'Cultural Fusion' takes an artistic look at multicultural blending in the region
By: KIRBY FAIRFAX - For the North County Times | ∞
"Cultural Fusion: Exploring the Multi-Cultural Influences on the Arts of This Region"
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Sundays; through Sept. 30
Where: California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido
Admission: $5, adults; $4, seniors and active military; $3, students with ID; children under 12 are free
Info: (760) 839-4120 or artcenter.org/museum.htm
Perhaps the age-old question "What is art?" is simply one without an answer, if not given a context.
A new exhibit at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum pulses with the declaration that creative expression doesn't exist in a vacuum, but instead functions as a way of dealing with and talking about life in given situations and surroundings.
Titled "Cultural Fusion: Exploring the Multi-Cultural Influences on the Arts of This Region," the show is also a thoughtful exploration of the equation that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. For the display synthesizes those two notions: First, it presents pieces that are made by local artists of various ethnic backgrounds who choose to live and work here and express that ethnicity in response to the demographic of their neighborhoods. They stand resolutely asserting their cultural distinctions, fighting against the possibility that the preciousness of those distinctives be lost to the process of acculturation.
Yet they also acknowledge that they are forced to re-examine their societal realities in the presence of other groups of people with differing values, and much of the output on view shows the creators' takes on the new worldview such contact has engendered.
It also demonstrates that it is the presence of those diverse populations that makes for a multicultural environment so rich and juicy that it seemingly takes on a life of its own.
It is almost as if the mix, clash and coexistence of heritages create a new energy that exists independently from its source, and which couldnít survive intact without all the nationalities jostling up against one another.
Therefore, if the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive," are true, our local region is in no danger of imminent extinction.
Including artists from San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties, as well as from Tecate and Tijuana, the exhibit reflects a combination of European, Asian, Mexican and American Indian influences within its paintings, sculptural pieces, mixed media and video art. In a city whose population is now nearly half non-Anglo, it is not surprising that most of the art represented is largely so as well.
For example, Jackie Lo presents us with the metaphor of food as life with a series of pastel mosaicy images and words that might well make the viewer think, as Chinese is to restaurant, chop sticks are to sweet and sour pork.
"A hybrid culture abandons parts of its traditions and acquires new customs," Lo observes of the symbols that have come to be associated with her natal ancestry, adding that cultural identities are largely tied to language and names, signs and labels, all of which give us clues but which are also in danger of losing their original intent to dilution and assimilation.
Two artists worked with Japanese imagery, both in original ways: Fujiko Isomura offers traditionally graceful geishas set against elegant landscapes, but with a twist: The pieces each contain a contrasting icon; in one such, Betty Boop vamps alluringly. "In everyday life, we are influenced by others without knowing it. This is what my work is about," Isomura says.
Paula Des Jardin, on the other hand, gives us three red and gold kimonos with attitude. No occupants, just the garments themselves. The traditional demure robes move and breathe as if animated by invisible bodies, and are hence transformed; they appear to inhabit another cultural realm, perhaps morphing toward a more American attitude of freedom from established mores.
Christine Beniston, who grew up on the eastern edge of Riverside County, found that land visually bland, so she creates pieces that are bright of hue and often reminiscent of the diners she recalls from childhood. "I still feel that color provides an optimism," she notes.
Two artists make references to their south-of-the-border lineage: Sylvia T. Clark's assemblages about memories personal and universal declare her intention "to impact the viewer with an understanding of the relevance and interconnectedness of everything and everyone," while Karen Frieda Kaiser's altars and shrines depict the Mexican culture's common blending of Catholicism and native mysticism.
The border issue doesn't escape mention, of course; a video runs continuously about the efforts of survivors who crossed to memorialize those who didn't, and the digital work of Michele Guieu, "Undocumented," shows immigrants in relief. "The paradise that is California hides many things," she comments.
And finally, Christopher Lee designed a series of outrageous "Vodou Redux" icons in response to his desire to exert some control over the insanities of "our increasingly complicated and confusing times. Because despite our technical advances and sophisticated conceits, our daily lives are still filled with mundane, common and perfectly ordinary annoyances."
And so he gives us seven copper, wood, metallic-leaf iridescent sticks with which to defend ourselves. Their visual power, accompanied by his witty descriptions of their uses, round out the museum's satisfying statement on the artistic forces at work here today.
"Cultural Fusion: Exploring the Multi-Cultural Influences on the Arts of This Region"
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Sundays; through Sept. 30
Where: California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido
Admission: $5, adults; $4, seniors and active military; $3, students with ID; children under 12 are free
Info: (760) 839-4120 or artcenter.org/museum.htm
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