Top Latino artists and historians celebrate the Summer of Siqueiros as ground-breaking nears at site of lost mural, June 18

   Prominent Latino artists, authors and historians will gather June 18, 2010 for the first in a series of multi-media lectures exploring the life and work of David Alfaro Siqueiros, the famed Mexican muralist who’s bold and politically impassioned works have influenced artists around the globe for three quarters of a century. The first of three panel discussions — “America Tropical At Last” — will focus on the controversial Depression-era work by the master muralist that is scheduled to open to the public for the first time in more than 70 years.

   Panelists, including Los Angeles mural advocate Judy Baca, will discuss the ground-breaking techniques and provocative message of “America Tropical,” the 18 x 80-foot masterpiece painted by Siqueiros in 1932 in the heart of Olvera Street. The mural was completely whitewashed six years later. The panel will discuss the artist’s lasting impact on Chicano artists in Los Angeles, who first rallied to restore the censored work during the cultural awakening of the 1960s.

   The lecture series will be held at the Mexican Cultural Institute, just a few doors away from the mural site on Olvera Street. After a painstaking conservation effort by the Getty Conservation Institute during the 1990s and an arduous fund-raising effort, construction is expected to begin this summer on a viewing platform overlooking the site on a second-story wall of the Italian Hall, and an interpretive center in an adjacent building. Once completed in 2011, the project will allow visitors to view the original mural for the first time since it was covered over in 1938. The interpretive center — located on the first floor of the restored Sepulveda House — will offer a multi-media exhibition on the historic and artistic significance of Siqueiros and his mural.

   Panelists also include veteran artist John Valadez and two art historians Raul Herrera and Isabel Rojas-Williams. The fifth panelist is Luis Garza, a writer and documentarian who met and photographed Siqueiros in the 1970s. Garza is also curating a world-premiere exhibition at The Autry National Center, entitled “Siqueiros in Los Angeles: Censorship Defied,” which features rarely seen work by the artist, who died in Mexico in 1974.

   Two other panels are scheduled in the summer series: “Artist Warrior” on July 16, also at the Mexican Cultural Institute, and “Freedom of Speech and Censorship” on August 20, at the offices of MALDEF, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.         

   For more information, a full listing of events celebrating the Summer of Siqueiros, please visit http://www.amigosdesiqueiros.org.