Gráfica América: the spirit of printmaking at Museum of Latin American Art

Poli Marichal - Sobrevivientes / Puerto Rico

Long Beach, CA – Curated by Gabriela Martinez, MOLAA Curator of Education, with Rogelio Gutierrez, Associate Professor of Art at Arizona State University, Gráfica América celebrates the collaborative spirit of printmaking through historical prints and publications as well as contemporary and experimental works made by Latin American and Latinx printmakers in print shops, publishing house and artist collective studios.

The exhibition features works by approximately 100 artists and master printers from across the United States, Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean including Pepe Coronado, Sandra C. Fernández, Fernando De León, Miguel Ledezma, Poli Marichal, Lorena Padral, Coral Revueltas Valle and Humberto Saenz. Also represented are collective workshops including Taller de Gráfica Experimental which was established in Havana, Cuba in 1962 by Cuban artist Orlando Suárez and Chilean painter José Venturelli and Estampa Feminista from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Taller de Gráfica Popular, Mixografia, Centro de Arte de Puerto Rico, Self-Help Graphics and Art, Dignidad Rebelde and INKspira among many others.

Juan R. Fuentes - Bracero Brothers  / United States

Dr. Lourdes Ramos, President & CEO of MOLAA shares: “This wonderful exhibit exemplifies our mission of presenting global talent. This show will reveal historical artworks that make substantial cultural statements.”

These artists’ prints are rooted in the philosophy of communal and collaborative working. They practice in workshops and educational institutions where artists hone their visual voices, activists and communities come together to negotiate cultural expressions, and individuals of diverse backgrounds are given a platform through which to tell their stories.

Pepe Coronado runs a print studio in East Harlem, New York City and believes that “printmaking, by nature, is a collaborative medium. It’s a community-oriented art form.”

Coral Revueltas Valle / Mexico

Poli Marichal, who has lived and worked in Barcelona, London, Boston and Los Angeles says: “My prints, paintings, films and mixed media works explore two predominant tendencies that sometimes coalesce and sometimes manifest themselves separately: my interest in expressing social, political and environmental concerns and a more introspective and primal desire to explore my personal visions.”

This exhibition accentuates the radical political role of printmaking in Latin America’s history and creates an environment through exhibition and workshops in which those ideas and skills can be shared with a new generation of artists and community organizers in Southern California.

GRÁFICA AMÉRICA, March 3 – September 1, 2019, Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), 628 Alamitos Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90802.