Rituals of Labor and Engagement: Carolina Caycedo and Mario Ybarra Jr.
Nov. 10, 2018–Feb. 25, 2019
Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art, Susan and Stephen Chandler Wing
For the third year of its contemporary arts initiative, /five, The Huntington partnered with the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College and invited LA artists Carolina Caycedo and Mario Ybarra Jr. to create new works in response to the institution's library, art, and botanical collections. Their theme was the concept of identity. "Rituals of Labor and Engagement" showcases these new works, which focus on bodies of color and forms of ritual. The exhibition features a video installation produced by Caycedo that reconceptualizes iconic Huntington spaces through Afro-Latino and indigenous spiritual practices and dance as well as 24 prints and drawings by Ybarra that bridge past and present through technique and subject matter, mixing his own iconography with imagery drawn from medieval and Renaissance works in The Huntington's collections.
Generous support for this exhibition is provided by Terri and Jerry Kohl and family, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation, and the WHH Foundation.
Artists
Carolina Caycedo
Born in London to Colombian parents, Carolina Caycedo has lived and worked in Los Angeles since 2012. She has developed publicly engaged projects in major cities across the globe, from Bogota to London, New York to Paris, and San Juan to Tijuana. Her work has been exhibited at several international biennials, and has been the subject of solo shows in galleries from Los Angeles to Berlin. Her artist book “Serpent River Book” was part of the recent “A Universal History of Infamy” exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). She was also a participant in the Hammer Museum’s “Made in LA 2018” exhibition.
Mario Ybarra Jr.
Mario Ybarra Jr. is an artist, educator, and activist involved in the Mexican-American community and street culture of greater Los Angeles. He creates sculptures, installations, photographs, and activist interventions to examine Mexican-American identity and is co-founder of Slanguage, an artist group based in Wilmington, Calif. He has had numerous solo exhibitions in cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Torino, and Zurich. His work was featured in exhibitions that include “Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement” at LACMA, the 2008 Whitney Biennial, and the 2006 Prague Biennial.
Collaboration
Founded in 1957 with a gift of 90 art objects from the actor Vincent Price, the Vincent Price Art Museum now houses seven galleries, art storage, and a multimedia lecture hall as part of the 160,000 square foot Performing and Fine Arts Center at East Los Angeles College. The museum serves as an educational resource for the college’s diverse audiences and communities through the exhibition, interpretation, collection, and preservation of works in all media of the visual arts.
Aug. 17, 2019- Feb. 10, 2020, The Huntington Art Gallery, The Huntington
Apariciones /Apparitions is a nine-and-a-half-minute video work by acclaimed Los Angeles artist Carolina Caycedo that reconceptualizes several iconic Huntington spaces through Afro-Latinx and indigenous spiritual practices. Choreographed by dance artist Marina Magalhães and shot by videographer David de Rozas, the piece is centered on brown, black, and queer bodies haunting The Huntington’s iconic and traditional spaces—such as the great double staircase of the Huntington Art Gallery, the sweeping sculpture-lined North Vista lawn, and the rare book reading room in the Library building—in sensuous movements informed by the spiritual rituals of an Afro-Brazilian deity. In much of the powerful, captivating piece, the dancers look directly at the camera.