The 2019 City of Los Angeles (C.O.L.A.) Individual Artist Fellowships program’s visual arts exhibition will be on view at DCA’s Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Art Park, from May 23 – July 14 with an opening reception on May 19 from 2-5 p.m.
Awarded annually to LA-based artists by DCA, the C.O.L.A. Fellowships support the creation of new works by exemplary mid-career artists, having received grants of $10,000 each.
Awarded annually to LA-based artists by DCA, the C.O.L.A. Fellowships support the creation of new works by exemplary mid-career artists, having received grants of $10,000 each.
The opening will showcase a special performance of Katie Grinnan’s 5 Seconds of Dreaming, played by musicians Kozue Matsumoto and Eugene Moon at 3 p.m. Kate recently performed as part of Desert X and this performance will be the first time she uses all 4 instruments…wooden sculptures adapted from EEG diagrams recording the artist’s brain activity during sleep, expressing the artist’s thoughts in musical form.
Other artists to call out include Alice Könitz who recently featured in “Made in LA” whose temporary modular structure for the exhibition evokes our primal need for shelter through its simple wooden form intended to be both beautiful and functional; the shutters, for instance, are closed every evening when the gallery is shut.
Recently featured in NY Times, Juan Capistrán’s Psychogeography of Rage photography series documents guerilla-style, temporary installations throughout South Central LA. Kim Fisher has exhibited internationally and, based in Lincoln Heights, her Los Angeles Hedge piecepresents a dramatically-scaled hedge overlaid with flat planes of color and everyday ephemera, inviting us to consider which side of the fence we are on.
There’s definitely a strong “autobiographical” theme to call out this year with personal stories being expressed from Juan Capistrán depicting the neighborhood he grew up in and Olga Koumoundouros autobiography reimagined through the life cycle of a flying fish to Jenny Yurshansky’s installation tracking the matrimonial links of her family Enrique Castrejon’s works being informed by his career as an HIV counselor in West Hollywood.
The 2019 COLA Fellows in the design/visual arts, literary arts*, and performing arts** are:
Juan Capistrán
Enrique Castrejon
Kim Fisher
Katie Grinnan
Sabrina Gschwandtner
Alice Könitz
Olga Koumoundouros
Suzanne Lummis*
Aleida Rodríguez*
Sandy Rodriguez
Stephanie Taylor
Dwight Trible**
Peter Wu
Jenny Yurshansky
“COLA Fellows are the type of unique civic entrepreneurs that we need in this city,” said DCA General Manager Danielle Brazell. “DCA is proud to honor these creative visionaries and nurture their symbiotic relationships with LA and other artists and the city’s history and identity as an international art capital.”
“COLA Fellows represent the spectrum of LA’s exemplary mid-career artists,” said DCA Grants Administration Division Director Joe Smoke. “The COLA grants allow these accomplished, influential, and not yet ultra-famous artists to create new work that the City of Los Angeles will premiere for the general public in one or more group presentations accompanied by a promotional catalog and informative artist talks.”
The COLA Visual Arts Exhibition will take place at DCA’s Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery located at 4800 Hollywood Boulevard in Barnsdall Art Park. The COLA Performance and Literary Presentation will take place on June 1, 2019, and 8:00 p.m. at Grand Performances in the Spiral Court at 300 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071.
The COLA 2019 catalog will be edited by Will Caperton y Montoya, DCA Director of Marketing, Development, and Design Strategy, and will be designed former COLA Fellow in the visual arts, Jody Zellen.
About the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs:
As a leading, progressive arts and cultural agency, DCA empowers Los Angeles’s vibrant communities by supporting and providing access to quality visual, literary, musical, performing, and educational arts programming; managing vital cultural centers; preserving historic sites; creating public art; and funding services provided by arts organizations and individual artists.
Formed in 1925, DCA promotes arts and culture as a way to ignite a powerful dialogue, engage LA’s residents and visitors, and ensure LA’s varied cultures are recognized, acknowledged, and experienced. DCA’s mission is to strengthen the quality of life in Los Angeles by stimulating and supporting arts and cultural activities, ensuring public access to the arts for residents and visitors alike.
DCA advances the social and economic impact of arts and culture through grant-making, public art, community arts, and strategic marketing and development. DCA creates and supports arts programming, maximizing relationships with other city agencies, artists, and arts and cultural nonprofit organizations to provide excellent service in neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles.
For more information about the DCA, please visit culturela.org or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/culturela; Instagram @culture_la; and Twitter @culture_la.
For more information about DCA’s Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG), please visit lamag.org or follow on Facebook at facebook.com/LAMAGBarnsdall; Instagram @lamagbarnsdall; and
Twitter @lamagbarnsdall
