Two Altadena Artists Featured at Pasadena Museum of California Art

The Pasadena Museum of California Art is currently running an exhibit called "L.A. Raw" that includes artwork from Altadena artists Jiraryr Zorthian and Charles White.

The artwork in the exhibit comes from works of "abject expressionism" in Los Angeles area artists from 1945 to 1980.  

The museum describes the work of the artists in the exhibit as "depicting a boldly honest, stripped-down view of humanity in its rawest, most elemental state."  

The artists' work has a historical context with references to "World War II and the atomic bomb; to the repressions of the Eisenhower Era; to the fallout of 1960s idealism; and to ongoing racial and gender struggle."

Zorthian, who is renowned Altadena not just for his art work, was the owner of more than 40 acres of land in the Altadena foothills where he and his wife ran a summer camp and hosted regular parties and artistic performances.  He died in 2004.

White did the bulk of his well-known art work in the 1960s and 1970s, and was known as having work with a socially conscious message.  He died in Altadena in 1979 and there was a .

The art work on right was done by White, though it is not the work that is currently on display at the museum.

L.A. Raw will be on display at the museum through May 20.