On January 17th eight members of the PAA enjoyed lunch and tour of two fabulous exhibitions at the Skirball Cultural Center. We were welcomed by Jocelyn Tetel, Vice President of Advancement, who thanked the PAA for our work “to strengthen the arts in our community” and for funding Ken Gonzales-Day: Murals, Signs, and Mark-Making in LA. Laura Mart, curator of the Ken Gonzales-Day exhibition and co-curator of the companion exhibition Another Promised Land: Anita Brenner’s Mexico, then guided us on a personalized tour of the two shows.

Surface Tension includes more than 140 new photographs by Ken. It’s a celebration of Los Angeles’ rich tradition of muralism that offers a visual landscape of LA’s diverse communities. PAA members loved the installation conceived by Laura, Ken and the exhibition design team with a wall-to-wall map on the floor, and a printed guide to take home which invites us all to encounter new neighborhoods.

Anita Brenner was a writer and cultural ambassador, a real cultural change-maker, for the country of Mexico in the 1920s. She led a fascinating art-filled life and introduced readers to the great works of art of the Mexican Renaissance. The Brenner exhibition is exquisite and it contains some marvelous original artwork by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, along with photography from the likes of Edward Weston and Tina Modotti.

It’s not too late to see these two wonderful exhibitions! Surface Tension and Another Promised Land are on view through February 25, 2018.

Louise & Mia at Skirball

Skirball group

Ken Gonzales-Day
Surface Tensions

George Yepes detail from “Tikkun Olam – To Repair the World,”
Boyle Heights