A native Angeleno and autodidact, Gronk began his art practice alongside other self-taught Chicano artists in Los Angeles. He was a founding member of the artist collective Asco, along with Harry Gamboa Jr., Willie Herrón, and Patssi Valdez, which produced photos, films, murals and performance with a sharp, conceptual edge. One of the group's defining acts was the defacement of LACMA, in which the artists used spray paint to sign the museum’s facade, protesting the exclusion of Chicano artists; nearly forty years later, LACMA hosted their retrospective, Asco: Elite of the Obscure, during the Getty’s PST initiative.
Synthesizing elements street art, modernist theater, and B-movies, Gronk creates dramatic, dynamic work that spans mediums and movements. He created the mural Tormenta Cantata, Echoes from the Past, live at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1996, and for the past 20 years, he has devoted much of his creative talents in the production of set designs for the operas staged by Peter Sellars. These influences saturate his paintings, which are often covered in graffiti-like markings and decorated front and back in a nod to stagehands operating behind the scenes.
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 13, 4-6pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, August 3, 11am
Mayan Lipstick, 2024, Acrylic and oil pastel on wood board, 6.5 x 7’
Claudia V. Solórzano is a Los Angeles-based artist working in ceramic sculpture. She utilizes ceramic materials to examine socio-economic stratification and domesticity through encounters with architectural motifs from the Los Angeles urban landscape. Her sculptures operate as portraits that navigate race, class, preservation, and the ephemerality of communities confronted with gentrification and sociopolitical boundaries.
She obtained her Bachelors in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Ceramics from California State University, Long Beach, and her Masters in Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University. Currently, Solórzano holds the position of Lead Studio Technician at Still Life Studio a local pottery studio in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles where she also teaches advanced hand-building classes. She was an artist in residence at AMOCA from May to December in 2023.
