We have been sitting on some big news! We got engaged in March 2024 and have been basking in the glow ever since! Looking forward to celebrating our nuptials come October 2025! 💕
We met five years ago on 9.9.19, sharing tapas, wine, and conversation on our first date, and the rest is, as they say, history. It’s been a wonderful journey since then, from moving in together (surreptitiously on Max's part 🙃) to meeting each other's family to traveling all the way to Australia together. We can't wait for this next chapter!
📸: @xoxolovelucyphotography
I went to preview the Whitney Biennial 2026 on Saturday. I found a lot of the work to be strong and compelling, and I commend curators @marcelacguerrero and @drewmsawyer for the exhibition, especially for the ways in which they took the lens of “American art” both small and big, with a heavy emphasis on the infrastructure that organizes contemporary living and how the tendrils US colonialism and imperialism extend into everyday life. I hate writing these captions, so for my full thoughts, check out my review–cum–conversation, with @alexgreenberger , on ARTnews.com (or check the link in bio).
Images (I forgot to take one of Gabriela Ruiz’s stunning sculpture):
1. Paintings by Carmen de Monteflores
2–3. Margaret Honda’s intervention in a stairwell
4–5. New sculptures by Kelly Akashi
6. An assemblage by Teresa Baker
7. A video by kekahi wahi
8. Young Joon Kwak’s stunning installation
9. A painting by Akira Ikezoe
10. A doorbell sculpture by Cooper Jacoby
11. Detail of an Agosto Machado altar
12. Michelle Lopez’s video installation
13. Detail of David L. Johnson’s installations of found signs
14. Sculptures by Kainoa Gruspe
15. A score by Maia Chao
16. A sculpture by Sula Bermudez-Silverman
17. Paintings and photographs by Kimowan Metchewais
“The arts offer hope,” says Maximilíano Durón (@maxduron ), Senior Editor at @artnews , in his lookback at the year in Latinx art.
Reflecting on the role of Latinx art amid crises, Durón counts the McNay’s “Rasquachismo: 35 Years of a Chicano Sensibility,” organized by Mia Lopez (@miamia07 ), Curator of Latinx Art, as one of this year’s most remarkable exhibitions with the power to heal, uplift, and inspire.
From @thehuntingtonlibrary ’s “Radical Histories,” to @whitneymuseum ’s “Surreal Sixties,” to South Texas’ @lushiousmassacr , read how Latinx art and culture offered healing and joy in 2025. Link in bio.
Our families’ Chicanx Art Collection, the Durón Family Collection, is coming on public display to LA! We are so proud of our parents for the importance they placed on preserving the stories of our community through works of art. For over 45 years they have not only collected art, but also collected art books, history books and the ephemera connected to just about every Chicanx art exhibit in LA. We hope you will join us in one of their proudest moments as they bring it full circle to Loyola Marymount University where they met and built a legacy of its own as Alums. I hope they know it’s not lost on us and we are just as emotional about it.
As we celebrate their retirements this summer and this huge achievement. We invite you to join us and/or check out the exhibit.
Seeing Chicanx
The Durón Family Collection
Sep 25-Dec 6
Sep 27th
Curator’s Talk | 12pm
Opening Reception | 1-3pm
Learn more about "Fire Kinship: Southern California Native Ecology and Art" in this interview by @maxduron for @artnews with exhibition curator, Daisy Ocampo Diaz (Caxcan).
Don't miss our Public Gathering in honor of the exhibition on Saturday from 6-9pm!
Read the article and RSVP at the links in bio.
Independent Public Programming Today
Talk: Locus of Materials: Artists on Making and Being in Community
Moderated by: Maximilíano Durón, Senior Editor, ARTnews, with artists Danie Cansino, Cristóbal Gracia, and Arthur Peña
3PM | Sunken Living Room, 6th Floor
Last day to see Danie’s beautiful presentation at the Independent! Come see her in conversation today at 3pm!!
Brava Danie!!!
@daniecansino@maxduron@independent_hq@cristohbal_g@arthurdpena@artnews@ever.a.k.a.thegirlabouttown #charliejamesgallery
I am very humbled to share images from “Seeing Chicanx: The Durón Family Collection” @montereyart , which represents over 40 years of work, care, and stewardship of art by LA-based Chicanx artists by my parents, Armando and Mary. Their commitment to supporting the art of our community has been the biggest inspiration for me to help write Chicanx and Latinx artists into the canon. It is an honor to see there efforts in the context of a museum in 2024.
Images:
1 - Linda Vallejo, Margaret Garcia, Patssi Valdez
2 - Joseph Maruska, Tony de los Reyes
3 - Elsa Flores, Carlos Almaraz
4 - Salomón Huerta
5 - Shizu Saldamando
6 - Roberto Gutierrez
7 - Connie Mendoza
8 - Teddy Sandoval, Linda Vallejo, Judith F. Baca, Rigo Maldonado
9 - Ramon Ramirez
10 - La familia
Decided I would do a few year-end photo dumps focusing on the artists I mention in my (third annual lol) “The Year in Latinx Art” column. (Link in bio)
To all the artists whose work I was able to enjoy, thank you so much for sharing your gifts and talent with our communities and with the world. It means so much to see this work and to feel seen by it.
This is part three (early November through last weekend); I hope I didn’t miss anyone!:
1 - Guadalupe Rosales @lupewhat in Made in L.A. (1–2)
2 - Jackie Amézquita @jackieamezquita
3 - Muriel Hasbun @murielfoto
4 - Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio @eddierodolfoaparicio
5 - Cyclona (Robert Legorreta) in “Xican-a.o.x. Body” (5–7)
6 - Justin Favela @favyfav
7 - William Camargo @billythecamera
8 - Ken Gonzalez-Day @kengonzalesday
9 - Slanguage Studio’s “Its In the A.I.R.” @slanguagestudio in “Ordinary People”
10 - Leslie Martinez @leslie_martinez_studio
Special shout-out to my partner of four years DenDen (@dennisfgreen , seen in picture 10) for almost always being up to come see art with me, even when the weather sucks and we haven’t eaten yet 💗🥰
Decided I would do a few year-end photo dumps focusing on the artists I mention in my (third annual lol) “The Year in Latinx Art” column. (Link in bio)
To all the artists whose work I was able to enjoy, thank you so much for sharing your gifts and talent with our communities and with the world. It means so much to see this work and to feel seen by it.
This is part two (September through early November); sorry a bunch of these are awkward details:
1 - Consuelo Jimenez Underwood @cju.art.threads
2 - Pepón Osorio
3 - María Magdalena Campos-Pons @maria_magdalena_campos_pons
4 - Carlos Almaraz @carlos_almaraz13
5 - Elsa Flores @elekipua
6 - Joey Terrill @homeboybeautiful
7 - Judith F. Baca @judy_baca
8 - Teddy Sandoval
9 - Moises Salazar Taltenchi @moises.salazar.tlatenchi
10 - Troy Montes Michie @troymmichie
Decided I would do a few year-end photo dumps focusing on the artists I mention in my (third annual lol) “The Year in Latinx Art” column. (Link in bio)
To all the artists whose work I was able to enjoy, thank you so much for sharing your gifts and talent with our communities and with the world. It means so much to see this work and to feel seen by it.
This is part one (through August)
1 - Amalia Mesa-Bains @dr_amalia_says
2 - Gala Porras-Kim @itsgala
3 - Nao Bustamente’s artist-run gallery at Hollywood Forever @naobustamante
4 - Ruben Ochoa @rrrubenochoa
5 - Yolanda Gonzalez @yolandagonzalezart
6 - Pachi Muruchu @muruchuwa
7 - Yvette Mayorga @yvettemayorga
8 - Rosemary Meza DesPlas @rosemarymezadesplas
9 - rafa esparza @elrafaesparza
