El Cuerpo: The (Performing) Body and the Photographic Stage

Gallery Luisotti is very pleased to present El Cuerpo: The (Performing) Body and the Photographic Stage, a group show curated by artist Christina Fernandez, opening on July 13, 2024. Fernandez selected works by seven conceptual photographers based in the Los Angeles area, whose performative actions are intended to be seen in the form of the still image. The artists are William Camargo, James Francisco Garcia, Arlene Mejorado, Star Montana, Aydinaneth Ortiz, Juan Manuel Valenzuela, and Christopher Anthony Velasco.

Living and working in Southern California, these young Chicano/a artists have formed a community of peers and are supported by each other artistically, professionally, and socially. Their work is informed by a shared Latinx history and lineage that includes ASCO’s “No Movies”, work by Laura Aguilar, as well as photographs by Fernandez herself, all of whom devised performative gestures for the camera.

El Cuerpo: The (Performing) Body and the Photographic Stage features work in which the artist is both the maker and the subject. Each artist constructs situations that are performed in front of the camera, and in doing so demonstrates an awareness of conditions of self-presentation. This includes considering oneself within the built environment or surrounding landscape—and, more specifically, in relation to Los Angeles as a place and its complex conditions as a backdrop.