Sep 24, 2013 Kalyanee Mam on tour, Shizu Saldamando at VPAM
Last week I had lunch with my friend Kalyanee Mam. You might have recall my 8 Questions with her. While she has two new projects in the works, Kalyanee continues to show A River Changes Course, her award-winning documentary about the effects of change on Cambodia at special screenings. It’s a subtle and powerful piece of cinema, as contemplative as it is artistic, and it recently kicked of the inaugural Cambodia Town Film Festival in Long Beach.
Kalyanee shared that her audiences have been very perceptive. They understand that while the stories may take place in Cambodia, they can see how their decisions affect others around the world. The realization shrinks the planet and is a little bit scary but also empowering and perhaps even hopeful. No wonder Kalyanee is such an inspiration and pleasure to be around despite her dark subject matter. Look for the movie to show in theaters in December.
On Saturday, I visited the Vincent Price Art Museum on the campus of East Los Angeles College. There, my friend Shizu Saldamando was having her first museum retrospective. I loved seeing her older works gathered properly and shown as a body of work, as well as newer works that show a new emphasis and vibrancy of color. Her subtle use of traditional Japanese paper, foil, and wood grain is, as always, as strategic as it is sophisticated–a ballast to her much-observed pop culture references to cholo culture and, specifically, the goth, new wave, and punk subculture.
I love how Shizu’s portraiture (on handkerchiefs and bedding as well as paper or wood, left) is shown just one floor below a survey of work by fellow California artist John Valadez (right). I was familiar with his mural-sized surreal Southern California landscapes but seeing his portraits for the first time really put Shizu’s pieces in context. It is not only appropriate but quite meaningful that their shows are running concurrently at VPAM, and I highly suggest you check them out before December 7.
LINKS
A River Changes Course trailer
Shizu Saldamando website
Shizu Saldamando art show
John Valadez art show