Art in Los Angeles / Long Beach

The Frank Romero retrospective at MOLAA hits all the high points

by carollightwood
Going to the Olympics mural Frank Romero
The ‘Going to the Olympics’ mural was painted on side wall of the 101 freeway in downtown Los Angeles and is probably Romero’s most viewed work. Thousands see this mural every day and have since the 1980s when it was painted.

In his long career Frank Romero has gone from being a young artist who was part of the landmark exhibition, ‘Los Four’,  the first significant show of Chicano art at LACMA to a major international figure in the art world with his work owned by the Smithsonian.

The retrospective currently at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach covers the entire spectrum. Full disclosure: a Romero work on paper hangs in my living room.

Here are a few of his works at MOLAA now.  My photographs do not really do them justice. The show closes on May 21st, 2017.

Romero self-portrait
The self-portrait of the artist as a 75 year old man. (That’s his age now.)

 

Frank Romero painting
At the entrance to the exhibition is this painting of a neon-lit car and palm trees–the ultimate Frank Romero image.  Note the dog in the back seat, looking very wolfish.

 

The Death of Ruben Salazar
The Smithsonian Museum owns this famous Romero work entitled ‘The Death of Ruben Salazar.’ Salazar was a journalist for the L.A. Times killed during a protest march in 1970 in East L.A.

 

Romero police brutality
One entire gallery in this retrospective is devoted to Romero’s paintings about police brutality, especially against members of the Mexican-American/Chicano community in Los Angeles. This painting captures a moment of police activity near Echo Park.

 

Los Angeles Burning Frank Romero
This very Japanese looking painting was done right after the riots in 1992. I remember that he said he went to the top of the Hollywood Hills and looked down on the city as it burned.

 

dog painting frank romero
Dog images recur in Romero’s paintings and over the years the dog images have changed from angry, wolfish and muscular to soft and relaxed. A comment on Romero himself?
A history of Los Angeles in the form of a mural.

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