Filipino California: Art and the Filipino Diaspora

Image credit: Eliseo Art Silva, Inang Kayumanggi ng California (The Brown Madonna of California), 2022.
Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 30 inches. Courtesy of the artist

GLENDALE, CA— Forest Lawn Museum proudly presents Filipino California: Art and the Filipino Diaspora. The exhibition showcases the work of seven contemporary artists working across styles and formats, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, conceptual art, and more. The artists in the exhibit—Eliseo Art Silva, Allison Hueman, Anthony Francisco, Maryrose Cobarrubias Mendoza, Christine Morla, Maria Villote, and Junn Roca—directly and indirectly address issues related to Filipino culture and the Filipino-American experience.
 
Eliseo Art Silva is among the most visible Filipino-American artists today. One of his major public art projects in Los Angeles is Talang Gabay: Our Guiding Star (2022), the gateway arch in Historic Filipinotown. Silva was born in Manila and migrated to the United States when he was seventeen. Today he has studios in both the United States and the Philippines. Silva’s studio art incorporates elements of surrealism and is charged with political meaning that examines his experiences as an immigrant and honors the sacrifices and contributions of Filipinos in America.
 
Oakland-based artist Allison Hueman creates dynamic paintings, murals, site-specific installations, and new media works that oscillate between abstraction and representation of the human form. Driven by instinct and experimentation, Hueman renders sublime and transcendent experiences by abstracting figures, layering and enveloping them in vivid colors with paint and textiles. Her practice draws from a constellation of art movements–from spontaneity in abstract expressionism and the ethereal quality of the Light and Space movement to the rich drama of the Baroque period. Lately, she has been experimenting with images generated from artificial intelligence to examine and interrogate common beliefs and misconceptions about Filipino identity. Renowned as a trailblazer in street art, Hueman blends these influences, exploring themes of liminality, memory, and healing. She has received prestigious large-scale projects throughout the United States, such as those in the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as commissions from Nike, Golden State Warriors, Google, and Adobe. Filipino California features new paintings by Hueman, including one inspired by The Mystery of Life, a sculpture at Forest Lawn created in 1928 by Italian artist Ernesto Gazzeri. 
 
Anthony Francisco is a creator, director, illustrator, and concept artist who has worked on a range of creative projects, including more than twenty films. Originally from Manila, Francisco has built a career over the last 25 years in art and entertainment. For nine years, he worked as a Senior Visual Development Artist for Marvel Studios, where he designed iconic characters such as Baby Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy), Loki (Thor), and the Dora Milaje warriors (Black Panther). Now an executive at Dolphin Entertainment, Francisco has successfully transitioned to his new position as Director of Creative Development where he is busy writing feature films, developing a sci-fi space opera called Creature Chronicles, and creating other intellectual property for future projects. Throughout his career, Francisco has consistently used inspiration and influences from Filipino culture and folklore when designing new characters and building the worlds in which they live.
 
Christine Morla is a multidisciplinary artist best known for her installations that examine color, texture, and scale. Inspired by the Philippine banig, handwoven mats used for sleeping and sitting, Morla creates labor-intensive installations with hundreds of pieces of painted paper, found materials, and smaller weavings. Her work explores the complexities of contemporary identity, with each element of her installations contributing to vibrant works that investigate cultural signifiers within and outside of her own inspirations and influences.
 
Maryrose Cobarrubias Mendoza is a multidisciplinary artist who explores the impact of history, memory, and nostalgia on the individual. Born in Manila and raised in Southern California, her artwork stems from her experiences as part of the Filipino diaspora. Mendoza uses scale, material, and perspective to transform existing images and objects into new artworks and to amplify items from her personal history. By instilling these everyday items with importance and authority, Mendoza’s work functions as an act of decolonization, asking viewers to reconsider the history, context, and value of ordinary objects and experiences. Among her many accolades, Mendoza was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts in 2019.
 
Maria Villote was born in Manila and immigrated to the United States at the age of ten. Her artwork explores important topics around diasporic identities including assimilation, cultural alienation, and feelings of foreignness. Many of her pieces use recognizable objects in surprising or unexpected ways. Villote aims to highlight the cultural amalgamation that occurs when two worlds collide, drawing analogies between cultures while exploring similarities and differences. Above all, she wants her artwork to encourage viewers to reflect on their own cultural identity, shed light on the challenges faced by immigrants, and create connections that bridge gaps between different cultures.
 
For over fifty years, Junn Roca has worked in both fine art and commercial art. He was born and raised in the Philippines, where he apprenticed for noted Filipino painter Felix Gonzales. After moving to the United States in 1979, Roca began a successful career in the animation industry, working as a background artist and earning two Emmy Awards. Today Roca works primarily as a plein air painter, and the exhibition features works that shows scenes ranging from rustic villages in the Philippines to iconic California landscapes.
 
The exhibition was curated by Museum Director James Fishburne, PhD. He said, “We are thrilled to showcase this group of artists and their expressions of Filipino culture across genres and styles. From Anthony Francisco’s contributions to popular culture, to Allison Hueman’s influence in the realms of street art and studio painting, the artists in this exhibition offer us a better understanding of Filipino culture and its impact on contemporary society.” Eliseo Art Silva stated, “Filipinos have been in California for centuries and continue to shape the state. It’s an honor to exhibit alongside other Filipino-American artists and explore the commonalities and variations among our perspectives on the culture of the Philippines and the impact we have made on the culture of California."
 
The exhibition will be on view at Forest Lawn Museum from April 20–September 8, 2024. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, April 20, from 5:00 PM–7:00 PM at Forest Lawn Museum, 1712 S. Glendale Avenue, Glendale, CA 91205. The event will include live music and complimentary Filipino food and drinks. The event will also feature the presentation of a $500 Forest Lawn Museum Arts Fellowship to rising Filipino-American artist Edmund Arevalo. The free, family-friendly event includes free parking, and is open to the public, ADA compliant, and wheelchair accessible. Guests are invited to RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/Filipino-California-RSVP. If you have questions, email museum@forestlawn.com or call 323-340-4782. 
 

 
Image credits: Allison Hueman, The Mystery of Life, 2024. Acrylic, wax, and spray paint on canvas, 96 x 72 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Image credits: Maryrose Cobarrubias Mendoza, ism, 2018-2020. Paper, colored pencil, 8.5 x 11 feet (per sheet of paper). Courtesy of the artist.

 
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For additional information about the exhibition, Forest Lawn Museum, or Forest Lawn, or to request images or interviews, please contact Tom Smith at 323.340.4742 or tsmith@forestlawn.com. 
 
Media Preview: There will be a media preview for the exhibition on April 20 from 4:00 PM-5:00 PM. For details about the media preview, members of the press are invited to email Tom Smith at tsmith@forestlawn.com.
 
Upcoming Events: Check https://forestlawn.com/events/ and https://www.instagram.com/forestlawnmuseum/ for more information and announcements about upcoming events.
 
Join Forest Lawn for our Memorial Day Celebration on Monday, May 27, 2024, at 11:00 AM. Visit https://forestlawn.com/events/ for more information.
 
HOURS & ADMISSION
Museum visiting hours: Tuesday–Sunday from 10:00 AM–5:00 PM
 
Hall of Crucifixion-Resurrection: Located next to Forest Lawn Museum, the Hall of Crucifixion-Resurrection showcases The Crucifixion (195 ft. x 45 ft.), which is the largest painting in the Western United States. It was painted by Polish artist Jan Styka in the 1890s. The building also houses The Resurrection (70 ft. x 51 ft.), which was painted by American artist Robert Clark in 1965. Visitors can view the newly revamped 18-minute, documentary-style audiovisual program, which includes a new video and narration that tell the history of two colossal paintings and the unique building that Forest Lawn created to house them. The audiovisual program runs Tuesday–Sunday on the hour (10 AM-4 PM, closed at 1 PM for lunch). Closed occasionally for special events. For more details about the Hall of Crucifixion-Resurrection, visit https://forestlawn.com/exhibits/the-hall-of-crucifixion-resurrection-2/.
 
Great Mausoleum visiting hours: Daily from 9:30 AM–4:15 PM
 
Admission and parking to Forest Lawn Museum, the Hall of Crucifixion-Resurrection, and the Great Mausoleum are FREE.
For more information or to schedule a free group tour, please call 323-340-4782, email museum@forestlawn.com, or visit https://forestlawn.com/museum.
 
Please note, Forest Lawn Museum is located at the top of the hill within Forest Lawn-Glendale. Please follow Museum and/or event signage.  
 
ABOUT FOREST LAWN MUSEUM
Forest Lawn Museum first opened in 1952 and is now comprised of three galleries and a gift shop. The renowned permanent collection of sculpture, stained glass windows, mosaics, and architecture is spread across Forest Lawn’s six Southern California locations. Forest Lawn’s founder, Dr. Hubert Eaton, wrote in his Builder’s Creed that our park should be “a place where artists study and sketch; where school teachers bring happy children to see the things they read of in books.” In that spirit, selections of Forest Lawn Museum’s permanent collection of photographs, paintings, and bronze and marble sculptures are on display in the museum’s front gallery. Forest Lawn Museum typically dedicates two galleries to world-class rotating exhibits, which focus on topics ranging from aerial photography to puppetry to stained glass.
 
Forest Lawn Museum is located adjacent to the Hall of Crucifixion-Resurrection, which houses The Crucifixion, a 195-foot wide by 45-foot high painting by Polish artist Jan Styka. Other notable pieces in Forest Lawn’s collection can be found in the Great Mausoleum, including the Last Supper stained glass window by artist Rosa Caselli-Moretti, the Poets’ Windows, and marble replicas of Michelangelo’s Moses and Pietà.