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Seven Views of City Hall
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Description
Atelier 9; Westwinds; I-size: 24" x 36"; P-size: 26" x 40"; Ed#:12/45; Signed;, Inscription in pencil located below the image area reads: "12/45, title, signature and '87" print: Oscar Duardo; Fund: funded in part by the CAC, NFA, and the City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles City Hall in a phallic form in the center surrounded by six small phallic City Halls within ovals within a setting typically used to depict the Virgen de Guadalupe.
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Annotation
In several artworks, Alfredo de Batuc selects Los Angeles City Hall for its widespread presence in popular culture and various movie appearances. Constructed in 1928, the building was a daring and bold architectural statement, reflecting an art deco style. The print’s title references one of the most acclaimed woodblock print series, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (circa 1830–32) by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), an artist that de Batuc admires. The visual composition of the print leverages the popular religiosity of devotional paintings, particularly images of Our Lady of Guadalupe with vignettes that surround the main figure and the use of a crescent moon, stars, banderoles, and the mandorla or rays of light. Six vignettes feature animals—scorpion, lizard, turtle, fish, bat, and snake—at the base of the building to reconsider the negative stereotypes associated with these creatures. For example, bats and scorpions are linked to darkness and evil, and turtles are degraded for their slowness in a fast-moving world. Additional symbolic meaning appears in the white, phallic form of the central building, a critical observation during the decades in which Los Angeles demography was increasingly Mexican-heritage and Central American, yet politics was dominated by white men. Finally, the artist includes text on the banners, an aesthetic blending of text and image found in his other works. (Authors: Karen Mary Davalos with Alfredo de Batuc and Aditya Pydimarri)
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