PRAXIS Curated By Gerardo Monterrubio

The Long Beach Museum of Art Exchange (LBMAx) presents PRAXIS, a group exhibition featuring works by Julia Haft-Candell, Armando Cortes, Ben Jackel, Samuel Jernigan, Narsiso Martinez, Alexander Anderson, Anabel Juarez , Meghan Smythe, Tam Van Tran , and Joakim Ojanen, curated by Gerardo Monterrubio.

PRAXIS represents a breadth of practices that exploit the malleability of clay as a material that can operate as a mark, a symbol, a poem, a canvas, a metaphor, a memory, an existential question, a political statement or a vehicle for social and cultural commentary. Although no artist in the exhibition parallels another’s aesthetic approach, each engage the laborious physicality of the material, its fragility, and its historical permanence.

PRAXIS also marks the Long Beach Museum of Art’s (LBMA) first official exhibition at LBMAx since the merger of The Art Exchange into LBMA. “The selection of curated works by emerging artists is the start of our ongoing efforts to give talented artists, as those in the PRAXIS exhibition, a professional setting to showcase the tremendous creativity flourishing in the city,” said Ron Nelson, executive director of LBMA and LBMAx. “We look forward to years of working with the higher education institutions and arts organizations throughout Long Beach.”

The group exhibition is held in conjunction with the 2018 inaugural artist-in-residence program hosted by Long Beach City College Ceramics. The selected artists in PRAXIS created their works in the presence of LBCC students who witnessed the intricate process of the conception, creation, and dissemination of the ceramic art pieces. The residency program is indicative of the high-quality arts education LBCC students have access to in the Visual and Media Arts Department of Long Beach City College. The artist-in-residence program would not be possible without the generous support of this year’s LBCC Auxiliary Student Success Grant.