkle free. After the attaching is done, the painting is lifted and hung on the wall by as many as ten people. All told, this feat was accomplished in about four hours.

New Acquisitions in Spanish Colonial Art

March 17, 2009