ELAC News articles
Contact: Mario Villegas, Public Affairs 323-265-8662
Vincent Price Gallery to Host Healy Exhibition
MONTEREY PARK – The East Los Angeles College Vincent Price Gallery & Art
Museum will host a solo exhibition of East Los Angeles-based artist
Wayne Healy that will run from May 24 through Aug. 2. The exhibition,
“East L.A.: The Way I Remember It,” will include nearly 60 artworks
spanning Healy’s four decades as a practicing artist.
An active participant and recorder of life in the City of Angels,
Healy’s vivid paintings, serigraphs, monosilkscreens and etchings
combine cultural and political specificity with themes of universal and
global relevance.
Much of Healy’s work is autobiographical in nature and references the
artist’s experiences growing up in East Los Angeles from the 1940s to
the present. In many of the works, Los Angeles is in stage center,
whether depicted literally in scenes of the 1984 Olympics or 1994 World
Cup games, or in domestic spaces that the artist inhabited in his youth
Healy’s work is united by its attention to the “dailyness” of life; each
image references a narrative similar to the way stories are captured
within a family photo album.
Yet Healy’s work is never cryptic or closed off; his inspiration for
making work may be
deeply personal, but the work itself is accessible and familiar to many.
By celebrating scenes of every day – in streets, cafés, and auto repair
shops – Healy imbues the vernacular with a sense of purposefulness and
heroism.
Healy is a Chicano artist whose work has been appreciated and commended
for its reflection of themes that are common and cherished within the
Chicano community. The artist takes this position to heart, and at the
same time places his work in an even larger context.
Healy says that he used “to think my subject matter might be somewhat
provincial until I traveled the world.” After extensive travels to the
Middle East, Asia, Africa and North and South America as an artist,
workshop leader, and curator, Healy is captivated by the elements of
life that link us together rather than those which separate us. Indeed,
Healy’s scenes of the everyday reference not only a personal or
community experience in East Los Angeles, but also depict scenes and
relationships between family members, lovers, and friends that are found
universally.
Healy is a founding member of East Los Streetscapers, one of the first
artist collectives to launch the muralist movement in the 1970s. His
many art projects in public spaces and galleries are recognizable for
their vigorous draftsmanship, dramatically angled composition and strong
colors. Healy attended East Los Angeles College and holds a master’s
degree in fine arts from Cal State Northridge.
He is also an accomplished engineer with multiple degrees in math and
aerospace engineering. He has worked extensively at Self-Help Graphics
in East Los Angeles and has collaborated on projects throughout the
world. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Rockefeller
Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the 2005 C.O.L.A.
Individual Artist award. His work is also included in the
nationally-touring exhibition “Chicano Visions: American Painters on the
Verge.”
The Vincent Price Gallery & Art Museum is open from noon to 3 p.m.
Monday through Thursday. Guided tours can be arranged by appointment.
Admission is free and events are free and open to all.