More to MOLAA Than You Know

I hope you enjoyed my other guest on today's show, President and CEO Richard P. Townsend of the Museum of Latin American Art. It was fascinating to talk to him about how MOLAA has grown so much in about 15 years! Here is more info on the upcoming and rare David Alfaro Siqueiros exhibit. So worth booking a cheap flight on Southwest and making it a weekend trip!

The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) is proud to join the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil (MACG), Mexico City, in presenting Siqueiros Paisajista / Siqueiros: Landscape Painter. This exhibition reveals the renowned Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros as a major landscape painter. 
 
This exhibition, the first of its kind to be presented anywhere, includes approximately half of the 150 landscape paintings that Siqueiros produced during his lifetime. “This is the most significant exhibition of Siqueiros to be seen in the last ten years,” stated MACG Director and exhibition curator Itala Schmelz. “It is the result of more than three years of collaboration that included the precedent-setting gathering of artwork from more than 20 different museum and private collections in Mexico and the U.S., scholarly research by Christopher Fulton and additional research by a team of nine talented catalogue essayists.” 

Featuring a selection of the most important landscape paintings and drawings, the exhibition reveals Siqueiros’ dynamic vision of futuristic cities, allegorical places and the environment. Utilizing an explosive color palette and experimental techniques, the landscape imagery is charged with the emotions of creation and destruction always present in the art of Siqueiros. “Traditionally landscape paintings offer views of idyllic vistas, but these landscapes offer scenes of a troubled world,” said MOLAA Senior Curator, Cynthia Mac Mullin. “The gathered works poignantly emphasize Siqueiros’ concern for humanity’s inability to serve its fellow men.  Although several paintings are about the past, such as The End of the World from 1936 painted in response to the Spanish Civil War and The Explosion of Hiroshima of 1955, protesting the inhumane ending World War II, they are still relevant today, mirroring humanity’s constant engagement with war and destruction.” 

Siqueiros Paisajista / Siqueiros: Landscape Painter
Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach
September 12, 2010 - January 2011

Wine Country con Sabor! Thurs. 8/19 - Soyrizo y Siqueiros

I've been on a soy kick lately. Si SOY as in milk from green pods. I picked up a Vegan cookbook and started making recipes from it. They weren't that bad, but there was only so much barley a chica can take! And I thought I'd have to swear off desserts forever. Nunca! So I trotted to my local bookstore to see if there was a vegan cookbook for tasty desserts. Diabetes runs in our family and is becoming more common in our Latino community. I had to figure out a way to still enjoy postres without the guilt or harm. As I hovered half sideways reading upright book binds, I came across Viva Vegan! 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipies for Latin Food Lovers by hip Vegan Chef Terry Hope Romero. How could this be? No Chorizo! Was I really expected to make flan with non-dairy creamer and no eggs?? I was intrigued and I had to learn more. I contacted Terry and she was nice enough to send me a sample book and be on our show tomorrow to PROVE to me I can still have "chorizo" and that we can have our dulce de leche and eat it too!

Art is an important part of my life. As many of you know, my dad is an artist (visit his website at degonzalez.com). So needless to say we grew up with arte always around us, whether it was at 6-years-old falling asleep in some random corner at an art gallery reception waiting for my parents to wrap up the night, watching Salvador Dali documentaries on VHS or going to Judy Baca shows in LA, art lives in my life. So I'm always thrilled when I have the chance to interview artists or learn more about museums.  My other guest on Thursday's show is President and CEO of MOLAA (Museum of Latin American Art), Richard P. Townsend. Based in Long Beach, MOLAA is the ONLY U.S. museum dedicated exclusively to modern and contemporary artwork produced by artist from Latin American countries. MOLAA has an upcoming David Alfaro Siqueiros exhibit that is sure to show him in a whole new light - as a major landscape painter.