Oaxacan Wonder

Spiritual. Mysterious. Cosmic. And, si, mucho color.

That’s how Mexican-born artist Laura Hernandez--a Frida Kahlo look-alike--describes her work on exhibit at the newly inaugurated main gallery at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach.

Nearly 850 of the artist’s fans attended the exhibit’s opening night earlier this month to ooh and aah over the show, called “Omnia: A Trip Into the Realm of Myth and Dreams,” which explores the ancient Mayan culture.

More than 60 watercolor and oil paintings and seven monumental papier-ma^che sculptures make up the work on exhibit through Nov. 8. The show then will be off to Paris.

Hernandez says she is proud to be an artist from what has been coined the School of Oaxaca. She’s in good company. Other Oaxacan artists include Rufino Tamayo, Rodolfo Morales, Rodolfo Nieto and Francisco Toledo.

* The museum is located at 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach. For admission prices and museum hours, call (562) 437-1689.