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Art Under the Influence: A Corona Virus Juried Competition
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JUROR’S SELECTIONS
Congratulations to artists Jose Alejo, Victor Atkins, Frank Ayala, Jo Ann Block, Karen Burns, Carol Colin, Steve Graziani, Rebeca Guerrero, Edith De Guzman, Jolly De Guzman, Silvia M. De Leon, Christy Gurley, Kevin Hass, Peter Hess, Emily Hernandez, Edgar Ibarria, David Martinez, Kelli Mayhew, Guadulesa Rivera, Mike Saijo, Ann Storc, Suzette Vidal & Megan Reeves Williamson. Thank you again to our jurors; Nathalie Sánchez, Raoul de la Sota & J. Michael Walker.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION
During the months of March, April and May, Angelinos had been quarantined in their homes in order to prevent the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus. It’s been an uncertain and unsettling time for all of us.
As artists, we need to review, digest, and then produce work in a visual and visceral way for all to think and consider the psychological/economic impact these times have on our lives.
Avenue 50 asked artists to submit work that speaks to our quarantine under the COVID-19 pandemic. Many artists stepped up to the challenge.
Three Jurors, Nathalie Sanchez, Raoul De la Sota and J. Michael Walker, worked tirelessly to thoughtfully review the contemporary impact of the submitted artwork. We are currently at the second stage of processing the submitted work. We are very close to announcing our July online exhibition finalists, whose work will be exhibited on the Avenue 50 Studio’s website. Please keep an eye out for the on-line opening of Art Under the Influence.
MEET THE JURORS
NATHALIE SANCHEZ
Raised and rooted in Los Angeles, Nathalie Sanchez is an interdisciplinary artist, social justice arts educator, and Diversity Equity Accessibility Inclusion (DEAI) arts advocate. She graduated with her B.A. in Art History and Studio Arts with an emphasis in education from Loyola Marymount University and received her M.F.A. in Public Practice from Otis College of Art and Design. Nathalie has served on the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative Advisory Committee and as a grant reviewer for the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and the California Arts Council.
In 2016 Nathalie curated Avenue 50 Studio’s most popular exhibition “Duality: Blaxicans of L.A.” featuring photographs by Walter Thompson- Hernandez. She is also the founder of the Art Education + Social Justice Book Club (est. 2016) which now has over 300 members and counting.
“It was an honor to serve as a juror for ‘Art Under the Influence’ online exhibition and art competition organized by Avenue 50 Studio. I was thoroughly impressed with the art submissions, thoughtful judging process, and the final selection of diverse artworks relevant to our current times and for an online audience. This exhibition reflects, responds, and honors the time we are currently living in – a time of collective pause, isolation, mortality, and uncertainty. We are reminded that our only certainty is change.“
-Nathalie Sanchez
RAOUL DE LA SOTA
“For the first 8 years of my life I had terrible asthma and did little but draw in my small sketchbooks looking out my bedroom window. Ten years later I entered LACC knowing that I wanted to be an artist. Ten years after that I was an exhibiting artist and teaching at LACC.
I was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for Study in Peru and was granted a State Department sponsored lecture tour of 4 universities in Colombia. I have exhibited in 11 foreign countries and have given a TED talk on ‘The Worth of Art’ in our lives.
I taught painting, drawing, design and Mexican Art History at LACC for 40 years and continue to hear from my former students with which I had such great friendships. This is my 12th year curating exhibits and serving on the Board of Directors for the Avenue 50.”
“Seeing and judging these works of talented artists was a high honor that was only surpassed by the difficulty of making the final selections”
-Raoul De la Sota
J. MICHAEL WALKER
J. Michael Walker is an LA-based multi-disciplinary artist working in painting, drawing, photography, and digital media. His work confronts issues of erasure, misrepresentation, and fetishization, through portraiture that illuminates the spiritual essence of marginalized people. He was born in the South under segregation, and raised during the Civil Rights Era: inequality and inclusion have been on his mind for a very long time and have guided his life and art.
