Books to focus on Latino artists

UCLA researchers plan to announce Thursday the launch of a special project to rescue an important body of artistic work from historical oblivion. It’s a series of books that will focus on contemporary Latino artists based in the United States, most of whom have been largely ignored by the arts establishment.

The series, “A Ver: Revisioning Art History,” documents the lives of artists from major Latino ethnic groups in the U.S. The first 10 books, commissioned for publication in 2005 to 2008, represent creative diversity through such artists as Chicanos Gronk and Malaquias Montoya; Puerto Ricans Raphael Montanez Ortiz and Pepon Osorio; and Cuban Americans Maria Brito and Maria Magdalena Campos Pons.

Little has been written about these artists, who represent a “history on the verge of being lost,” says film professor Chon Noriega, director of UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center, which sponsors the series. The artists are scheduled to attend the series’ campus launch Thursday.