Southwest Exhibit Goes in All Directions

Eclectic is the word for “Expresiones Hispanas,” the 1988-89 Coors National Hispanic Art Exhibit and Tour, opening Friday at the Southwest Museum.

Fifty works by artists from throughout the United States represent an array of cultures, themes and styles that range from the spontaneous photography of New Mexico’s Linda Montoya to the whimsical surrealism of Guatamalan-born Alfredo Ceibal, who lives in New York.

Four Southern Californians taking part in the exhibit--Margaret W. Gallegos of Santa Monica, Joe Moran of San Bernardino and Stephen Sarinana-Lampson and Luis Serrano of Los Angeles--recently discussed their contributions.

“It’s a view of Pacific Coast Highway driving north from Santa Monica to Malibu,” said Gallegos, describing her oil on canvas. Four cars seem to silently cruise down the wide highway beneath a misty, rose-colored night sky.

“I think it’s just this side of a romanticized vision, definitely not a stunning sunset or a pretty scene. It’s my emotional response to what I see, not an attempt to project any emotion onto the landscape. I don’t bring a mood to it.”

Said Moran of “Capirotada,” his mixed-media woodblock collage composed of a skull figure, a bright sun and the query “What is Art?”: “It really doesn’t have a meaning, I just did it. Actually, it came about while I was giving a demonstration on how to do an art piece from objects you find around your studio or workshop. For instance, the top part is a print I’d done, there’s a bit of drawing and a photograph I found lying around my studio.”

Said Serrano, who painted his downtown apartment at dusk for “Interior No. 1”: “I had started reading about people being laid off. How after 40 years in a steel factory someone could yank the rug out from under your feet. So I tried to set up my own environment where I could have a little more control. The apartment represents that environment.”

And Sarinana-Lampson of “Under Suspicion,” in which a man wearing a “gang garb type of hat,” white T-shirt and dark glasses moves from frame to frame in a sequential Polaroid montage, said:

“Just because you look a certain way in certain parts of the country, you’re immediately under suspicion no matter what. I was teaching at Lincoln High School in L.A. and I noticed that I was judging by appearances. When a kid would come in, I’d say, ‘Oh, this guy is gonna’ be trouble.’ You can’t judge people by how they look. You have to get to know them. To understand them.”

TAKE THE FLOOR: If you’ve always wondered what goes on at a California Arts Council meeting--or have wanted to tell the council a thing or two--attend its next regular meeting. The session, to be primarily devoted to public testimony, is scheduled for Friday, July 15, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum in Golden Gate Park. The 11-member state agency, which uses tax dollars to give grants to arts organizations and individual artists, will take up its 1989-90 budget, a plan to switch to multiyear grants and its long-range goals. Information: (916) 445-1530.

PTA FOR ART: In an effort to help parents make art an important part of a child’s world--at home and at school--the Getty Center for Education in the Arts and the National PTA have launched an unprecedented joint pilot project to raise parents’ awareness of the importance of art education.

Fifty-three PTA groups, including three from California, were selected to take part in the project during 1988-89. Meetings planned for the fall will explore how parents can support art education in their local schools and encourage their children’s interest in art at home.

GETTY TAKE TWO: Gillian Wilson, curator of decorative arts at the J. Paul Getty Museum, has recently been made a Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French Republic. Wilson, who joined the Getty staff in 1971, was given the award during a ceremony in Paris for her achievements in spreading French culture to the West Coast and for building the Getty’s decorative arts collection into one widely recognized for its excellence.

ARCHEOLOGICAL SHOW: Tickets are now on sale for “King Herod’s Dream: Caesarea on the Sea,” an exhibition opening July 16 at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The 200-piece exhibit features artifacts--statues, ceramics, mosaics and jewelry--from Caesarea, an ancient Mediterranean port city. Tickets, available at the museum, TicketMaster outlets at the May Co., Sportmart and Music Plus, reserve visitors a specified date and time to view the exhibit. Information: (213) 744-6292.