Shizu Saldamando: L.A. Intersections

February 6 - April 30, 2020

OXY ARTS presents the work of Los Angeles based artist Shizu Saldamando, the Wanlass artist-in-residence for 2019-2020. Drawing from her personal cultural perspective (Mexican-American and Japanese-American ancestry), Saldamando offers an intimate take on formal portraiture; presenting portraits of friends, fellow artists, queer and of color activists — individuals that are not often highlighted or uplifted in contemporary culture. Her work functions as homage, as well as documentation of countercultures within and around Northeast Los Angeles.

Visualizing the scope of L.A. Latinx subcultural communities, L.A. Intersections presents a selection of works by Saldamando that reimagines alternative Chicanx and Indigenous identities through portraiture and video-based work. The exhibition's multimedia and cross-generational composition offers both a critique of traditional figures in art and a celebration of in-between spaces and the bodies that inhabit them.

View images from the exhibition on Flickr.

The Wanlass Artist in Residence Program is made possible by generous support from the Kathryn Caine Wanlass Charitable Foundation.

About the Artist

Shizu Saldamando

Occidental College’s 2019/20 Wanlass Artist in Residence

Shizu Saldamando's drawings, paintings, sculptures, and videos have been exhibited both locally and internationally and experiment with a broad range of surfaces and materials. She has had solo exhibitions at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ; the Vincent Price Art Museum, Monterey Park, CA; Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA; Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; and Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. Selected group exhibitions include shows at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA; the official collateral exhibition of the Venice Biennale; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA. Saldamando received her B.A. from UCLA’s School of Arts and Architecture and her M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts.

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GALLERY

Three portraits by Shizu Saldamando. One larger portrait on the left and two smaller portraits stacked on the right.

Gallery View of Shizu Saldamando: LA Intersections exhibition. Three works evening spaced on a left white wall and one larger portrait of a couple on a bench on the right wall.

Three portraits by Shizu Saldamando against a white wall.

Graphite drawing of Ernesto Yerena Montejano on wood by Shizu Saldamando.

Gallery View of Shizu Saldamando: LA Intersections exhibition. Two portraits on the left wall and one portrait on the right wall along with exhibition vinyl text.

Portrait of rafa esparza by Shizu Saldamando.

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La Ever, Shizu Saldamando. LA Intersections, Spring 2020.

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La Maya (left), Raquel (top, right), Sadie (bottom, right), Shizu Saldamando. , Spring 2020.

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Gallery View, LA Intersections, Spring 2020.

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(left to right) La Lupe with Mayhem Cap, , La Brownskin, Shizu Saldamando. LA Intersections, Spring 2020.

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Ernesto, Shizu Saldamando. LA Instersections, Spring 2020.

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Gallery View, LA Intersections, Spring 2020.

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Rafa, El Unico, Shizu Saldamando. LA Intersections, Spring 2020.

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(left to right) Ramiro, Tiff and Kathie, Maria Maea, Shizu Saldamando. , Spring 2020.

Four portraits from Shizu Saldamando's L.A. Intersections hang on a white wall

L.A. Intersections Virtual Tour

Enjoy this virtual tour of our Spring 2020 Exhibition, Shizu Saldamando: L.A. Intersections. Narrated by artist Shizu Saldamando.

News Coverage

Los Angeles Times

Painter Shizu Saldamando puts a face to L.A.'s Latinx art and punk scenes

February 18, 2020

Rafu Shimpo

‘Shizu Saldamando: L.A. Intersections’ at Occidental College

February 28, 2020

Curricular Integration

ARTS290 | Body Talk: deconstructing representations of the figure in contemporary art

Using drawing and painting techniques, we will analyze and critique ”the figure” in both art history and in contemporary media. Utilizing post-colonial discourse, intersectional feminist and gender theory, identity politics and popular studies, the class will read critical essays on the body and apply it to their writings and art work. Utilizing critical theory along with a rigorous exploration of varying techniques, we will explore traditional drawing techniques from charcoal figure drawing to acrylic, and oil paint on a variety of substrates. We will have guest lectures, body positive life models, field trips and guest artist led workshops to flesh out discourse and technique. This course aims to teach different applications to achieve technical proficiency but also to deconstruct and think critically about representations of the figure we create as artists.

ACTIVITY & REFLECTION GUIDE

Recommended for 4-8th graders, this exhibition activity guide features prompts to further engage with themes presented in the LA Intersections exhibition.

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