Temporary Home

Beatriz Cortez

Beatriz Cortez, Phillip Byrne, rafa esparza, Sarah Espinoza, Tatiana Guerrero, Maria Maea, Marjorie Williams at Blue Heights Arts &amp; Culture

Temporary HomeBeatriz Cortez, Phillip Byrne, rafa esparza, Sarah Espinoza, Tatiana Guerrero, Maria Maea, and Marjorie WilliamsPresented in collaboration with Blue Heights Arts and CultureThis event will take place at the Galka Scheyer House in the Hollywood Hills. Galka Scheyer was a German visionary art collector and dealer who championed the work of the artist group The Blue Four (Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, and Paul Klee). Built by renowned architect Richard Neutra in 1934 in the Hollywood Hills, the house was her gallery and also her private residence, which she envisioned as an airship, a respite, a shelter for artists and intellectuals. After her death in 1945 the house became a private residence until a German art collector purchased it with the idea of transforming it into a vibrant space for art and culture, as Scheyer had envisioned during her lifetime. After the fires, thanks to the generosity of this art collector and at the suggestion of a generous art curator, this house became my temporary home.Photos by Izak Bunda.Please RSVP for an appointment and details about how to get here.

A note from Beatriz Cortez:When my apartment burned on January 9, there were so many lessons that I was about to learn. Some of them were tough lessons. One came to me during a town hall meeting organized by a group of scientists under the name of Clean Air Coalition. One of them spoke about how people tend to return to the site where their homes used to be and look through the ashes in search of remnants of their lives, but the ashes are toxic, the scientist said, let go of your things so that you may live. I thought long and hard about this and I decided that no matter what objects filled with memories of my own life or the lives of my parents and grandparents, I needed to let go of the objects. My apartment had artworks made by my younger self, by my father, and by my nieces, and objects that were the only things left from the other home I lost in time of war, my home in El Salvador. Another tough lesson: someone told me that the loss caused by the fire comes in waves. I did not understand what they meant at first but I soon did as I periodically remembered the things lost in the fire. I had to face the reality: so many of these things were irreplaceable, and I could not get back even the things that were replaceable because I had nowhere to put them. I decided to only try to get back the lost books that I was using to write an essay, a couple of my welding outfits, and a coffeemaker.An amazing lesson: It only took a few hours to realize that the City of Los Angeles has an even bigger heart than I ever could imagine. I already loved it more than any other city, and my work is a love letter to this city that has brought so many of us to converge here at this time and place. I love the gifts it has given me, the great extended family I have built here, its creative spirit and its generous community of artists. Soon I had one, two, three offers of temporary homes, and in a few hours I could sleep tight at the home of one of my artist friends and I felt surrounded by good energy and I could continue making my sculpture, the one thing that made me lose sleep during those first few months: I was on a deadline. I had no time for the fire, I had no time for all the forms, for the apartment searching, for the mountain of tasks that came my way. I decided there were only two things that I needed to do: continue working with my sculpture and each night complete one application for aid.Another lesson: people care, even those who have never met us or have never heard about our work. One day, while I was living at my friends' home in the San Fernando Valley, I got a call from a curator who worked with me on a show at Hauser &amp; Wirth: I have the perfect home for you, he said. And he did: and this is how I ended up living for almost five months in the home of Galka Scheyer, a German art dealer representing the artists known as the Blue Four in the 1920s to early 1940s. It was built by renowned architect Richard Neutra. I learned that she dreamt of this home as an artist refuge, as a spaceship, that she had invited many artists, musicians, thinkers, and that she had invited Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera to spend some time here. After her untimely death in 1945 the house became someone else's home, but 80 years later the house went on the market. Benno Herz, program director at the Thomas Mann House, published an article about it. An art collector bought the house and, at the suggestion of an art curator who knew my work, invited me to live in it. This saved my time, it gave me a healing, beautiful view, it brought with it so many animals that live in the Hollywood Hills, so much silence, space to think, to rest, so much joy. I began to live in this house with my plants: gifts from my friends and one only survivor of my old home in Altadena. I began to receive visits from an owl. I was able to make a first version of a film and to finish my sculpture: it is now installed at the Charlestown pier in Boston as part of the Boston Art Triennial.This house is my temporary home until the end of July. Before I go, I want to open the house for others to experience this space and this view. I want to honor Galka Scheyer's wishes and fill the house with art again. I want to thank the new owner for his generosity. I want to honor Richard Neutra's legacy. I want to imagine Diego Rivera arriving with one of his ancient objects, provenance questionable. I want to imagine the house filled with sculptures instead of paintings. I want to celebrate the gifts of temporary homes, the community of artist friends that surrounds me, and our ability to time travel.SPECIAL THANKS TOMax GrimmingerBenno HerzJay Ezra NayssanLilli GrimmingerBeatriz Cortez StudioPhillip Byrnerafa esparzaSarah EspinozaTatiana GuerreroMaria MaeaMarjorie WilliamsCommonwealth and Council, Los Angeles and Mexico City

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