FEATURED ARTIST 'SIX'

Lawrence "El" Colación, Compton, usa

A good friend of mine (again) from the Bay area is Lawrence "El" Colación. His striking iconic work using bold, flat color, and an aesthetic inspired by political icons, Latino pop and street culture, has been exhibited widely in both southern and northern California venues as well as in Mexico, England, France, Germany and Italy. Colación has printed and worked at both the Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco and at Self-Help Graphics & Art in East Los Angeles. He has been the art director for Mission Badlands Gallery in San Francisco and his prints are in the permanent collections of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, San Francisco, CA; Self-Help Graphics, Los Angeles; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA.

Colación describes the incipience of his work as being in the genre of punk rock art. Commenting on his art Colación states, "I see my art as an extension of my visual world, past, present and future."

"It is the sum of my total experience as growing up a Chicano in the Greater Los Angeles area. My images reflect my bi-cultural upbringing; they range from traditional Mexican icons to American pop icons. Our Lady of Guadalupe juxtaposed with Selena is possible as well as Bob's Big Boy eating a taco. Often when asked to describe my art or place it in a neat category, I have much difficulty. I suppose my art can be described as, "Post Pop Chicano Punk Art."

The serigraphs illustrating this page is entitled "El Hefe Santo" & "Frida", was included in the art show Happening Underground International 8 that he curated in Leoncavallo, Milan, Italy.

When not working on art, Lawrence is an Oakland parole officer who works with young men coming out of CYA.