Narsiso Martinez Farm Fresh

                                              Narsiso Martinez

Narsiso migrated from Oaxaca, Mexico when he was 20 years old. While in Mexico he attended school sporadically and had barely a ninth grade education. While working in the fields picking vegetables and fruits to earn a living, something he did while in Mexico, he attended Hollywood High School to first learn English and then to acquire a GED.  Studying art history at Los Angeles City College reignited his interest in art, thus, prompting him to major in art at California State University, Long Beach, just recently receiving a MFA. Narsiso is presently being exhibited at Long Beach Museum of Art in Long Beach, CA in an exhibition tilted Fresh Farm from October 5, 2018 through January 6, 2019. His exhibit consists of portraits of farmer workers printed on dura-lar and mounted on produce labels and sculptured fruit and vegetables placed in produce boxes as well as stacked produce cartons on which farm workers are drawn and painted. He garnered most of his information while working in the fields in Washington and California, observing and interviewing his fellow workers which later morph into powerful, imaginative and awe-inspiring commentary of life in the fields through art. I was most especially drawn to his 12 linocuts of farm workers in a portraiture format titled, “Ghosts”, 2017.

The dominant color expressed in Narsiso's linocuts on dura-lar is black which gives the pieces a foreboding and ominous feel as though the 12 portraits of farm workers in a life-size format are depicting life in an urban setting----that is gang life on the streets instead of a rural setting as in this case. He also uses such pastels as pinks, yellow, orange, and turquoise along with a splattering of grays to great effect-----that is they act as a counterpoint to the heaviness and gloominess of the black. Narsiso also used color and line to create texture. Most prints are executed from different vantages with the participants wearing pretty much the same garb, baseball caps, hoodies and ski mask and/or bandanas tied across their mouths just below their eyes with their eyes usually obscured in some fashion----a picture of the adject, the ignored and the untouchables of our society, “Ghosts”.  They seem like outlaws instead of the law abiding and contributing individuals that they are.

I found the work to be compelling and powerful in scope and visual impact. Narsiso puts the plight of farm workers front and center, hoping to be an agent of change. His selection of hues further enhance the theme of his prints and his narrative is effective, visually, and on full view for all to see, admire and critique. I especially was drawn to his use of clothing to further enhance his attempt to get us to view or see the unseeable. Their is a tendency to look away but his imagery is so riveting that it is difficult to do so.

Visit to Long Beach Museum of Art

Early in the semester, I visited the LBMoA for two Exhibits:  Matisse Drawings and “Vitality and  Verve III, Transforming the Urban Landscape”

The Matisse Drawings: Curated by Ellsworth Kelly was a very large collection of Matisse drawings that ranged over a 50 year period, from 1900 to 1950.  The majority of those drawing have dates were in the 1940s.  It was interesting to see what changed over the years, and what was constant.  My light-bulb moment what’s when I realized that art doesn’t have to be complicated to be good.  The images that were captured by very simple and minimalistic lines hit home.

The other exhibit, very contemporary, was Vitality and Verve III, Transforming the Urban Landscape, featuring about 25 artists.  One printmaker featured was Dennis McNett, with a very large piece which I find hard to describe.  I would have loved to be in the studio so see how it was created.  There was a repetition of patterns, mandala-like designs and animal and native-American imagery.  The printing also reminded me somewhat of Japanese woodblock prints.      Printing was on fabric and paper.

[GRRRR.... my images disappeared!  The wolfbat must have eaten them.  Trying to figure out a way to add them back WITHOUT being forced to add a Google app or backing up all my device images to a Google account!]

            I visited the art gallery at LBCC called Sensations. It was curated and developed by the LBCC Fall 2017 Art 12 students. I was pleasantly impressed by the artwork there was considering that all of the artists are either deaf, hard of hearing, or legally blind. It featured the artist Kurt

Weston, Gail Glikmann, Delora Bertsch, Barbara Romain, and Patrick Faulk.

            I enjoyed all the artwork; however, the artwork from Barbara Romain was my favorite. Her artwork had a lot of energy and is colorful.

            One example of Romain’s artwork is called “I Don’t Want to Talk About It.” It is acrylic on canvas. This piece is quite large. It is an expressive piece with a beautiful color scheme, various brush strokes, and bold lettering. Also considering the fact that Romain is legally bling, it was surprising what she accomplished with her disability.

            The exhibit should definitely be visited before it closes on December 20, 2017.

http://www.barbararomain.com

Kurt Weston's 'Blind Vision' exhibit at Long Beach City College

Kurt Weston’s exhibit “Blind Vision” is a series of self-portraits that explore and express the effects that the artist’s loss of sight has had on his life. In these works, Weston not only tries to represent the physical aspects of going blind, but also the emotions and fears. His use of greyscale gives his work an almost somber feel. He uses reflective objects, water, and what seems to be soap to provide stark contrast to the pitch black background. The darkness in these photographs gives the viewer a feeling of extreme depth which could express certain fears the artist may have about one day going completely blind. The parts of Weston that do emerge from the darkness of these works tend to be blurred with points of dramatic focus and detail. This entire body of work represents his experience and ideas of what “Blind Vision” is. He shared an emotionally provocative perspective of himself. Personally, these works communicate to me feelings of anxiety and wonder about the unknown.

Joiri Minaya at MOLAA

After touring the MOLAA Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago exhibit, I came across this piece that caught my eye. Redecode: A Tropical Theme is a Great Way to Create a Fresh, Peaceful, Relaxing Atmosphere by the Dominican artist Joiri Minaya is a wallpaper installation that spans an entire wall section in the museum. It incorporates a pixelated plant texture mixed into naturalistic, painting-like plant images. The image was almost confusing to see in person, as there is not much a focal point to draw one in, but the overwhelming large scale paired with the sharp and unique texture draws one's full attention to the piece as a whole. This was my favorite piece of the exhibit as it felt very contemporary when relating to computer aesthetics, and very natural and old-fashioned when observing the "tropical theme."

Joiri Minaya currently lives in Manhattan, NY, and has an established artistic presence in the Dominican Republic. Her cultural ties from America and the Dominican Republic influence her art through her life experiences as a multicultural woman. Her themes come from these experiences which translate into representation, identity, gender, migration, and nature in her art. She describes her work as a "reassertion of Self, an exercise of unlearning, decolonizing and exorcizing imposed histories, cultures and ideas." She channels her life experience with the difficulties of identity and alienation into creativity and art. In specifically Redecode: A Tropical Theme is a Great Way to Create a Fresh, Peaceful, Relaxing Atmosphere, the clashing themes of computerization and the tropic, familiarity and unclarity, can be one way of interpretation after understanding her cultural context. 

The work of Narsiso Martinez

“Del Peru, 2016” is a black and white ink drawing of a man wearing an industrial mask, baseball hat, and with a large sunglasses almost covering his whole face.  He looks like a bee.  On closer look, he becomes what the artist presents him to be:  an agricultural worker.  What the man is, is emphasized by his image printed on an agricultural carton together with the description and colors of its contents:  mangoes.

Martinez was born in Oaxaca, Mexico in 1977.  He came from a simple family and as a young man, worked in farms.  He came to the United States as a 20-year old with just a 9^th grade education.  The limited education did not discourage him.  Immediately upon arrival, he enrolled in a California adult community school and concentrated on learning English.  He completed high school at age 29.  After completing his Associate Degree, he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Cal State Long Beach and graduated in 2012.  He is now completing his master’s degree in Fine Arts from the same school.  Currently, Martinez is Artist-in-Residence at the Long Beach Museum of Art.

When he arrived in the United States, Martinez worked as an agricultural worker.  The experience of picking fruits and vegetables largely influenced his art.  He uses oil paints, charcoal, collages, ink and printmaking to depict his theme.  A black and white head covered by a baseball hat and a kerchief is printed on the inside of a vegetable carton.  Another image is printed on the flattened whole carton of oranges.  Martinez’s work of incorporating the industrial design of the containers and the images and colors of cabbages, strawberries, and asparagus strengthened the emotional impact of his images.

Cynthia Montes

December 11, 2017