Exquisite L.A.
Volume 2

Photos: Joe Pugliese

Exquisite L.A. is a blueprint of a collective shape. Drawing on the history of the Surrealist Exquisite Corpse, we wish to create a communal portrait of the current Los Angeles art world.

Consisting of photographic portraits, and spanning a year of consecutive Carla issues, each artist photographed introduces the next with a short text accompanying their portrait, outlining their connection or interest in the artist that will follow them in the series. This is an ongoing story of Los Angeles—its twists and turns, side streets, and freeways.

Rooted in classical portraiture, the photographs presented capture the artists in a neutral space, isolated from their work or studio. Their individual gazes, poses, or gestures become continuous visual markers for the exquisite corpse that is Los Angeles.

Issue 13:

Featuring Anna Sew Hoy, Guadalupe Rosales, & Shizu Saldamando…

Issue 14:

Sandra de la Loza, gloria galvez, & Steve Wong…

Issue 15:

Patrick Martinez, Ramiro Gomez, & John Valadez…

Issue 16:

Harry Gamboa Jr., Gala Porras Kim, & Carolina Caycedo.

John Valadez on Harry Gamboa Jr.

Portrait of Harry Gamboa Jr. Photo: Joe Pugliese.

I chose Harry Gamboa as the next artist, because I am impressed by how Harry has progressed as an artist and a cultural thinker. I’ve known him for over 40 years. We were some of the frontline Chicano artists that came out of the late ’60s, early ’70s—the Vietnam War, protesting, social justice. At times I had the chance to show alongside the Asco group with him. I’ve seen Harry evolve into an important cultural figure in Los Angeles. He teaches at CalArts and Cal State Northridge. He’s influenced and mentored many students who are becoming important cultural workers in Los Angeles and beyond. He travels extensively. I always admire what he does and how he has evolved.

Harry Gamboa Jr. on Gala Porras-Kim

Portrait of Gala Porras-Kim. Photo: Joe Pugliese.

I first met Gala when she was a UCLA student and then she wound up attending CalArts, where I teach. She is a highly skilled practitioner, very inventive—a researcher. What I’ve enjoyed is that she has a subtle sense of humor in doing research, in reconfiguring her findings and reconstructing mythical pasts and superimposing them upon actual historical fact. For instance, in the work that she had at the Hammer’s 2016 Made in L.A., there were various found objects that were reconstructed to tell a narrative which was really a commentary on postcolonial thought. And her work recording the Zapotec language here in West L.A. (a native language that has been in the Southwest and Mexico for a very long time), and placing it on an LP, and basically making it a top ten hit. She does this thing about incorporating indigenous culture, pop culture, and scholarly culture, combining it all and breaking it to pieces. She creates pyramids that are intellectual pyramids, ones that we can glance upon and wonder how they were actually configured and imagined—the puzzle is so complex that probably only Gala knows the math to that.

Gala Porras-Kim on Carolina Caycedo 

Portrait of Carolina Caycedo. Photo: Joe Pugliese.

Carolina’s work is important in showing how art can deal with issues concerning the corporate impact on nature and surrounding communities, specifically with river dams and the people they displace. Also as a person, she inspires me as a woman, parent, and friend. I’m so grateful to have her in my life.

This essay was originally published in Carla issue 16.

Joe Pugliese, a California native, specializes in portraiture and shoots for a mixture of editorial and advertising clients. He has recently completed projects for such titles as Wired, Vanity Fair, Men’s Journal, and Billboard magazines, as well as advertising campaigns for Netflix, Sony, and AMC.

Claressinka Anderson’s poetry and essays have appeared in Autre Magazine, Chiron Review, Artillery Magazine, and elsewhere, as well as in the anthology Choice Words: Writers on Abortion. Through her ongoing collaborations with artists, her work engages the interstitial spaces of contemporary art and literature. Born and raised in London, she lives in Los Angeles where she is at work on her first libretto. 

More by Claressinka Anderson