PAINTING THE CORRIDO: KARLA DIAZ AND JOSH KUN IN CONVERSATION
This program was held on June 1, 2024 in conjunction with Karla Diaz’s solo exhibition, “Mujer Valiente y Los Diablitos” (April 27 - June 8). The talk explores the artist's fantasy world of her alter ego, Mujer Valiente (Brave Woman), the lead singer of the band, Los Diablitos (The Little Devils), and their tour through various beloved locations in East LA, from Mariachi Plaza to Whittier Boulevard. The works in the exhibition elaborate on the storytelling of the corrido, where the artist has flipped its traditional tropes to empower women.
About the Speakers
Karla Diaz lives and works in Los Angeles. She received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2003 and a BA from California State University Los Angeles in 1999. Diaz is a co-founder, alongside Mario Ybarra Jr., of the collective and community artist space Slanguage in Wilmington, CA. Diaz’s works have been exhibited nationally and internationally at the 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica, CA; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, LAXART, Hollywood, CA; Pitzer College, Claremont, CA; California State University Los Angeles, CA; San Jose Museum of Art, CA; Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL; Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, MI; the Serpentine Gallery, London, U.K.; and Museo Casa de Cervantes, Madrid, Spain. Her work is in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA, and Inhotim Museum, Brumadinho, Brazil. She has received numerous grants and awards from Art Matters, New York, NY; Tiffany Foundation, New York, NY; City of Los Angeles, CA; Riverside Art Museum, CA; and CalArts, Valencia, CA.
Josh Kun is a cultural historian, author, curator, and MacArthur Fellow. His books include Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America, The Tide Was Always High: The Music of Latin America in Los Angeles, Songs in the Key of Los Angeles, and others. As a curator and artist, his projects have appeared with Prospect New Orleans, Grammy Museum, Getty Foundation, SFMOMA, California African American Museum, the Los Angeles Public Library, and more. He has been the recipient of a Berlin Prize and an American Book Award. He is Vice Provost for the Arts at USC, where he is Professor and Chair of Cross-Cultural Communication in the USC Annenberg School. His latest curated exhibition, “We Have All the Time in the World,” opens in July at the Ucross Gallery.