A Shared Obsession : Two sisters’ passion for Latin American art finds expression in a gallery of works by artists little-known in the United States

You will probably never meet two more vivacious and enthusiastic art dealers than Teresa and Ana Iturralde. These sisters, ages 28 and 26, respectively, live and breathe for contemporary Latin American art.

“I have an obsession with art,” Teresa said. “I get so much out of looking at a piece I like. It’s like listening to music.”

Born in Mexico City, they attended high school in San Francisco and then the University of San Diego. Teresa completed her degree in art. Ana got hers in communications with a minor in art history.

With support and encouragement from their family, they established an art gallery in La Jolla five years ago, specializing in contemporary Latin American art, with an emphasis on Mexican art. A year ago, they opened their doors in Los Angeles on La Brea Avenue.

Today, while running the gallery here, the Iturraldes also continue to work with clients in the San Diego area by appointment from an office in downtown San Diego. The La Jolla gallery is closed.

They have cultivated solid relationships with collectors more than twice their ages, relationships that they consider friendships. “We don’t believe in the onetime sale,” Ana said.

Teresa said: “It can be a handicap at first, being two ‘young girls’ “--she supplied the quotation marks with her voice--”but we overcome it by building trust.” One collector, upon meeting them, spent three hours testing their knowledge of Mexican art, throwing out phony names among the names of real artists to see if he could stump them.

“What we’ve learned in the last five years has been incredible,” Ana said. “And we enjoy it when people are interested to learn about the art. When you try to build a collection, you have to study.”

The Iturraldes present the work of artists who have developed strong careers in their own countries and in Europe, but may not be well-known in the United States. “Many people know only the Mexican muralists, or Tamayo, and now Kahlo,” Ana said. “But there is also conceptual, abstract, Expressionist and performance art coming from Latin America.”

“We show a selection of what we believe is really good and what we like,” Teresa added. “It is not an easy business presenting something that hasn’t been seen. You have to have a passion for it.”

Currently in their gallery is “Bestiario,” an exhibit of 28 paintings by Mexican artist Rodrigo Pimentel that depict real animals and birds in magical and mythic colors, styles and proportions. “It is not only the color, the transparency and the line, but you see so many things behind the pieces--stories, histories, legends from pre-Columbian history,” Ana said.

Pimentel instills human qualities in his vibrant animal portraits because, in his mind, he can’t really separate human and animal natures. Several of the images in the show are of monkeys, an animal he has studied since his days at San Carlos, the National Academy of Art in Mexico City. As a student, he was often sent to the zoo to sketch.

“The monkey’s figure impresses me--not only its movement, but how much it is like a human’s,” Pimentel said, with Teresa interpreting. “We all have an animal quality inside, a beautiful quality. When we are by ourselves in a natural environment, we blend with nature. But when we’re with people, we pose, as if wearing masks.”

In “Cotorritas,” two proud parrots appear to be talking to each other. Teresa said she can see herself and her sister in the gouache-on-paper work. “Guajolote,” Pimentel’s vision of a turkey, is fancifully wild. “Serpiente” conveys the power of a serpent with rich color and bold line.

The jaguar, in pre-Columbian culture the god of night, is a constant in Pimentel’s work, appearing beautiful to him because it is the guardian of the unknown. “I have always been in contact with pre-Hispanic art because of its connection to land, animals and humans,” Pimentel said. “It has a tremendous amount of beauty, even though it has a lot of brutality.”

A reception for Pimentel will be held in the gallery Friday from 7 to 9 p.m.

“Bestiario,” by Rodrigo Pimentel, at Iturralde Gallery, 154 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, through June 6. Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, till 9 p.m. Wednesdays. Call (213) 937-4267.

INTUITIVE ART: Newspace gallery director Joni Gordon enjoys bringing a historical perspective to an exhibition. “I’m old enough to remember the supreme days of American painting--New York painting of the ‘40s and ‘50s,” she said. “The character of those paintings is emotional and rich.”

As a Los Angeles gallery director, however, she is intent on uncovering and spotlighting contemporary and modern artwork that reveals Los Angeles artists’ unusually rich expressions of emotion as well as reason.

Two years ago, she organized “Absolute Contemplation,” a show of geometric abstract paintings. “John McLaughlin was the father of that work,” she said.

In presenting Newspace’s present show, “Instincts of Intuition,” Gordon said it was “now really imperative for Los Angeles to have an exhibition that showed instinct as new abstraction. It comes out of Cubism and Surrealism, but it is absolutely Los Angeles. It has nothing to do with New York.

“These paintings are internal maps with no external form. They are open, historic-based, nature-derived, mythic, about enduring beyond language.”

Four works by Knud Merrild, the Danish-born abstract artist who arrived in Los Angeles in the 1920s, provide the historical context for this show of paintings by seven artists. An important figure in the development of American Surrealism and abstract Expressionism, Merrild created a highly original body of work over a 35-year period.

Three of his works here are 1940s “flux” paintings, his method of pouring paint onto a moistened canvas while maneuvering the canvas to create different shapes. Even though his hand never touched the canvases, they exude a sense of his control. Nothing was done by accident.

Ed Moses’ dark but vital “Jomon” (1991) seems to reflect many of the mixed feelings one can have about Los Angeles. A massive, four-panel painting, it is the largest piece in “Instincts of Intuition” and is being shown in Los Angeles for the first time. It is also the first time that Moses’ work has been exhibited with that of his son, Andy Moses, whose work, “Night Ghosts” evokes a galaxy drifting in deep space.

Joe Goode is represented by “Muddy Waters” (1990), from his Waterfall series, and “Big Stone” (1991). Both are multitextured paintings, earthy yet otherworldly, conveying a sense of beauty and of the dangerous force of nature.

James Reinke’s 1991 oil-on-canvas paintings of singular, large circles segmented by lines are part of a series. “They look like wipers grinding colors back and forth,” Gordon said. “Like all of the other paintings in the show, Reinke’s paintings have no closure.”

Cliff Benjamin’s charcoal drawing and his “Corpus I” neon painting also present the image of a circle. In his pieces, several circles are linked together, creating a spirited energy and light.

Lisa Adams’ paintings include counterbalancing elements, some of them sculptural. Although the canvas of “Dredging” seems to represent a refined inner journey, it hangs from a metal hook and chain. The painted circle in “Knocked Off Center” is out of balance, yet still glows. “Adams is putting every bit of her will into painting,” Gordon said.

The title of the show comes from Gordon’s desire to get “under the belly of intuition,” she said. “I am interested in what activated the intuition. This show explores the fullest sensibility of Los Angeles painting.”

“Instincts of Intuition” at Newspace, 5241 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, through June 13. Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Call (213) 469-9353.

ART ON CAMPUS: At the end of the school year, colleges and universities often present exhibits of art students’ work that are open to the public. Although CalArts’ student show has already concluded, the following campuses in the area are displaying student work in the coming weeks:

Cal State Northridge: Artwork includes ceramics, drawing, fiber and fabric, graphic design, glass, illustration, industrial design, interior design, metal, painting, performance art, photography, printmaking, sculpture, wood and video.

Showing through June 26 at the CSUN Art Galleries, 18111 Nordhoff St. Open noon to 4 p.m. Mondays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. After May 24, the gallery will be open by appointment only. Call (818) 885-2226.

Santa Monica College: Artwork in various media. The opening of the show is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. May 22 in the college’s Art Gallery.

Showing through June 6 at Santa Monica College Art Complex, 1900 Pico Blvd. Open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Call (310) 452-9231.

UCLA: Eighteen graduate students from art and design will present their final creative thesis projects as qualification for advanced degrees. The works have been created during the past year. Artwork includes painting, photography, sculpture, video, graphic arts, fiber/textile, industrial design, and new forms and concepts.

Showing June 9 to 28 at UCLA’s Wight Gallery. Open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Free, but parking is $5. Call (310) 825-9345.