In each chapter, in conversation between the most remarkable artists from Latin-America and Latinxs in the US, and our MOLAA Chief Curator Gabriela Urtiaga, we place the focus on a series or specific artwork which requires a close inspection and deliberate process of contemplation, and exploration; delving into the ideas surrounding the creation of the works, their sources of research and inspiration, in an effort to immerse ourselves in the world of the artists.
This session will be pre-recorded.
Mercedes Gertz (México, 1965)
Mercedesd Gertz, photo by Estefanía Ángel
Mercedes Gertz, born in Mexico City, works from her studios in Mexico City and Los Angeles. She holds a B.F.A. from Parsons School of Design, an M.F.A. from Otis College of Art and Design, and a PhD in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. A FONCA grant recipient, she has long developed a community-based practice, teaching art-as-a-language workshops to Latino families in Los Angeles. She has also offered workshops in Mexico, Los Angeles, Tijuana, Paris, and Tokyo on dreams and fairy tales as symbolic systems. Her work has been exhibited widely in Mexico, the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Alma Ruiz, photo by Myles Pettengill
Alma Ruiz is an independent curator, Senior Fellow at the Center for Business and Management of the Arts at Claremont Graduate University, and Adjunct Professor at Centro in Mexico City. She is also a former senior curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, where she curated numerous exhibitions focusing on emerging artists and the postwar period in the United States, Italy, and Latin America. In addition to having served as the curator of the 20 Bienal de Arte Paiz in Guatemala City, she guest-curated exhibitions at the Fundación Jumex, Mexico City; the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv; the Fundación Telefónica, Buenos Aires; the Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C.; the Fowler Museum at UCLA; the Craft Contemporary; and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Guanajuato, Mexico. She has been a panelist for Creative Capital Foundation, the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, the U.S.-Mexico Fund for Culture, and Artadia Los Angeles. Alma is a coeditor and contributor to A History for the Future: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1979-2000.