LA><ART

LAXART IS PLEASED TO PRESENT THE 10-YEAR SURVEY

OF LOS-ANGELES BASED ARTIST COLLECTIVE SLANGUAGE

ON THE OCCASION OF MADE IN L.A. 2012 

Founded in 2002 in Wilmington, California, known as “the heart of the L.A. harbor,” Slanguage is a socially engaged collective composed of Los Angeles-based artists Mario Ybarra Jr. and Karla Diaz, along with various other collaborators. Over a span of ten years, Slanguage has established a unique pedagogical platform that supports the creative projects of local, national, and international cultural producers at all stages of their careers. Based in a 1,200 square foot storefront formerly home to a neighborhood bakery, Slanguage approaches the production of contemporary art along three intersecting axes: art education, community building, and the staging of interactive exhibition projects. Invoking the possibility of a language capable of blurring the boundaries between art and life, Slanguage has skillfully crafted a working process that leads to projects of significance for its local audiences while at the same time remaining responsive to broader dialogues occurring in an international context.

As a way to showcase the collective’s creative economy of artistic production, Slanguage has activated LA><ART, one of the sites for Made in L.A. 2012, throughout the duration of the biennial exhibition. The three month long project This is a Takeover! A Ten-Year Survey of Slanguage includes a participatory installation in the galleries, a site-specific mural on the LA><ART façade, a newly commissioned public billboard on La Cienega Boulevard, and a series of public programs intended to engage diverse publics. Appropriating the aesthetic of the takeover of Alcatraz Island by Indians of All Tribes in the fall of 1969, Slanguage has recreated a thematically organized installation of ephemera that explores its history, approach to pedagogy, and previous projects. In conversation with this installation, the site-specific mural on LA><ART’s façade was made in collaboration with artists Mario Autoe Cuen, Mario Dred Lopez, and Raul Spew Vasquez of the 777 collective, who have worked with Slanguage since 2002. The mural draws from localized iconographies while speaking to the complex networked history of the myriad communities that make up Los Angeles’s social fabric.

To foster dynamic relationships and collaborative networks in the neighborhood, Slanguage will also convert LA><ART’s project space into a site for a host of workshops and public programs, all of which are listed in the Made in L.A. 2012 brochure. Drawing from its renowned artist-in-residence program and expanding the activities of the Slanguage Teen Art Council, the group will host a series of activities for youth and families, including drawing and painting workshops, break-dancing classes, poetry jams, spoken-word nights, and experimental music events. Cultivating a variety of exchanges with different publics is a methodology for Slanguage, and through the platform of Made in L.A. 2012, viewers will be invited to see and participate in this unique model, one that has transformed the relationships between art and audiences in our city for a decade.

Slanguage:                                                              The Propeller Group:

LA><ART Façade                                                    LA><ART Entryway

Antonio De Jesus Lopez:                      

LA><ART Mini-Wrong Gallery

LA><ART EDITIONS: Kelly Poe, Phil Chang, Daniel Joseph Martinez, John Outterbridge, Melanie Nakaue, Guy de Cointet, Shannon Ebner, Kate Costello, Nick Herman, Justin Beal, Scoli Acosta, Doug Aitken and Tyler Warren, Edgar Arceneaux, Kelly Barrie, Zoe Crosher, Sherin Guirgis, Karl Haendel, Skyler Haskard, Gregory Michael Hernandez, Vincent Johnson, Adria Julia, Glenn Kaino, Joel Kyack, William Leavitt, Michelle Lopez, Shana Lutker, Yunhee Min, Kori Newkirk, Michael Rashkow, Marco Rios, Ruben Ochoa, Anna Sew Hoy, Joel Tauber, and Amir Zaki.

PUBLICATIONS: Made in L.A. exhibition catalog, Lovett/Codagnone: Lovett/Codagnone; Blood and Guts in Hollywood: Two Screenplays by Laura Parnes; Kelly Poe: For the Wild; Phil Chang: Four Over One; Ruben Ochoa: EXTRACTED; Amir Zaki: Eleven Minus One; John Divola: Three Acts; Quadruple-Consciousness; and LA><ART>5.

ABOUT LA><ART

Founded in 2005, LA><ART is a leading independent nonprofit contemporary art space in Los Angeles, committed to the production of experimental exhibitions and public art initiatives. Responding to Los Angeles’ cultural climate, LA><ART produces and presents new work for all audiences and offers the public access to the next generation of artists and curators. LA><ART supports challenging work, reflecting the diversity of the city and stimulates conversations on contemporary art in Los Angeles, fostering dynamic relationships between art, artists and their audiences. LA><ART produced and commissioned over 100 projects in its first five years.

In 2014, LA><ART will launch its Vision Campaign including The Occasional – a city wide exhibition and public art initiative.  This platform for LA continues the organization’s ongoing commitment to supporting artistic and curatorial freedom while focusing on commissioning new work in experimental contexts.

Slanguage at LA><ART in supported, in part, by Larry Mathews and Brian Saliman; Ron Handler; Joseph Varet and Esther Kim Varet; Debbie Laub and Ed Israel; Joyce and Michael Ostin; and the Philip Muriel Berman Foundation. LA><ART’s programs are made possible with the generous support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Danielson Foundation, the G.L. Waldorf Family Fund, The Los Angeles County Arts Commission, The City of Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs, Proskauer Rose LLP, Frederick Fisher and Partners, and LA><ART's Board, Producers Council, Collectors Circle and Curators Council.