D-Block Projects

D-Block was an experimental project space in Long Beach, CA that supported both artists and curators, as well as providing an exhibition location for FAR-produced initiatives. D-Block has since closed its physical space, but still curates both virtual and physical projects in an ongoing support of speculative and challenging art making.

Members: Jeff Chabot and Ed Gomez

Website: http://dblockprojects.com/

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FAR Bazaar Project

D-Block Projects at FAR Bazaar

Description: Within the confines of a faculty office in the soon-to-be-dismantled Cerritos College Fine Arts Complex, D-Block Projects has curated a series of three performances by local artists. Mural/street artist Kimberly Duran will produce a 360-degree, immersive painting that will be open to the public while in progress. Artist/performer Mayte Escobar will hold a tortilla workshop within the contexts of Chicano art and community building in which participants can make and consume their own tortillas. Artist/performer Albert Lopez Jr. will DJ while preparing and making tacos within the transformed space.

Location: FA70A/FA72A

Participating Artists: Kimberly J. Duran, Mayte Escobar, Albert Lopez Jr.

Kimberly J. Duran is a Santa Ana artist/muralist born in Artesia, California at the end of the 1980s. She is the daughter of immigrants from Mexico City, and moved several times at a young age within the Santa Ana area, contributing to her observations and investigations into cultural narratives. She describes graffiti as an act of recreation, rather than destruction, and her work, influenced by urban settings, mimics the texture and palette of her surroundings. Her work has been shown at galleries throughout Los Angeles, Pomona, Riverside, and Orange County.

Mayte Escobar is a 1st-generation born Mexican American who considers herself a U.S./Mexico border artist. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Art (Studio) and Art History from the University of California, Riverside, and is a Master of Fine Arts candidate at California State University, San Bernardino. Escobar has exhibited throughout Southern California and Mexico. Her work has recently focused on her Mexican American identity and the process of intentionally breaking it down through the lenses of history, experience, and the relationship between Mexico and the United States. Escobar’s work includes silver gelatin prints, inkjet prints, performances, video, installation, ceramics, and mixed media.

Albert Lopez Jr. Santa Ana-based artist Albert Lopez Jr. creates socially-relevant work inspired by his upbringing, class issues, urban surroundings, and status as the first in his family to attend college. He is interested in art as a form of communication and a channel to explore various mediums and conceptual discourse. Lopez Jr. has exhibited at Cal State Long Beach, the East Gallery at Claremont Graduate University, and Mesa Contemporary Museum among other venues. His work, “Half-Ass Donkey” is part of Cheech Marin’s Chicano Art Collection. Lopez Jr. holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, Irvine.