The Museum of Latin American Art started in 1996 and is the only United States museum for modern Latin American/Latino art. And it’s in Long Beach! I used to go by on the bus in the days when I was commuting to DTLA for work, and I finally made it over for a visit. (It’s free on Sundays!) This piece is called “Empire,” by Alexandre Arrechea with the idea that a building’s function is always changing.
The museum is on the site of what used to be a silent film studio, then a roller skating rink, then a senior health center, and then MOLAA.
The main exhibits were “Alexandre Arrechea: Intersected Horizons,” “Vermelho Como A Brasa: Andrey Guaianá Zignnatto,” and “Cross-Border Women: Alejandra Phelts.”
“Alexandre Arrechea addresses the reality of being a Black Cuban and an international artist … we experience his unique vision and transformation of daily objects and materials as he investigates the relationship between objects, architecture, materiality, and the black body.” The green piece is “Landscape and Hierarchies,” and the piano piece is “Street Cry.”
“The themes used by Zignnatto in his artistic production include balancing forces between the urban and indigenous universes, the diaspora, colonization policies, and review of art history and some of its movements.” The piece on the left is earth on canvas called “Ore retama-indigenous territory/ore retama-territorio indigena,” and the pieces on the right are called “Foundation/cimiento” and “Mesticagem” (made of cement bags–Zignnatto worked with his grandfather as a bricklayer from ages 10-14).
“My creative execution is based on the interest in recording the desires and experiences had by women living in Tijuana. … Far from any type of victimization, my proposal documents everyday experiences that link intimacy, affective relationships, and attitudes of female empowerment. … Faced with the hostility of the visual stereotypes that define border life, is it possible to create an artistic proposal that confronts the aesthetically correct aggressiveness of border cultural stereotypes?” says Alejandra Phelts’s artist’s statement. The painting on the left is “Friends/amigas,” the one on the right is “Amazons/Amazonas,” and the mixed-media piece is “Bird Women/Mujeres pajaro.”

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