The Pasadena Museum of California offers an interesting and overlooked perspective on one of the local icons of the city – The LA River. Though not often though of as a prominent subject for museum quality interest, the curators have done an outstanding job bridging the gap between difficult-to-imagine and outstanding efforts in thought provoking content and commentary. Nathan Spoor provides us a peek at the upcoming exhibit, take a look here. THE ULYSSES GUIDE TO THE LA RIVER / PMCA
The Pasadena Museum of California offers an interesting and overlooked perspective on one of the local icons of the city – The LA River. Though not often though of as a prominent subject for museum quality interest, the curators have done an outstanding job bridging the gap between difficult-to-imagine and outstanding efforts in thought provoking content and commentary. For a peek at the upcoming exhibit, take a look here.

Chaz Bojórquez
Arroyo Seco/Mexico Dreams
Enamel paint, oil paint on linen
1973-1975
52.5 x 47 in.
Pasadena, CA - The Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) is proud to present The Ulysses Guide to the Los Angeles River, on view from February 14, 2010 to May 30, 2010. Although the Los Angeles River was once a natural, free-flowing alluvial river, frequent flooding has led to its industrial metamorphosis into a graffiti-covered concrete ditch, its once vital ecosystem now languishing in waste. Despite this degradation, the curators of the Los Angeles River exhibition find inspiration from the River, and examine its role in the cultural landscape of Los Angeles. This public space has become an artwork in itself, constantly evolving and changing just like the water that moves through it.

Robert Sato
Land Admiral Levebvre’s Fleet Makes Sail
Ink, Watercolor, acrylic and gauche on paper
2007-2008
30 x 44 in.
The exhibition will present artwork inspired by the River’s strange yet invigorating presence in the City of Angels, and it will encourage the public to take a closer look and examine the details of the River, from its zoological offerings to its artistic ones, which make it a living representation of Los Angeles culture. The artists in the exhibition are as diverse as the city itself, ranging from Charles “Chaz” Bojórquez, an artist from Highland Park whose work is part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American Art and the Orange County Museum of Art and has been featured the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Smithsonian, to Rob Sato, a young emerging artist who is rapidly gaining a following throughout California for his beautifully detailed surrealist paintings.

Espi
The Right Side of Huell Howser’s Brain
Acrylic on canvas
2008
36 x 36 inches
Along with framed works, this exhibition will also boast site-specific murals, which the artists in the exhibition will paint and draw directly upon the walls of the PMCA space, and an installation that recreates the setting of the LA River along with a few imaginative embellishments. The exhibition is inspired by the book, The Ulysses Guide to the Los Angeles River, by Christopher D. Brand, Evan D. Skrederstu, Steve Martinez, and Matthew Brand.

Ako Castuera
Water & Power
Oil on wood panel
2008
22 x 33 inches
This exhibition is organized by the Pasadena Museum of California Art and curated by Christopher D. Brand, Evan D. Skrederstu, and Steve Martinez. Saturday, February 13, 2010
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Opening Reception for The Ulysses Guide to the Los Angeles River, Millard Sheets: The Early Years (1926-1944) and The Sumi Ink Club. Free for PMCA Members

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