The Medium Is the Message

“People ask whether I’ve been to Guatemala,” says artist Mark Vallen of his Los Angeles-centered, socially conscious work. “I tell them Guatemala came to me.” Vallen, who attended North Hollywood High School and studied at the Otis Parsons Art Institute, has been addressing political issues through his art for more than 30 years. In 1971, cartoons from the then-18-year-old Vallen were appearing in the Los Angeles Free Press, and his debut street poster (“Impeach Nixon!”) was hitting the bricks. The mostly Social Realist-style paintings, posters, illustrations and drawings in a retrospective at the Workmen’s Circle community center gallery chronicle the Vietnam War, the Central American refugee movement, L.A.’s punk era, the Rodney King riots and other upheavals with irony, tenderness and acerbic humor. Vallen, who considers art and activism inseparable, also displays work and publishes a newsletter at www.art-for-a-change.com.

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“Mark Vallen: More Than a Witness,” A Shenere Velt Gallery at Workmen’s Circle, 1525 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, through Aug. 29; closing party with reading by Luis J. Rodriguez on Aug. 26. For information and gallery hours, call (310) 552-2007.