Pete Moye’
Arts Button

A look at Latin American culture, the SUR: Biennial Exhibit opened on Thursday at the Cerritos College Art Gallery.

SUR: Biennial is a three-part exhibition being featured in the Cerritos College Art Gallery, Rio Hondo Art Gallery, and the Bluebird Art House in Uptown Whittier, from Oct. 20 to Nov. 18.

The artwork of Karla Diaz, Raul Baltazar, Gustavo Godoy, Elana Mann, and Jane Castillo is being shown inside and outside of the Cerritos College Art Gallery.

Each artist used their influences of their South and Latin American roots to create their pieces and used different techniques in doing so.

Curator for the Cerritos Art Gallery and Art History professor James McDevott, said, “It’s pretty extraordinary. I like the fact that the artists are working big.”

Outside of the art gallery, there is a vinyl mural being displayed on the side of the art building by artist Jane Castillo.

Castillo, a local artist, said, “In my mural, I have many layers of influences there and how, as a Latina, I have assimilated.”

Her mural consists of self-portraits of Castillo in every aspect in her life from her childhood of wanting blonde hair, to her traditional Columbian roots.

Other parts of the mural incorporates her environment, visual culture, and American culture.

Part of her mural includes a sign that reads, “Occupy! Multiply!” as well as cityscapes.

Something different from the rest of the artwork being shown in the gallery that she provides in her mural for spectators is quick read codes.

Her QR codes are scanable and it takes those who scan it to her artwork’s Facebook and Twitter and viewers can get a free postcard of her mural.

In 2009, Castillo received the City of Los Angeles Fellowship award and the Visions from the New California Award.

On how she felt about receiving those awards, Castillo said, “I felt like those awards were bigger than me because when I got the award, it’s not just me getting the award. It’s another woman getting an award, it’s a Latina woman getting an award so it represents something much bigger than I am.”

Art major Erica Figueroa said, “I found Karla Diaz’s work to be interesting because of the tire she had up, the clothes, and then I liked the mask and then the little slideshow they had. It grabbed my attention because I kind of liked the urban feel of it.”

Curator and co-founder of the SUR: Biennial Ronald Lopez said of the entire exhibit, “I really wanted to treat the word ‘biennial’ properly because in the art world, a biennial usually represents the cream of the crop of the artists of the current day.”

Lopez lived abroad in Istanbul, Turkey and ran an art program there. That is where he had seen what a real biennial is.

“A biennial essentially takes over the entire city,” he said.

Lopez was first contacted by Rio Hondo College. When he heard that the school was just going to feature the art in the school’s art gallery, he was flabbergasted.

He wanted to expand the biennial to the entire campus. However, due to liability issues and other reasons, the college didn’t agree with the idea.

Lopez then decided it would be a good idea to expand it to other schools.

The way he picked which artists he wanted to be featured in the exhibit is he went on studio visits and shows and then picked those artists that caught his attention.

He also asked his colleagues who they recommended and then investigated their type of artwork and what they were doing.

Every artist featured in the exhibit has had their artwork featured in galleries all throughout Los Angeles.

This being her first time showing her artwork in a community college, Castillo said, “I really enjoy interacting with the students. That’s fresh and new for me and it just provides a whole different audience that I haven’t been exposed to and I always enjoy learning.”

More information is available at surbiennial.org.