Big City Forum 6

shizu saldamando

Gary Garay

Big City Forum and Evil Monito Magazine present - Mas Entradas!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
7 - 9 pm
Evil Monito Studio
1830 Echo Park Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90026

An event featuring Shizu Saldamando, Gary Garay, and Josh Kun in a conversation focused on issues of cultural identity and narrative, and the complex interplay of authenticity, fluidity, and cultural crossover. The event, moderated by Kun, will feature Saldamando's painting and drawing series and Garay's mixed media and DJ projects, highlighting significant concepts in each participant's body of work.

Shizu Saldamando was born and raised in San Francisco's Mission district. After receiving her B.A. from UCLA's School of Arts and Architecture in 2000, she attended ArtOmi International Artist Colony in upstate New York in 2002 and thereafter went on to earn an MFA from California Institute of the Arts in 2005. Saldamando has exhibited her work in both painting- and experimental media exhibitions through out the country, including the Freeways Festival of Experimental Media Arts (Los Angeles); the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco); the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum (Chicago); and most recently, the Phantom Sightings Exhibition (LACMA).

Gary Garay received his B.FA from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He has exhibited paintings, sculptures, and mixed media projects at venues like the New Image Art Gallery, Tropico De Nopal Gallery, Miami Art Basel, and the Scion Gallery. His work was included in the recent Phantom Sightings Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Under the moniker DJ Ganas, Garay is also engaged in a musicology project, and showcases an encyclopedic collection of Latin American music through the weekly "Mas Exitos" event at the Verdugo Bar in Highland Park, CA.

Josh Kun, a PhD graduate in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley, taught at UC Riverside as an Associate Professor of English and today is an Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism (with a joint appointment in the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity) at USC's Annenberg School for Communication. Professor Kun's research focuses on the arts and politics of cultural connection, with an emphasis on popular music, the cultures of globalization, the US-Mexico border, and Jewish-American musical history. He is director of The Popular Music Project (www.usc.edu/pmp) at Annenberg's Norman Lear Center and co-editor of the book series "Refiguring American Music" for Duke University Press. A former Arts Writers Fellow with The Sundance Institute and past fellow of the Ucross Foundation and The Mesa Refuge, he is the author of Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America (UC Press), which won a 2006 American Book Award. He is co-author of And You Shall Know Us By The Trail of Our Vinyl: The Jewish Past As Told By The Records We've Loved and Lost (Crown, 2008),

Big City Forum is an interdisciplinary project and collective network of leaders, formed to sustain efforts in the creative community that promote the civic and cultural vitality of metropolitan and urban communities. Through various formats such as gatherings, symposiums, exhibitions, and special events, Big City Forum fosters dialogue and engagement around capacity-building approaches that engender cultural growth and community transformation, Ultimately, Big City Forum functions as an “idea lab” to develop new solutions to key problems that impact contemporary urban centers.

Evil Monito Magazine is an early pioneer of internet journalism that challenges the ‘traditional’ ways an online publication functions. As an L.A.-based magazine founded in 2001, EM provides in-depth stories that discuss contemporary pop culture -- ranging from music and fashion to film, politics, and beyond -- through intelligent dialogue. Aside from its journalistic endeavors, EM has worked with Creative Recreation, K-Swiss, and Kangol, among others. This later led to distribution of various lifestyle co-branded products, which has included articles like footwear, headwear, bicycles and vinyl toys. In mid-2007, EM officially established a modular studio in Echo Park, where it hosts a variety of events, including art shows, film screenings, retail pop-up experiments, and live music performances. Not only does EM provide particular contexts for Los Angeles’ vibrant niche culture, it also strives to participate in and be engaged with the community around it. www.evilmonito.com