MAIN SALON EAST
YEARBOOK 2010
SUSANA ADDIEGO
CRISTINA GALOBART
ROBERT PEREZ
MERCEDES CASTRO LOMAS
KETHY CASTEDO
CECILIA LAMI
JESUS FRAUSTO
JULIA KAHN
HENRY H. HIRSCH
AI-WEN WU KRATZ
ISAAC LEVENTER
MARIO GEE LOPEZ
EVA MALHOTRA
JULIA MARTOS DE AZUAJE
CINDY MAYORAL
ELENA OSTERWALDER
KAREN OTIS
NATALYA PARRIS
RIGO RIVAS
DANIEL ROMERO
SUSANNA ROWAN
SHAHLA ROSA
CLAUDIO TALAVERA-BALLON
JOSE ANTONIO TORRES
RUDY TORRES
ALBERTO VARELA
GRAND SALON WEST "VULNUS"
PRESS RELEASE – “VULNUS” ART EXHIBITION
Latino Art Museum, Pomona, June 5-29, 2010
“Vulnus” is Eva Malhotra’s solo art exhibition at the Latino Art Museum in Pomona. The Opening Reception is June 12th. Eva Malhotra’s show explores violence, particularly as against women, a subject which comes up frequently in her family law practice. The work is on hard woods which she incises and engraves, a process that echoes the violence which is the subject of her work. Eva Malhotra studied at Cal Arts under he mentorship of John Baldessari before embarking on her career as a lawyer. Ms. Malhotra was born in Mexico to a Mexican mother and an American father. She has traveled extensively and lived in India with her husband when her children were small.
Opening Reception 6/12/10 at 7:00 p.m., Latino Art Museum, Founder’s Bldg., 281 S. Thomas St. Pomona, CA 91766, (909) 484-2618. Free.
ARTIST STATEMENT
VULNUS
Eva Malhotra
I conceived of this series as an exploration of the nature of violence in its myriad forms: direct or indirect, physical or mental, externally inflected or self-inflicted. A more specific focus and inspiration for many of the pieces, however, was my horror regarding violence against women. I believe that the tactile quality of my chosen medium instills such an examination of violence with a more visceral expression than would be possible employing a different method: the carving of lines, cuts, and indentations into once living wood allows each piece to simultaneously serve as a literal representation of violence and its abstract representation.
In this series I feel that the form itself contributes to one’s attraction to and repulsion from the content. By employing natural shapes, occasionally glossy surfaces, and traditionally feminine images and motifs in juxtaposition to and distorted by the disturbing nature of many of the pieces, I intend to investigate the multiple perspectives and forms of violence against women--in metaphor and reality; in the woman's mind and in the male imagination. For the unity of the series I have maintained a range of symbolic imagery that recurs throughout the series, highlighting each work’s similarities and differences when compared to the whole. In some contexts, my utilization of repeated shapes and colors is meant to suggest different meanings and forms than it has in others, but the clear similarities between individual pieces all refer in some way to the basic idea that informs them all.
Pamela Diaz Martinez
Born in New Mexico, 1973
Lives and Works in Laguna Beach, CA
Purveyors of Truth
 
This work reflects my desire to escape a tumultuous period in my life through artificial means. The imagery chosen is representative of my attempts to lift myself off this earth. Wings designed for flight that would never get off the ground and stilts -- props that give the illusion of elevation with a limited reach -- are symbolic of ways in which I have tried to rise above the chaos and failed. The animals represented are visual interpretations of my inner self grounded by gravity. The ostrich, a flightless bird, a symbol of denial and the donkey, a beast of burden, represent the stubborn diligence in which I pursue my escape. While painting this series, I came to see myself as Queen Make-Believe, a name that refers to my childhood preoccupation with fantasy and tendency to accept illusion as reality. With every step toward Grace, the physical weight of the donkey is lightened and replaced with the transparent flightless bird. By moving from a donkey to an ostrich mode of perception, have I made progress, or is it just another illusion?
Magic Realism
Magic realism began as an art and literature movement in the years following the First World War. It is a form of Realism that attempts to depict nature or contemporary life based on empirical observations, Magic Realism is never escapist or fantastical. As a reaction to the harsh physical realities of war, artists of the movement perceived the inner landscape they could feel as more accurate than the outer landscape they could see. There are valid truths that many people experience regularly, though not objectively.
The Magic Realism perspective portrays Truth from a narrative perspective. Time, for example, is continuous, though it often has a spiral motion, seems to slow down, or even repeat itself. In this way, Magic Realism exposes truth as a universal understanding that can surpass scientific methodology.
Magic Realism utilizes allusions to create layer upon layer of revelation. Through these means, a detailed and accurate landscape is depicted in these paintings. I posit to you that your invisible is visible, your emotions are tangible and your search for Truth is experiential. Once acknowledged, these indescribable mysteries can become as commonplace as a bicycle or as extraordinary as an ostrich.
The Purveyors of Truth represent human emotions in sharply focused realism, ultimately bringing to each viewer an invitation: To compassionately see the world through the artists’ vision, to believe in the magical as routine and the ordinary as miraculous.
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