Collaborative Effort

It was one of those ideas photographer Roland Charles said sounded inspiring enough--getting black and Korean artists together to collaborate on art pieces--but one he also assumed would wind up on the trash heap of good intentions put forth since the 1992 riots.

But Julie Sim-Edwards, a Korean American painter and curator, persisted with this one. With Charles’ help she developed “Collaborations,” an exhibition of works by 25 African American and Korean American artists that powerfully illustrates the cultural rifts between and and similaritiesof the two cultures.

Split between the Black Gallery in the Crenshaw District and the Sabina Lee Gallery in Koreatown, the show features both individual and collaborative paintings, sculpture, photography, film and mixed media installations.

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“Collaborations” runs through April 29 at the Black Gallery, 107 Santa Barbara Plaza, (213) 294-9024. Hours are 1 to 6 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Also through May 6 at the Sabina Lee Gallery, 3921 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 210, (310) 390-5105 or (213) 380-8799. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Yvonne Cole Meo, historian of African American art, will lecture on the tradition of African masks at the Black Gallery on April 23 at 3 p.m.