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Five years of planning and a US$16 million budget from the Getty Foundation are paying divdends as the "Pacific Standard Time: LA / LA" art exhibition on Latin and Latin American art goes on show at 70 institutions in California.
This unprecedented collaboration offers hundreds of exhibitions, programs and events over the next four months in local cultural organizations as well as the largest museums in the region, from Santa Barbara to San Diego and Los Angeles to Palm Springs.
The exhibition includes pre-Hispanic, modern Afro-Brazilian, alternative art from Mexico and murals of the Chicano movement in Los Angeles.
More than 1,100 artists' work will be on display.
"Pacific Standard Time: LA / LA reflects the rich past and vital present of Latin and Latin American art," Jim Cuno, President of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said in a statement.
"The exhibitions, programs and events speak about our current lives as well as our cultural memories," added Cuno.
The show also reflects the current battleground in Washington as President Trump continues his crackdown on immigration.
Cuno told the invited guests at opening night “Works of art don’t acknowledge political borders.”
Artist Judithe Hernandez, the only female member of pioneering Chicano artist collective Los Four said “It is an indictment of all of the false narratives that have been coming out of the White House, about the contributions of Mexican Americans in particular,” she told The Times shortly after the event. “It could not have come at a better time.”
Michael Govan and Wallis Annenberg of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art say the show is "incomparable because of its magnitude, curatorial scope and point of view."
"This is the first time so many institutions have come together to consider Latin American and Latin art together and from the uniquely revealing perspective of Los Angeles and Southern California," they added.
On Sunday, admission will be free to more than 50 participating museums. The day will end with a concert in the Hollywood Bowl, starring Cafe Tacvba, Mon Laferte and La Santa Cecilia.
While most of the exhibits in the show focus on modern and contemporary art, they also offer an analysis of the ancient world and the pre-modern era. For this reason, severl galleries will combine their shows, including local photographer Laura Aguilar at the Vincent Price art museum and the exhibition of the Brazilian Valeska Soares at the Santa Bárbara art museum.
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