By Jesus Figueroa
The Small Gallery’s Corporal Impulse exhibit has already closed. The Hoy Space Gallery’s Rafa Esparza exhibit and the Large Gallery’s Matcha Suzuki “This is the end” will close on April 25 at the Vincent Price Art Museum. Two contemporary art exhibits, Esparza’s dark and colorful Hoy Space gallery, and Suzuki’s take on the end; finish their runs at the VPAM.
Esparza has accompanied his fine art exhibit with several live-performance art pieces, starting with one on opening night. During the opening night reception Esparza performed outside the VPAM drawing on the ground. He prepared a vase with flowers as he put on a clay mask. He continued to drag his mask-covered face on the ground leaving markings.
At the end he took off the mask, grabbed the flowers and made his way back to the Hoy Space to place the flowers in the gallery. The markings on the floor outside the VPAM were left to fade on their own throughout the following week.
Esparza’s exhibit in the Hoy Space includes molds of trees from Elysian Park, which he crafted, graffiti on the wall and birds he crafted out of Nike shoes. The performance signified his connection to the earth and his ancestors, as well as his belief that art does not always have to be confined to the walls of a museum.
The following performances continued to show his connection to the Earth and to East Los Angeles. Suzuki was present at the opening reception and spoke with visitors to the Large Gallery. The human figures in the exhibit are made in the image of Suzuki and bring a different kind of feel to the art pieces. Furthermore, he hosted an artist walkthrough to accompany his exhibit.
During the walkthrough he explained the concepts behind the artwork on display and gave an opportunity for those in attendance to ask questions.