Raul Guerrero and William Leavitt are friends. Leavitt is a
few years older than Guerrero, and was born in Washington DC, but moved to Los
Angeles in the 1960’s where Hollywood and the film industry informed his life. Guerrero
was born in National City as a Mexican American with indigenous roots and his
cultural identity has always been vital to his work including European
traditions. He studied in LA at the Chouinard Art Institute. Both were present
for the birth of the conceptual art scene.
As Guerrero gravitated in the 80’s to painting, Leavitt
spread his wings into photographs, installations, performances, and theater design. They both blur boundaries
from the mainstream and from each other. But although not evident in this
exhibition, their humor is probably what keeps them connected. Conceptual meets
surreal has got to lead to some laughs.
Guerrero delivers desert scapes which differs from his
famous bar scenes, but include lots of the iconography of his visual language. The
outstanding Duchamp in the Desert: the Surrealist Synthesis of Raul Guerrero
is a true portrait of the combination of all of his influences. The tortoise outrunning the hare is certainly a comment on his own art career. Guerrero was one of the very first San Diego Art Prize recipients in 2006/7.
Leavitt’s Circuit Figures are a series of self-portraits
as analog synthesizers. They are cyborgs composed of electronic circuits and
wiring. You can’t hear any music but you can see that a story is being told
here. Since we are more familiar here with the works of Guerrero, you might
want to look at this 5
minute video of the installation at the MOCA Grand Ave LA of Leavitt art.
On display at the compact Oolong Gallery are both oil paintings and prints so different
price points are available. At over 80, both artists are now influential
figures for a younger generation deserving of the museum attention they are now
getting.
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