‘Spiritual & Religious Practices’ lets you see God as artists do

LAURA HERNANDEZ’S ‘EL HOMRE ELEMENTO AGUA’

For a show examining assorted deities and belief systems, as envisioned by artists from Argentina to Cuba, “Spiritual & Religious Practices” at the Museum of Latin American Art is as much about art as it is about God. That’s a good thing; vengeful God is a lot more fun to see second-hand, from an artist’s perspective.

The various media in this show—the latest in a rotating series from the museum’s permanent collection—create just enough distance from the topic to stimulate a discussion.

Leandro Soto’s video performance art piece Olorum: Durga-Isis-Yemaya greases the machinery. A salute to ancient gods of war, sailors and the ocean, respectively, it morphs from a papyrus painting to your standard dream sequence (wavy, trippy lines), serenading the whole room with its otherworldly chanting to Durga, the Hindu demon-slayer, and mother of Ganesha.

With your mind suitably opened, Laura Hernandez’s cryptic Man Element Water—a colossal papier-mâché head with a frog astride its nose and a fish atop its brow—becomes more than just a giant MadBall. You’re suitably cowed by those lips that could eat you and those shuttered eyes ready to spring open at any moment. God, you realize, is in that giant head—and He hates being compared to a toy from the ’80s.

Turn the corner (this is really a show within a show) and admire Manuel Amestoy’s amazingly intricate The King 3. A larger, more involved take on those tissue paper Day of the Dead cut-outs, it renders the King via large multi-colored construction paper cut-outs layered one in front of the other. They’re hung together in a Plexiglass box about an inch apart, creating a depth-of-field effect and making the King—shown very florally—seem like either Stanley or Livingstone, emerging from the forest primeval.

As with virtually every piece here it has several possible meanings. And that’s a good thing.

BRIDGE TO THE AMERICAS: SPIRITUAL & RELIGIOUS PRACTICES MUSEUM OF LATIN AMERICAN ART | 628 ALAMITOS AVE | LONG BEACH 90802 | MOLAA.ORG | 562.437.1689 | TUES-FRI 11:30AM-7PM; SAT 11AM-7PM; SUN 11AM-6PM | $5-7.50; FREE ON FRI THROUGH SEPT 15

Tags: art, Long Beach, molaa, spiritual and reli