State of the Art LA: The Week in Latino Art

Image: “Graff Writer” glass sculpture by Juan Carlos Muñoz Hernandez

State of The Art is Remezcla’s weekly guide to Latin art openings in your city each week. Mingle with art admirers, collectors and casual passersby to check out these new works. And don’t forget to grab a free glass of wine…or three.

Face It: The Photographic Portrait — Norton Simon Museum

From Instagram to Facebook to Twitter, it seems everyone today is a photographer with plenty of material to share. But to study the real beginnings of photography — and especially the portrait — you’ve got to spend time with the people who changed the game. Photography fans should definitely not miss out on the Norton Simon’s “Face It: The Photographic Portrait,” opening Friday, April 11. The show includes work from artists like Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Minor White, Diane Arbus and more. The portraits capture the personalities of both anonymous and recognizable people. Each one asks the viewer to think about not only the person in the frame but the photographer behind the camera. The show runs until August 11.

we can’t take it all with us — Vincent Price Art Museum

Not all art hangs on the walls or behind a frame. To experience something a little less tangible and experimental, head to the Vincent Price Art Museum for a special sound installation. Artist Yann Novak will take recordings from Elysian Park and integrate them into Rafa Esparza’s current exhibition “they spent their time doing nothing. they let intimacy fuse them.” The live sound performance will feature snippets that Novak capture at Elysian park that deal with anonymous men and secret sexual meetings. We won’t reveal more than that — it’s an experience to evaluate for yourself. Head to the the museum on Saturday, April 12 at 4 p.m.

Juan Carlos Muñoz-Hernandez, Jaime Guerrero and Yvonne Estrada — Avenue 50 Studio

This weekend, Avenue 50 studio will present work from three artists, each working in a different medium: painting, photography and glass blowing. Juan Carlos Muñoz-Hernandez, Jaime Guerrero and Yvonne Estrada, in a simple way, find common ground in their relationship to graffiti. Muñoz-Hernandez started his path to art through graffiti and now works as a professional artist, creating paintings that sometimes resemble the loose style of graffiti. Guerrero boasts professional training in glass-blowing and creates some awesome sculptures, like a life-size work of a man holding a spray can. Estrada takes a more direct approach by photographing graffiti works and writing poems to go with each image. Head to the opening reception of these artists’ works on Saturday, April 12 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. to check out their work.