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We need new terms and vocabulary to process current artistic trends. The world is still focused on modernism, and as such we’ve recycled its description and use words like postmodernism, post-postmodernism, meta-modernism, alter-modernism, and global modernism. But the modernist philosophy belongs to the 20th century. It was the face of the previous millennium. Modernism is described as a philosophical movement and set of cultural changes and trends in society that shaped the 20th century. But what movements are informing and shaping the 21st century today? Artist: Jim McHugh and Big Sleeps Title: 213 Year: 2016 Medium: Composite Ploroid Photograph on INNOVA Archival Paper and Applied Mixed Media There is no denying that a new discourse, or language of vision, is bourgeoning in the Southland. It is a conglomerate of ideas related to public art, work on canvas, graffiti typography, tattoo art, literature, calligraphy, photography, film, sculpture, and several other mediums. The Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment at MOAH Lancaster presents this vastness, including gang-style cement carvings meant to convey fragmented American nationalism by Jose ‘Prime’ Reza, social commentary on urban renewal by Susan Logoreci, and satire on class and race-mixing by Sandow Birk. These are just a few examples that juxtapose the climate and built environment of Los Angeles’ post-war period with the Los Angeles of today, which we refer to as the Post-Recession Era. Similarities of both eras include the emphasis on new ideas in design that invite radiant colors, simple treatment, and casual aesthetic, while paying close attention to monochromatic imagery. The message was the same then as it is now – dare to be different, champion individuality, experiment fearlessly with all areas of society, while holding technological advances in high regard. An example of this concept can be seen in Jason Hernandez’ Dictum Factum, which pays homage to Space X and the City of Hawthorne, and the story of planetary exploration as champion of progress. Another example includes the commemorative mural done by Fishe and Dreye, which recognizes the contributions of science, math, and aviation in the host region of Lancaster and the Antelope Valley Artist: Estevan Oriol Title: Downtown Year: 2008 Medium: Archival Photographic Paper However, the exhibition also acknowledges the social anxieties we face today, such as globalization, poverty, homelessness, density, war, addiction, gentrification, and others. The Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 had a direct impact on consumerism, and this idea can be seen in Alex Schafer’s political commentary in Black Friday. But, new approaches to design, medium, and theory emerged as a response to the crisis, and can be observed in post-industrial architecture and interior design, drought-resistant landscaping, and abstract murals. Public art and murals today have different messaging than murals done in service to the state, or those that conveyed social realism. Public art that was once considered guttural and found homes in public housing, decrepit yards like Belmont Tunnel, and the concreted L.A. River, are today being commissioned to adorn commercial/residential buildings, public facilities, and the entire Metro system. But the return of public transportation brings a new set of concerns, like the displacement of residents and the reappearance of the gentry. And the draining, exhumation, and concreting of the Los Angeles River in the 1930s, has today resulted in a public art biennial. It is within this social dichotomy that we seek to contribute to the national arts and letter dialogue. The manner in which public art is done today has also shifted. Technological advances in social media have facilitated the way we engage with art, and in a way, they have sped up the artist’s work ethic. Large-scale murals that once took years to execute, can be done in weeks, days, and even hours. There is no question that the most exciting rupture in the art scene of the 21st century is associated with art on the streets. The true essence of this phenomenon is that it came from the slums and trickled up from the bottom, but to dismiss it as street art or simple graffiti, or to devalue its contribution to the larger discourse of American and international art is a languid scholarly approach. Despite this artistic boom, there are few scholars and academics dedicated to this research, but in a way, it is what makes it avant-garde. Similar to literature, some of the most exciting work in the last hundred years has been hard-boiled or noir, also considered unsophisticated because of its streetwise approach. And in fine arts programs across the country, there is little emphasis on crime fiction, or vandalism as a form of artistic resistance. In our Built Environment exhibition, we seek to build a bridge between literary crime fiction and fine art. In Jose ‘Prime’ Reza’s Payphone installation, which depicts the physical crisis of neighborhood street corners of the 80s and 90s, I respond by creating a short, minimalist story that demonstrates the existential, cold and tough exterior, needed to survive in such harsh conditions. Moreover, in Michael Alvarez’ Neighborhood Watch, he seeks to guide the observer through a first-person narrative amongst the community of El Sereno. Artist: Sandow Birk Title: West Coast Casta Year: 2017 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas The Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment exhibition, is an attempt to deconstruct the Los Angeles school of thought by using a multifaceted approach, and a diverse array of artists. It is only in reexamining our metropolis’ design trajectory that we can truly appreciate the creative advances made in local arts and culture, since Los Angeles’ biggest criticism comes from not having a comprehensive past. Los Angeles is a fledgling metropolis. The Southland region, which has long stood for and celebrated individualism, has yet to succumb to the imperial nation-building concept of the continental United States’ sphere of influence. Los Angeles has come to represent a city of the future – a manmade utopia in the middle of vast emptiness. The city’s massive horizontal and open space has turned the region into the largest urban laboratory in the world, and the testing ground for many ideas, theories, and styles. Dark Progressivism, which comes directly from the streets and is directly informed by the built environment, is one of those styles, and today it is being duplicated around the world. —Rodrigo Ribera d'Ebre. Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment runs from November 11, 2017 to Janauary 14, 2018

“Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment,” opening at Museum of Art and History, Lancaster (MOAH) on Saturday, November 11th, and curated by Lisa Derrick and Rodrigo Ribera d’Ebre, serves as a fine complement to the documentary film “Dark Progressivism.” The curatorial statement for “Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment, is an appreciative and insightful academic perspective of what might be called “Rasquachismo.” Rasquache is a term from Mexican culture referring to something considered low-class, throwaway, or beneath respect. Rasquachismo is the ethos of creating something expressive out of those materials or practices considered to be rasquache. Rasquache-inspired work tends to lie outside of the academy and institutional approval lineage. The show is rich with expressions of this ethos: Chaz Bojorquez, Big Sleeps, Prime, Rafael Reyes, Gajin Fujita and Gerardo Monterrubio incorporate Los Angeles-originated street letters and symbols into their work; Juan Carlos Muñoz Hernandez’s seemingly abstract work directly references autobiographical elements from street culture; Michael Alvarez incorporates “bad photography” artifacts into his paintings of street life; Carlos Ramirez’s potent mix of signs (literally) and symbols reflects urban facts of life; Jim McHugh collaborates with Big Sleeps and Prime to create gritty neighborhood portraits; Horacio Martinez creates a mash-up of Aztec and gang cultures; Peter Greco is a traditionally trained calligrapher now including work on public walls. Prime deserves special acknowledgement for using scribed cement as one of his material choices: “Use what you know,” he told me. These are all examples of practices transformed from socially based traditions to personal expression using a fully formed personal aesthetic, visually and narratively. There is a human predilection to be seen and acknowledged through mark making in the public sphere. It is especially clear where there have been civilizations with rules, and walls, that people have wanted to be part of a public dialog, high or low. Several early forms of graffiti from 79 AD can be seen preserved at Pompeii. These include political graffiti, popular graffiti (“I was here/John loves Mary”), and what scholars like to call latrinalia, “bathroom graffiti.” Crusaders left graffiti scribed into middle-eastern stone during the middle ages. Hobos marked railroad cars and established an elaborate set of symbols to communicate advice and warnings to other hobos. Cholo (Latino gangster) graffiti, literally scribed into the sidewalks, started a Los Angeles tradition in the early 20th century that evolved into arguably the first distinctive American outlaw font styles. When you add youth’s need to be rebellious and give it a helpful push from western culture that so admires the anti-hero rascal, well, it seems inevitable that art forms would evolve from that. Most of the artists in the show, if not directly using rasquache materials or aesthetics, still reference the not-shiny, not-pretty city and street life that gives rise to Rasquachismo. The installation environments, “Payphone” and the wall by Fishe and Dreye, are usefully instructional for showing the distinction between gang writing and modern “style writing” graffiti. For those coming out of gang life, the wall writing in Payphone is so specific in style and purpose to that world that they don’t refer to it as graffiti, but as a “placa” or “plaqueaso” (plaque), “hit-up” or just “gang writing.” To people coming from gang life, it is the post-New York approach that is referred to as “graffiti” with its colorful and whimsical letterforms and abstractions. The borders between these two worlds and styles may be porous, but they are nonetheless different. It’s interesting to note that all creative expressions of hip hop—graffiti, its dance forms, scratching, MC-ing—as well as youth originated sports such as skateboarding and BMX bike, are all now established commercial enterprises, and come from this same inspiration of rasquache, “making something from nothing.” The popularity of street art currently reflected in gallery and museum exhibitions has been a development with a long path having multiple strands of influence, one being simply a threshold of interest among a large enough demographic of those not-too-young or too-old. That demographic is courted by the very institutions that would have originally considered the practices and concerns of Rasquachismo beneath their consideration. This trend started in the 1990s, when the lowbrow/pop surrealism movement (also originally considered beneath serious attention) began, originally quite happily independent from the elite museum. The growing popularity of boomer and post-boomer participation finally led to the infiltration of galleries and museums. Graffiti writers, especially those that worked with representational elements—the human figure, cityscapes—were often in shows alongside the lowbrow artists. A central tenet of 20th century Modernism is that it reflected both the freedom and alienation of the industrial age, a tradition that is continued and reinvigorated in the show at MOAH. Check out the preview images below, including WIP mural images by Fishe and the completed mural by Fishe and Doctor Eye Artists: Michael Alvarez, Sandow Birk, Chaz Bojorquez, Liz Brizzi, David “Big Sleeps” Cavazos, Roberto Chavez, Cryptik, Gajin Fujita, Peter Greco, Roberto Gutierrez, Jason Hernandez, Juan Carlos Muñoz Hernandez, Louis Jacinto, Susan Logoreci, Manuel Lopez, Eva Malhotra, Horacio Martinez, Jim McHugh, Gerardo Monterrubio, Estevan Oriol, Cleon Peterson & Lisa Schulte, Felix Quintana, Carlos Ramirez, Erwin Recinos, Rafael Reyes, Joe “Prime” Reza, Sandy Rodriguez, Shizu Saldomando, Alex Schaefer, and Jaime Scholnick. Special note from Cartwheel Art: Coverage from previous Dark Progressivism exhibitions, screenings, graffiti tour and additional special programming, presented by Cartwheel Art, including “Dark Progressivism: Metropolis Rising” at the LA Art Show 2015, can be found here. Exhibition: “Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment” November 11th, 2017 – January 14th, 2018 Opening Reception: Saturday November 11th (2:00pm – 6:00pm) There will be two screenings of Dark Progressivism Special Programming: December 10th, 2017: Art and Science Panel January 7th, 2018: Zine Fest and Noir Panel. Address: MOAH, Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA 665 Lancaster Blvd, Lancaster CA 93534 Chaz Bojorquez Chaz Bojorquez Big Sleeps Big Sleeps Prime Prime Rafael Reyes Gajin Fujita Gerardo Monterrubio Juan Carlos Muñoz Hernandez Michael Alvarez Carlos Ramirez Photographer Jim McHugh in collaboration with David Cavazos “Big Sleeps,” from the project “LA Neighborhoods” Horacio Martinez Horacio Martinez Peter Greco Mural created for the show, painted across the street from MOAH, titled Manifest Destiny by Fishe and Doctor Eye Mural created for the show, painted across the street from MOAH, titled Manifest Destiny by Fishe and Doctor Eye Eva Malhotra Cleon Peterson & Lisa Schulte Sandy Rodriguez WIP mural by Fishe WIP mural by Fishe

From the blood on the streets to the art on the musuem walls, Dark Progressivism is a style of art that first appeared in Southern California. It’s based in design and lettering. It didn’t come out of art school, though it is being now being recognized by academics and by art lovers around the world. Dark Progressivism comes from the darkness of the streets. It has roots in gang tattoos and graffiti; and some, but not all, of the artists have lived the gang life. Many are immigrants, or first and second generation Americans. Through the built environment, the artists absorbed elements of German Expressionism, Post-war Modernism, and Southern California design and architecture, as well as film noir and typography. These influences can be seen in their art Photographer Jim McHugh in collaboration with David Cavazos “Big Sleeps,” from the project “LA Neighborhoods” / Via lancastermoah.org 213 60”x90” composite polaroid photograph on INNOVA archival paper and applied mixed media. Dark Progressivism was recognized as a regional style by author and filmmaker Rodrigo Ribera d’Ebre who wrote and directed an award-winning documentary about the style and artists. D’Ebre was a gang member who changed direction after friends were indicted for the murder of a federal informant. He now holds a degree in political science from California State University, Los Angeles and an MFA in writing from Mount Saint Mary's University. He authored Urban Politics: The Political Culture of Sur 13 Gangs, a socio-political analysis of SoCal gang culture, and is contributor to the Huffington Post and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Rodrigo Ribera d'Ebre / Via darkprogressivism.com This eye-opening documentary tells the story of a local nativist tradition in artwork, explicating how the dark aspects of the built environment combined with forward-thinking principles have influenced contemporary art. The film’s success created additional interest in this Southern California genre, and now there is a museum show dedicated to it, which opens November 11, 2017 at the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, California. Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment runs from November 11, 2017 though January 14, 2018. MOAH / Via Instagram: @darkprogressivism Hollow, by Liz Brizzi forms the background of the flyer image for Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment “The Built Environment” refers to the alteration of natural environments by the impact of man-made structures, like freeways, train tracks, housing developments, and shopping malls. These built environments may then be altered by those who live in and around them, or by outsiders. Dark Progressivism: The Built Environmentdemonstrates the drive and resiliency of its artists, as well as the breadth and depth of Southern California art. ​ Dark Progressivism artists like David Big Sleeps Cavazos and Joe Prime Reza elaborate on traditional gang tags and lettering. Jim McHugh, a critically acclaimed photographer, whose work appears in Architectural Digest, has collaborated with Big Sleeps and Prime to create the Neighborhood Projects series. Photographer Jim McHugh in collaboration with LA street writers, artists Joe Prime Reza and David Big Sleeps Cavazos, from the project “LA Neighborhoods” / Via lancastermoah.org Washington Blvd, composite Polaroid photograph on INNOVA matte canvas with applied mixed media, 44” x 115” diptych, unique. Big Sleeps, a world renown tattooist has created a series of books, Letters to Live By. His paintings mix abstract elements with letters that have become elaborated to the extreme. However, those fluent in tagging can still read them. David Big Sleeps Cavazos / Via lancastermoah.org Metamorphosis, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 72" X 48" Prime, considered one of the 25 most influential graffiti artists in Los Angeles, was shot and lost the use of his right hand. During his recovery, he taught himself to paint and draw with his left hand so he could continue to create. He is a member of the legendary graffiti crew K2S (Kill To Succeed) with Gajin Fujita, Juan Carlos Munoz Hernandez, and Big Sleeps. This piece pays homage to cement carvings, the earliest form of graffiti in Los Angeles. Joe Prime Reza / Via courtesy of artist Urban Landscape, 2017, cement, 68" X 74" Prime's site-specific installation Payphone inspired a short story by curator Rodrigo Ribera d’Ebre, included in the exhibtion's catalog. Photo of Prime by Jim McHugh / Via courtesy of artists Prime, Payphone, mixed media, 2017 Chaz Bojorquez, considered the godfather of Cholo art, studied Asian brush lettering and calligraphy around the world before returning to Los Angeles to begin his career as a professional artist. His work is in numerous permanent museum collections, including the Smithsonian Institute, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and Laguna Art Museum. Chaz Bojorquez / Via lancastermoah.org 100 Tags on Skull, 1996, Zolatone paint, acrylic paint, glitter on canvas, 39" X 43" Gajin Fujita developed his art as member of the Los Angeles graffiti crews K2S (Kill 2 Succeed, whose members included Juan Carlos Munoz Hernandez, Big Sleeps and Prime) and KGB (Kids Gone Bad). His work which combines classical Japanese iconography with Mexican-American tagging and U.S. pop culture images, has shown internationally and is in several museum collections. Gajin Fujita / Via courtesy of artist Guardian Angel, 2016, spray paint, paint markers, markers, Mean Streak, 12k white gold leaf, and 24k gold leaf on wood panel, 48" X 48" Before Rafael Reyes (Leafar Seyer) formed the Cholo-Goth band Prayers with Dave Parley, he was showing his art in San Diego galleries, and had published Living Dangerously, a fictionalized coming-of-age story about his life as a gang member. The charismatic Seyer mixes traditional indigenous and Cholo symbols with European cultural iconography, indicating both the conflict and synthesis of his worlds. He created the sculpture, Southland, specifically for this exhibition. Rafael Reyes (Leafar Seyer) / Via courtesy of artist Southland, 2017, acrylic and glitter on wood, steel frame and stand, 36" X 96" X 3" As an active member of K2S, Juan Carlos Munoz Hernandez was commissioned to create a mural for Homeboy Industries. Later he apprenticed with sculptor Robert Graham, and helped to create internationally acclaimed public works including the doors of Our Lady of Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles. His delicate lines and use of color reflect sonic frequncies and show a relationship to Light and Space artists. Juan Carlos Muñoz Hernandez / Via courtesy of artist River of Life, 2016, acrylic on wood panel, 47.75" X 60" Roberto Gutierrez, considered one of the most important Chicano artists to come out of Los Angeles, was born in LA in 1943, the youngest of nine children to a father who worked in the railroad yards and as a dishwasher. He served in the U.S. Marines, stationed in Vietnam during the early days of the war, from 1961 to 1966, and used the G.I. Bill to attend East Los Angeles Community College. He has since focused on his art, which depicts life in the barrio and greater Los Angeles. Roberto Gutierrez / Via courtesy of artist Echo Park, 2013, acrylic, 36" X 60" Estevan Oriol began his career as a low rider with a camera, able to get the best shots of cars and crowds in action, and went on to work with Cypress Hill and House of Pain, and to direct videos and commercials. He has photographed Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Dennis Hopper, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, and Floyd Mayweather, as well as underground cultures. Estevan Oriol / Via courtesy of artist Untitled, 2016, photograph on archival paper Roberto Chavez is a highly respected painter whose work is part of the Smithsonian collection. He was an active member of the Chicano civil rights movement. His 200-ft long mural, The Path to Knowledge and the False University, at East Los Angeles Community College, where he was chair of the Chicano Studies Department was painted over by the college; its importance was celebrated decades later. This portrait of his brother Raul, painted in 1957, shows the influence of German Expressionism. Roberto Chavez / Via courtesy of artist Portrait of the Artist’s Brother Raul, 1959, oil on canvas, 34" X 24.125" Susan Logoreci was commissioned to create a mural for Los Angeles Metro Expo line, and her public art has been displayed at Los Angeles International Airport, Harbor-UCLA Hospital, and City National Bank Tower in Downtown Los Angeles. Susan Logoreci / Via courtesy of the artist L.A. Plays Itself, 2015, colored pencil on paper, 48" X 84" Like Logoreci, Jaime Scholnick has a mural commission for a station on the Los Angeles Metro, and she too has created public art for LAX. This diptych--a large scale version of which will be installed on the platform level of the Expo/Crenshaw Station--shows the changing face of South Los Angeles. Jaime Scholnick / Via courtesy of the artist Crenshaw Blvd., L.A.B-31 and B-32, 2016, mixed media on wood panel, 24" X 67" X 2" Shizu Saldamando, who also created a mural on the Metro Expo Line, has been featured at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. and the Venice Biennale in Italy, amongst other museums and exhibitions. Her portraits are influenced by her Japanese and Mexican heritage, and her skill as a tattoo artist is in high demand. Shizu Saldamando / Via courtesy of the artist Crasslos At Chicos Montebello, 2016, mixed media on paper, 22" X 30" In a painting created specifically for Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment, Sandow Birk drew on castas, painted charts from the colonial period depicting mixed racial marriages and their offspring. West Coast Castamimics the traditional casta charts of centuries ago and depicts some of the innumerable racial and ethnic blends that currently exist. Sandow Birk / Via courtesy of the artist West Coast Casta, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 43" X 54" Eva Malhotra grew up in East Los Angeles. An an immigrant, she attended art school, then UCLA and UC Berkeley, graduating with a law degree. Her paintings, which are created by layering acrylic on wood and then scraping away the strata, have shown at Latino Art Museum in Pomona, California; in the Mexican Consulates in Los Angeles and Santa Ana, California; the Institute of Art and Culture in Tijuana, Mexico; the gallery of the University of Mexico in San Antonio, Mexico; and in Merida, Yucatan. Eva Malhotra / Via courtesy of the artist Un pedazo de cielo, 2016, acrylic on birch board, 62" X 62" (diptych, 31" X 31" each panel) Louis Jacinto is a renown photographer and curator who captured LA’s emerging punk, art, and queer scenes in the late 1970s and 80s, and continues to document his environment. For Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment, the curators chose photos of the punk band, Los Illegals featuring muralist/singer Willie Herron who appears in the film Dark Progressivism, and images of the early days of the Sunset Junction Street Fair in Silver Lake where gang members and the LGBT community celebrated together. His photographs have been exhibited in museums across the U.S. and Mexico. Louis Jacinto / Via courtesy of the artist Sunset Junction: Monitoring Our Safety, 1981, photograph, 16" X 20" Jason Hernandez’s work is influenced by the cosmos, in both its scientific and religious representations. He created this piece depicting Elon Musk and featuring a quote from the Space-X founder specifically for Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment. Jason Hernandez / Via courtesy of the artist Dictum Factum, 2017, oil, acrylic and gold leaf on wood, 36" X 48" Michael Alvarez grew up in the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, fully absorbed in skateboarding and graffiti culture. A full time artist, he also coordinates workshops at Artworx LA, a non-profit organization combating the high school dropout crisis by creatively engaging alternative education high school students. Via courtesy of the artist Neighborhood Watch, 2013, oil, spray paint, graphite and collage on panel, 72" X 96" A tattooist and fine artist based in Oxnard, CA, Horacio Martinez creates paños, ballpoint drawings on linen handkerchiefs that are elaborate freehand surreal narratives, in contrast to his realist portraits. Horacio Martinez / Via courtesy of the artist Untitled, 2015, pen on fabric, 16.5" X 16.5" Marchers 1 and 2 are a collaboration by muralist and sculptor Cleon Peterson and neon artist Lisa Schulte. The 6-foot tall sculptures represent forward movement and progress, and their lines, recalling Minoan art and its influence on German Expressionism and Art Deco, are heightened and softened by the use of neon. Lisa Schulte & Cleon Peterson / Via courtesy of the artists Marcher 1 and 2, 2016, aluminum, neon, electrical, 72" X 52" X 24" Erwin Recinos shoots the changing landscape of Los Angeles. The son of immigrants, raised by a single mother, he is the senior photographer for LATaco.com and a co-founder of the photography collective Snapshot Galleria. Erwin Recinos / Via courtesy of the artist Building New Los Angeles, 2014,35mm photograph, pigment print on fine art paper, 16”x 20” Sandy Rodriguez is the 2016-2017 Artist-in-Residence for Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Her paintings capture moments of transformation in the social and cultural landscape of Los Angeles. Under the 405 at Culver Blvd is a recent painting that captures a view of the end of the day under the Culver Blvd entrance of the 405 Freeway that the city landscaped, using rocks to deter people from taking shelter there. Sandy Rodriguez / Via courtesy of the artist Under the 405 — Culver Blvd., 2017, oil on canvas, photo by J6 Creative, 36" X 48" As part of Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment, Fisheand Doctor Eye collaborated on a mural across the street from MOAH that celebrates both the Antelope Valley's topography and the region's contribution to aerospace. Fishe and Doctor Eye Manifest Destiny, 2017, latex paint, acrylic paint, aerosol paint, 18' X 50' Carlos Ramirez grew up in Indio, California where his mother collaborated with labor organizer Cesar Chavez, and Ramirez himself worked picking dates in the palm orchards. Ramirez combines house paint, sparkly stickers, handwritten bilingual text, rusted bottle caps, discarded packaging, and an iconic stylized use of acrylic paint to speak of the inequalities within Mexican-American communities and to champion the common man as underdog. Carlos Ramirez / Via courtesy of the artist El Circo (detail of mutlipart installation), 2017, acrylic and mixed media on wood, 48" X 36" Alex Schaefer is best known as the plein-air painter whose representations of burning banks prompted visits from the Los Angeles Police Department and gained him international notoriety. His main influences are the early French Impressionists and San Francisco Bay area figurative and abstract artists of the 1950s. Alex Schaefer / Via courtesy of the artist Black Friday, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 30" X 30"

Mining was one of the most important economic industries in the early Antelope Valley. Tropico Gold Mine, located in the hills of Rosamond, was one of the main employers of Lancaster residents during the early 1900s. This photo, c. 1912, shows a group of miners taking a break from work just outside of an entrance into the Tropico Gold Mine. Photo courtesy of MOAH Collections

We’ve previously written about about the award-winning film, Dark Progressivism, a documentary that explores our region’s artists and the cities they come from. The film that became a movement has now become an art exhibition at MOAH (Lancaster Museum of Art and History). Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment features internationally known and emerging artists boldly exploring the impact of urban development and Post-Recession economies in Southern California. The film’s creator, Rodrigo d’Ebre, says “The exhibition reflects the economic/socio-political recovery of Southern California, a metaphor for the 20th century social ills that we are overcoming, and the nuances and history of development that inform such practices.” The paintings in the exhibit range from abstract to graffiti to narrative surrealism, while the sculptures include work produced in ceramic and neon. Photographs, including images from L.A. Taco’s own Erwin Recinos showing both historic and contemporary landscapes and events give a documentary context. Curator Lisa Derrick comments, “The artists selected for Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment express the multi-faceted aspects of the Southland, revealing our region’s truths and beauty in a bold and uncompromising fashion.” Adds d’Ebre, “MOAH, with its commitment to modern history and current art movements, is the perfect location for this show, and through the museum we will be able to secure a location for a Dark Progressivism mural by Fishe and Dreye, who created a piece specifically for the city.” Dark Progressivsim: The Built Environment opens November 11, 2017, with an artist reception from 2pm to 6pm. Additional programming during the exhibition’s run will include a screening of the documentary, Dark Progressivism, a panel discussion and book signing. Let’s take a closer look at some of the artists featured in the show, along with a selection of their work… Artist: Roberto Gutierrez Title: Echo Park Year: 2013 Material: Acrylic Size: 36” x 60” Roberto Gutierrez was born in Los Angeles in 1943 as the youngest of nine children to a father who worked in the railroad yards and as a dishwasher. His family’s lack of resources stimulated Gutierrez’s interest in simple and accessible things and in the city around him. He studied at Roosevelt High School and then went to the Philippines and Vietnam as a member of the United States Marines. Afterwards, he used the G.I. Bill to attend East Los Angeles Community College, and has since focused on his art, which depicts life in el barrio and Los Angeles. His work has been widely shown in galleries throughout the Southwest and extensively distributed through the medium of posters. Artist: Rafael Reyes (Leafar Seyer) Title: Southland (created for this show) Year: 2017 Medium: Acrylic and glitter on wood, steel frame and stand Size: 36” x 96” x 3” Rafael Reyes (Leafar Seyer) Born in Cotija, Michoacán and raised in San Diego, Rafael Reyes, aka Leafar Seyer, is best known as the voice of the acclaimed Cholo goth band Prayers. Before beginning his musical career, Reyes was a gangster, a restaurateur, and author. The founder of several San Diego graffiti crews, Reyes has shown his fine art—which reconfigures Cholo iconography with spiritual symbolism based in both Olmec and Western spiritual traditions—throughout the Southland. His band Prayers has played across the United States, most recently touring with A Perfect Circle and on the NotsFest main stage. ARTIST STATEMENT I have always been between worlds: I was coyoted to San Diego when I was four years old, and came of age watching MTV and listening to bands like the Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, and Christian Death, all the while gang banging with Sherman GHP. For many years, I was viewed as an outcast in my gang and neighborhood because of the music I listened to and how I dressed; and I was an outcast in the goth world because I was a Mexican gangster. To find peace with the environments which would not accept the multi-faceted aspects of my nature, I turned my mind inwards and developed myself, studying both indigenous Mexican magic and Western occultism, as well as the works of Yogananda, all of which flourish in Southern California. My art strives to find a balance between worlds: The Mexican and the white, the internal and external, the spiritual and material, the dream of Califa and its reality. Joe “Prime” Reza Prime Considered one 25 greatest L.A. graffiti writers of all time, Joe Prime Reza was born and raised in Los Angeles Pico Union district and began his graffiti career in 1980. He is credited with being a founding father of Los Angeles stylized graffiti lettering, a hybrid of Cholo lettering and East Coast style graffiti that is bold, aggressive and monochromatic. Violence shaped Prime’s art, both functionally and conceptually; in 1989, the artist survived a gang-related shooting, loosing full movement of his right hand for many years. Prime responded by training himself to write and paint with his left hand, which is how he primarily paints today. An original member of the K2S crew, his work was included in the L.A. Collaborative Wall, part of the 2011 Jeffrey Deitch-curated “Art in The Streets” show at MOCA. In 2013 Prime designed the cover of The Getty Research Institute’s L.A. Liber Amicorum, (The Getty Graffiti Black Book). His graffiti was included in the Alex “Defer” Kizu-curated mural Dark Progressivism at the El Segundo Museum of Art “Scratch” exhibition in 2014. Prime artist statement I incorporate both architectural and graphic elements to create the Los Angeles of my visions, sometimes gritty, always triumphant. I use lettering and numbers as well as cement carving to pull the past into the future, to honor and empower. Artist: Nunca Title: Angeleno (first time publicly shown) Year: 2015 Medium: Acrylic spray on Canvas Size: 80” x 105” Nunca, born Francisco Silva in São Paulo, Brazil, began his art career painting graffiti on the streets of his hometown at age 12. His work combines his native past with the modern urban environment, and his tag Nunca (“never” in Portuguese) is an affirmation of his determination not to be bound by cultural or psychological constraints. For his art, Nunca researches regionalism, creating characters relatable to anyone anywhere based in his outlook on history, tradition, and legacy, while carving his iconography through a blend of climate, history, people and the components that make a culture unique. His works bring a perspective on absorbing and processing myriad influences, a process he calls “cultural cannibalism.” Artist: Shizu Saldamando Title: Crasslos At Chicos Montebello Year: 2016 Medium: Mixed Media on Paper Size: 22” x 30” Shizu Saldamando was born and raised in San Francisco’s Mission District, and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. She received her B.A. (2000) from UCLA’s School of Arts and Architecture and her M.F.A. (2005) from California Institute of the Arts. Her drawings, paintings, sculptures, and videos have been exhibited both locally and internationally. A selection of her exhibitions include: When You Sleep: A Survey of Shizu Saldamando, Vincent Price Art Museum, East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, California; All Tomorrow’s Parties, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Asian American Portraiture Now, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Phantom Sightings, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and We Must Risk Delight, Official Collateral Exhibition at the 2015 Venice Biennial. Artist: Susan Logoreci Title: L.A. Plays Itself Medium: Colored pencil on paper Year: 2015 Size: 48”x84” Susan Logoreci’s drawings have been seen in Art in America, the Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Magazine, McSweeney’s Quarterly Review, and many other periodicals. Her drawings are in several collections including the U.S. State Department, City National Bank, Creative Artists Agency, and in several law firms and urban design firms. Recently she was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission to create three, large, original drawings for a psychiatric ward that serves adolescents in a public hospital. The Los Angeles Metro commissioned her to create eight large drawings that were recreated into mosaic tile, now located at the Sepulveda Station on the Expo Line in Los Angeles. She has also completed projects at Los Angeles International Airport commissioned by the Department of Cultural Affairs. She received her B.F.A from the San Francisco Art Institute and her M.F.A. from Cal State Long Beach. She has lived, worked, and exhibited in Los Angeles for over a decade. Statement: I make drawings of contemporary urban landscapes. My colored pencil drawings deal with themes of uncertainty and optimism within our cities. Pushing buildings and bridges to their breaking point allows elements of abstraction to blossom within their gestural and jovial forms. When you look at my work up close, you see every individual window and roof that makes up a city. From a distance, you see an intricate grid that is as planned and stable as much as it is fragile and disordered. Los Angeles Times art critic Leah Ollman wrote in her first review of my work, “Logorechi, based in Los Angeles, reduces the built landscape to pattern and rhythm, a patchwork stitched of colored bits. Her drawings are charming in the irregularity, the way the rows of windows swell and tilt, every bit of the city drawn – and savored – by hand”. Cities are large projects that shrink and grow over many generations. It’s easy for the individual to feel small, as if we were at the mercy of history, politics, and disasters—natural or other. However, for better or worse, we create cities together, and these manufactured spaces are where life happens at its fastest and boldest: failure and fantasy, possibility and dread, hope and disappointment, invention and destruction. Often using Los Angeles as a blueprint, my work calls attention to these differences, awakening people to the contrasts and possibilities in their cities and themselves. Artist: Sandow Birk Title: West Coast Casta (created for this show) Year: 2017 Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 43” x 54″ Sandow Birk Los Angeles artist Sandow Birk is a graduate of the Otis/Parson’s Art Institute whose work has dealt with contemporary life in its entirety. Past themes have included inner city violence, graffiti, various political issues, war, prisons, surfing, and skateboarding. He is the recipient of many awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fulbright scholarship to Brazil. Recent projects have dealt with the war in Iraq, the Constitution of the United States, and the Holy Qur’an. Sandow is represented by the Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, P.P.O.W Gallery in New York City, and Koplin del Rio Gallery in Seattle. Artist: Estevan Oriol Title: Downtown Year: 2008 Medium: photograph on archival paper Size: 16”x 20” Estevan Oriol is an internationally celebrated professional photographer, director, and urban lifestyle entrepreneur. Beginning his career as a hip-hop club bouncer turned tour manager for popular Los Angeles-based rap groups Cypress Hill and House of Pain, Estevan’s passion for photography developed while traveling the world. With an influential nudge and old camera from his father, renowned photographer Eriberto Oriol, Estevan began documenting life on the road and established a name for himself amid the emerging hip-hop scene. Oriol’s extensive portfolio juxtaposes the glamorous and gritty planes of LA culture, featuring portraits of famous athletes, artists, celebrities and musicians as well as Latino, urban, gang, and tattoo counterculture lifestyles. He has photographed Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Dennis Hopper, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, and Floyd Mayweather, amongst others. His work also encompasses ad campaigns, album covers, and music videos. His photography has been featured in Complex, FHM, Juxtapoz, GQ, Vibe, Rolling Stone and other publications, with appearances on popular television shows such as HBO’s Entourage and Last Call with Carson Daly. Oriol’s photographs have been showcased in select galleries and institutions such as Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives, Mesa Contemporary Art Center, Petersen Automotive Museum, and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles’ Art in the Streets exhibit, concluding with a best-selling book of his work: LA Woman, capturing the dangerous and alluring beauty of women shot in his uniquely provocative and raw style. Artist: David Big Sleeps Cavazos Title: Metamorphosis (created for this show) Year: 2017 Medium: Mixed media on canvas Size: 72″x 48″ Internationally renowned tattoo artist David Cavazo (Big Sleeps) unique lettering style is highly revered by devotees of body art the world over. Growing up in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Los Angeles, he fell victim to gang violence and spent a majority of his youth in juvenile hall, youth authority, and state prison. During that time, he practiced and perfected his styles, and has evolved his lettering into another realm of self-expression in murals and paintings. He has been included in major gallery and museum exhibits such as “Scratch” at the El Segundo Museum of Art, “Aftermath” at Robert Graham Gallery, and “Roll Call” at L.A. Louver. Sleeps has collaborated with fashion brands Hurley and Umbro, amongst others. His lettering has been featured in books and magazines, most notably the Getty Research Institute’s LA Liber Amicorum. Among his list of achievements, the most important to Big Sleeps are his youth-oriented lettering/drawing workshops and seminars, which enable him to give back to the community and serve as a symbol of hope and inspiration. Big Sleeps has created his own brand, “Letters To Live By,” an independent entity devoted to lettering, tattoo, art and design. Artist: Carlos Ramirez Title: El Circo (created for this show) Year: 2017 Medium: Acrylic and mixed media on wood Size: 48” x 36” Carlos Ramirez grew up in Indio, California. His mother collaborated with labor organizer Cesar Chavez, and Ramirez himself worked picking dates in the palm orchards. As half of the art duo the Date Farmers, Ramirez combined painting with assemblage using materials scavenged from the desert. His solo work carries this process further, often speaking of the inequalities within Mexican American communities and championing the common man as underdog as he combines house paint, sparkly stickers, handwritten bilingual text, rusted bottle caps, discarded packaging, and an iconic stylized use of acrylic paint with deeply layered figurative workings. These layers and textures intertwine with the political while being disguised as popular, with brand logos and religious/classical icons being given the same attention and placement. Artist: Michael Alvarez Title: Neighborhood Watch (detail) Year: 2013 Medium: Oil, spray paint, graphite and collage on panel. Size: 72”x96″ Michael Alvarez grew up in the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, fully absorbed in skateboarding and graffiti culture. He later attended Pasadena City College and is a graduate of Art Center College of Design, where he earned his BFA in 2007. After graduating from Art Center, Michael exhibited paintings in galleries throughout the United States and in institutions including Cerritos College, Cal State Northridge, The Pasadena Museum of California Art and the Longmont Museum of Colorado. His paintings have been featured in Thrasher Magazine, Studio Visit, Juxtapoz Magazine, and has work in The Cheech Marin Collection. Michael is also a workshop coordinator at Artworx LA, a non-profit organization combating the high school dropout crisis by creatively engaging alternative education high school students. Full Artist Lineup… Michael Alvarez, Sandow Birk, Chaz Bojorquez, Liz Brizzi, David “Big Sleeps” Cavazos, Roberto Chavez, Gajin Fujita, Peter Greco, Roberto Gutierrez, Jason Hernandez, Juan Carlos Muñoz Hernandez, Louis Jacinto, Susan Logoreci, Manuel Lopez, Eva Malhotra, Horacio Martinez, Jim McHugh, Gerardo Monterrubio, Nunca, Estevan Oriol, Cleon Peterson & Lisa Schulte, Felix Quintana, Carlos Ramirez, Erwin Recinos, Rafael Reyes, Joe “Prime” Reza, Sandy Rodriguez, Shizu Saldomando, Alex Schaefer, and Jaime Scholnick.

In the wake of a hot, fiery August, a cooling wind blew from Italy to the Californian Mojave desert and brought some extraordinary Italian art with it. The Lancaster art scene, a surprising find in itself, is experiencing a fresh new taste of Italy with the arrival of seven Italian artists showing their works at the Museum of Art and History of Lancaster (MOAH) in an exhibition titled, Estate Italiana. Guest curator Cynthia Penna is no stranger to the art world with numerous exhibitions in Italy, France, Japan, and the United States. She and her husband started a “cultural association,” Art 1307, in their hometown of Naples in 2007. Devoted to international exchanges of artists, Art 1307 has diligently brought artists from the United Stated to exhibit in Italy and the same with her Italian artists. These artists include many well-known Americans such as Laddie John Dill, Andy Moses, Todd Williamson, and Lisa Bartleson and a list of notable Italian artists who have rarely shown their artworks on the West Coast. Penna states, “I have travelled the world for many years and this has opened my mind and made it possible for me to accept the diversity, the new, and the unknown without fear or rejection. It is important in our society with its superficial globalization, to experience a new way of behaving and of perceiving and accepting others.” Penna’s fresh and exciting idea behind Estate Italiana was inspired by American movies such as Roman Holiday where Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn drove around a warm, friendly, dreamy Rome on a spring day in the mythical fifties, on an equally mythical Vespa. The movie has come to represent an idealized period in the dreams of both Italian and American youth and Penna uses this allegory to show this immediate relationship between her diverse group of artists and how they create from past ideas and images moving toward our emerging future. Estate Italiana is aimed at the production of art in Italy over the last decade and how Italian artists were influenced by art production worldwide and their choice of how to use and work with the new ways of production and materials. The choice of artists was determined more by their diversity in styles and materials that they choose to work in. Subscribe to The Morning Email. Wake up to the day's most important news. Marco Casentini’s Drive In is a great example of this with his colorful geometric forms gloriously painted on the walls of the main gallery and a matching Fiat 500 gingerly sitting, holding its on, in the center of the space! The amazing light sculptures created in glass panels by Max Coppeta, the power of the video installations by Carla Viparelli, the fragility of Alex Penna’s sculptures all demonstrate the nature of the experimentation and Italian heritage from hence the artist come. These can be juxtaposed against the figurative paintings by Antonella Masetti Lucarella, the multidimensional works of Carlo Marcucci and the astere sculptures of Nicola Evangelisti. Only a curator with a great depth of knowledge and forethought could bring the many styles and thoughts together in a cohesive manner as Estate Italiana does by curator Cynthia Penna. This is not the first exhibition curated by Cynthia Penna in the United States. For the past 10 years, Penna has lived and worked part-time in the US in order to assemble the artists. In 2007, Penna founded in Italy a cultural Association named ART 1307, devoted to international exchanges of artists because she strongly believes that only “through the arts and through the exchanges of culture among the countries we can overcome differences and diversities in terms of religions, races, politics and economy.” For ten years ART 1307 has organized more than 100 events in Italy and the United States, created a residency for artists to work with and to meet some of the most important institutions in Italy, included the very prestigious Pio Monte della Misericordia, the Palazzo della Arte, and private exhibition s.

In the old days, because building a new home from the ground up was quite costly, it was more common for people to move an already established home to a new location. In this image, David Menzies, Fred Gierer, and Tom Reynolds are seen moving a house near Fairmont in the early 1900s requiring twenty-eight horses and multiple wagons. "Gurba, Norma H. Lancaster. Arcadia, 2005. Photo courtesy of MOAH Collections"

LANCASTER - The Lancaster Museum of Art and History's latest art exhibit is going on outdoors - on billboards. Twenty roadside billboards around the Antelope Valley are showing the work of 10 local artists through Nov. 12. Offering artists the opportunity "to tell stories about place," #ArtOutdoorAV is a joint campaign between the Museum of Art and History, Lamar Advertising, and the Lancaster Museum and Public Art Foundation. Billboards donated by Lamar Advertising feature the works of artists Nuri Amanatullah, Marthe Aponte, Tina Dille, Julius Eastman, Astin Ferreras, Michael Jones, Stevie Love, Susan Sironi, Jane Szabo and Edwin Vasquez. The pieces were chosen after museum officials invited artists from Los Angeles County's 5th Supervisorial District to submit their artwork for consideration. To be eligible, artwork must have been created within the past three years and must not have been previously exhibited at the museum or at its MOAH:CEDAR gallery. Eight of the artists are from the Antelope Valley, and the other two are from elsewhere in the 5th Supervisorial District. The works are on display around Lancaster as well as throughout the Antelope Valley from Acton to Mojave. A panel of jurors - consisting of the museum's curatorial staff, the foundation's board of directors, and Lamar Advertising's management team - reviewed the submissions and selected the 20 pieces. The selected artists represent the diversity and spirit of the Antelope Valley and its inhabitants, museum officials said. Maps to billboard locations are available at the Museum of Art and History, 665 West Lancaster Blvd.; at the MOAH:CEDAR gallery, 44857 Cedar Ave., and at www.lancastermoah.org/art-outdoor-av. The museum staffers are encouraging community members to participate in this outdoor art experience by sharing photos of the billboards using #ARTOUTDOORAV.

LANCASTER - In honor of the city government's 40th anniversary, the Lancaster Museum of Art and History is showing "Celebrate Lancaster: An Exhibition of History and Diversity," a display of photos, archival records and objects depicting the community's growth from a small western town. The exhibit, in the MOAH:CEDAR Galleries, will have a free public reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, preceded at 4 p.m. by a session in which people can tell their stories and family histories. People will be able to tell their stories in three ways during the exhibit, which runs through Jan. 6, said Andi Campognone, museum curator and executive director. On Saturday, people can tell their story on video camera, Campognone said. They also can write out their story on a postcard available at the gallery, or use a pin to mark on a world map where their family is from originally, she said. After Saturday, gallery visitors can still fill out a postcard or mark their family's origin on the map, but they will have to take a cellphone selfie video to tell their story and email it to moah@cityof lancasterca.org. The display highlights features of culture throughout the region's existence, spanning from prehistory to contemporary times. Themes include paleoindian and prehistoric archaeology; early pioneers and colonizers; local industries such as mining, railroads, and agriculture; traditional fairs and festivals; and the distinctiveness of the High Desert settlement. Historic photos on display will include depictions of aerospace, mining, railroading and downtown. The historic objects on display include a city flag that bears the Lancaster municipal logo and was flown after citizens voted to incorporate the city government on Nov. 22, 1977. Other objects include prehistoric Native American arrowheads and shell beads, gold nuggets from Tropico Gold Mine west of Rosamond, milk bottles from early 20th century dairies, and postcards from the 1950s. MOAH:CEDAR, at 44857 Cedar Ave., is open 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Admission is free.

As any resident of the Antelope Valley knows, the High Desert winds can get quite fierce. Wind-sailing on the dry lake beds of the Antelope Valley was a unique way for early residents to spend their time. Pictured here, c. February 28, 1902, are two miners from Lida Mine wind-sailing on the Rosamond Dry Lake. At the time, they held the record for land-sailing, clocking in at 62 miles-per-hour. The ‘boat’ they are sailing was suitably named the Desert Queen. Photo courtesy of MOAH Collections

Happy Halloween from the Western Hotel Museum! All dressed up for a festive parade, this photo shows Pattie Carter accompanied by the “Seven Dwarfs”, c. the late 1940s – early 1950s. Photo courtesy of MOAH Collections

George and Myrtie Webber are the most well-known owners and operators of the Western Hotel. Here, George is shown standing outside of the Western Hotel, c. 1908. George originally arrived in Lancaster in 1885 as an English businessman. He had come to Lancaster from London to experiment with utilizing Joshua tree fiber and pulp as a paper source. The project was soon abandoned, with the idea labeled as “costly and ineffective.” After the failed project, George left Lancaster but remained in California. It is said that he tried his hand at engineering in Los Angeles, and laid out the city of Santa Monica. Eventually, he returned to the Antelope Valley and is listed in the 1900 U.S. Census as an ore miner in Fairmont Township. His attempts to acquire the Western Hotel began shortly thereafter. He was listed as proprietor from 1906-1908, and the mortgage was transferred to his name in 1908. While operating as the hotel owner and manager, he met Myrtle “Myrtie” Eveline Gibson Sullivan. She arrived in Lancaster on the midnight train on August 31, 1908, and was directed to the Hotel up the street. Very sick, she ended up spending the next two weeks in bed, under George Webber’s care. When she recovered, she began working at the hotel. The pair were married two years later, in February 1910. Around 1913, George transferred the title of the property to Myrtie. In 1916, the Antelope Valley Ledger Gazette reported that the Webber’s Hotel had a hard time making room for settlers and others who were looking over the valley. “Old Jeff,” the drayman, was busy continually picking up guests at the train depot. Business so improved that the Webbers gradually enlarged the Hotel and even bought out their old competitor, the Lancaster Hotel, in hopes of making an additional annex, but a fire at the Lancaster Hotel quickly put an end to this endeavor. George continued to operate the Western Hotel with Myrtie until he died in 1934. Myrtie ran the Western Hotel until the 1960s and remained the owner of the property until it sold in the 1970s. "Gurba, Norma H. Lancaster. Arcadia, 2005. Photo courtesy of MOAH Collections"