The LA-Artist Documentary Project is dedicated to people working creatively in and around Los Angeles. The ongoing, collaborative project aims to document LA’s artistic diversity by producing a range of informative films alongside an online archive of ArtCards that bring voice to the city’s varied and eclectic creative framework.

The project, as a whole, is looking to lay bare Los Angeles’ artistic diversity, processes, influences and draw attention to everyday artistic talents. They plan to do so with a series of 12 episodic films which engage these topics, and through the ArtCard postal service project.

Read this article:
Raul P. Baltazar, 90026. Episode Three
by: Sofia Rose Smith, Producer at LA Artist

Raul BaltazarRaul Baltazar’s name has been rolling off my tongue for the past several weeks. Ever since Oliver Shipley sent me the interview shot for the LA-Artist documentary, I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around all the stuff that pours out of Raul, from the way he drinks coffee with cinnamon to postcolonialism to an appreciation for goofy kids who think he’s full of it. I went from being amazed by this artist’s rhetorical questions, to laughing at his jokes, to eating Oaxacan mole by his side. Before I met Raul, I was struck by how easily, intimately, and eloquently he spoke about prisons, about postcolonialism, and about art as a political tool. After meeting Raul Baltazar, I realized he exemplifies the kind of artist who is deeply engaged with theory through practice. It would be wrong to say he takes himself too seriously. He doesn’t, he’s easygoing and lighthearted and quick to smile. But he does see the role of the artist as one that is critical to social change.

The whole article is at:
http://www.la-artist.com/artists_los_angeles.html

and you can view the video at:
http://www.la-artist.com/films_documentary.html

or you can visit their youtube page at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/LAArtistDoc#p/u/0/DX2r-_Cykdg