Carlos Almaraz: Evolution of Form is the newest exhibition at downtown museum and cultural hub LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, offering a fresh and intimate look at the life and career of this beloved Los Angeles painter. An innovative visual artist, community and Chicanismo champion, and beloved personality, before he died too young Almaraz created some of the most emotionally and aesthetically powerful and art historically iconic images of this city ever made.

The exhibition features not only some widely admired paintings from the 1980’s, but a perhaps lesser-known selection of earlier abstract works, as well as sketch books and drawings that shed light on his thought process, travels, and studio life. Many of the works have not been exhibited for decades, including the recently restored mural on paper La Conquista (1972), two untitled spray paint murals from 1971, and the large painting End of an Era (1986).

His wife Elsa Flores Almaraz is also an accomplished artist, and she will exhibit paintings and photographs of her own, made from 1975-81 and deeply related to not only the zeitgeist of the L.A. art world at that time, but to her artistic and family life with Almaraz.

Of course, the venue is physically closed for the time being, but you can join Elsa Flores Almaraz and curator Susana Smith Bautista for an online walkthrough/virtual opening of the exhibition on Thursday evening.

March 19, 5pm, lapca.org.

Streaming on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @laplazala.

More info at LA Plaza’s Facebook event page.

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