Gallery takes graffiti off the streets

Karla Lizbeth Zunega Chavez, 20, who uses the identity "Fanzye" for her work, grew up saving her pocket money to spend on aerosol cans.

"I didn't eat anything at the weekend so I could go and buy a box of cans, or sometimes I'd just buy three because of the cost," she says.

Now her work, and that of other young Mexican graffiti artists, has been taken off the streets by a family-business partnership and placed in a gallery in downtown Mexico City.

Cave Men Did It First is the first permanent art space in the city dedicated exclusively to graffiti.

See more posts on art and culture here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Coleccion Jumex moves closer to Mexico City action

La Coleccion Jumex, one of the largest private collections of contemporary art open to the public in Latin America, is planning to move from its location on the outskirts of Mexico City closer to the action in the capital’s center.

Hollywood's new big-screen star: Diego Rivera

The great Mexican muralist Diego Rivera was a movie lover who in the course of his life befriended such cinematic luminaries as Edward G. Robinson and Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein. So it was only fitting  Sunday night that images of several of Rivera's monumental murals were illuminated and projected onto a giant screen (flown in from Ohio) at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, next to Universal Studios.

The spectacle was emceed by Gregorio Luke, former director of the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach and a full-time promoter of making fine art more accessible to mass audiences. In his previous job, Luke hosted an annual "Murals Under the Stars" event in the museum's parking lot. Now he's hoping to draw new, larger crowds to works by some of Mexico's 20th century masters. Upcoming lecture/performance shows by Luke this summer at the L.A. County-run venue, across the 101 Freeway from the Hollywood Bowl, will spotlight Rufino Tamayo and Miguel Covarrubias.

Read our report here about Luke's efforts to give Mexican art the same monumental platform as "Land of the Lost" or "Star Trek."

-- Reed Johnson

Caption: Gregorio Luke presents a slide show on Diego Rivera in Hollywood on Sunday. Credit: Axel Koester / For The Times

Preview the Mexican movies hitting Los Angeles in Hola Mexico festival

"L.A. audiences would seem to need no introduction to Mexican cinema. The city has the nation's largest Mexican American population, it's the adopted home of many of Mexico's leading actors, directors, cinematographers and designers, and there are numerous venues and festivals here that regularly screen Mexican films,'' reports Reed Johnson.

"But in bringing his Hola Mexico Film Festival (which kicks off today) to Los Angeles for the first time, Samuel Douek wants to show U.S. audiences that Mexican cinema continues to thrive, several years after international breakout hits such as 'Amores Perros' and 'Y Tu Mamá También' ushered in a new wave of Mexican movie creativity," Johnson adds.

You can read the rest of Johnson's report here, and sit back and enjoy the trailers for some of the films in this year's festival below. See more posts about film on La Plaza here, and sign up at the festival's Facebook page for updates.

Fiction series on Mara Salvatrucha wins Webby Award

Filmmaker fascination with the violent Mara Salvatrucha street gangs continues, and this time it's a Web fiction series that's garnering attention.

"The Ten Commandments of la Vida Loca, " a Web series of short fiction films that tell the story of two brothers who decide to join the Mara Salvatrucha, will receive the Webby Award for best drama series during a ceremony in New York this evening. You will be able to see clips of the event on the Webby Awards YouTube channel. 

The fiction series was funded by Filmaka, an online global creative organization that focuses on "inspiring and rewarding creativity and talent by providing professional opportunities for directors and writers all around the world," according to its website.

British designer Zandra Rhodes shows herself in Mexico

Zandra Rhodes, the British fashion designer, is the focus of an exhibition in Mexico City's Franz Meyer Museum for the next few months called "Pasion por la moda / A lifelong love affair with textiles."

American design duo launches arts and culture mag in Nicaragua

Nicaragua's culture, arts and music scene is the focus of a new magazine launched by two American designers living in the country's capital, Managua.

Mexican artist's intricate sketchings in cafe surroundings

Jesus Chairez, a Texan who now lives in Mexico City's Santa Maria la Ribera neighborhood and runs his own blog, often sees an 80-year-old artist, Humberto Martinez, drawing sketches using a fine-point black Bic pen at a cafe.

Mexico City museums ask for help after influenza

Visits to some of Mexico City’s museums have fallen by as much as 90% since the outbreak of the H1N1 virus last month that prompted a near shutdown of numerous facilities, according to reports in the local media.

Owners of some of the privately owned museums in the capital are seeking financial help from the government  and say that if attendance doesn't pick up, they may be forced to take “drastic measures,” such as cutting staff by half and opening for only three days a week.

'Against the Grain' shows how artists challenged society in Peru

While L.A. native Ann Kaneko was shooting her latest documentary in 2001, she witnessed a country gripped by terror, where those who raised awkward questions were often treated as troublemakers, traitors or worse, writes Reed Johnson in Calender.

Kaneko wasn't training her lens on the post-Sept. 11 United States. She was holed up in Lima, Peru, taking the pulse of the South American country that had been torn apart by a brutal Maoist guerrilla uprising and an equally ruthless government reprisal. Her focus was four Peruvian artists whose work challenged and criticized Peruvian society by examining issues of state-sponsored violence, governmental repression and class, ethnic and sexual prejudice.