August 24, 2007 -- Los Angeles, CA- ANDLAB in association with the Ministry of Culture presents: Cruisin’ with Magu, a cross cultural artistic exploration between one of the founding artists of the Chicano Art Movement, Gilbert “Magu” Lujan, and a group of local Korean-American youth artists. A reception for the artists and their new work will be held on Saturday, September 15th, 6:00-8:00 pm, at the ANDLAB Gallery, located in the Brewery Arts Complex at 600 Moulton Avenue. #303, Los Angeles, CA 90031. Free admission and parking.

The exhibit will run through October 27, 2007.

Designed as part of ANDLAB’s education program, Cruisin’ with Magu brought together a group of Korean-American youth who spent three months utilizing Magu’s color palette as a point of departure. These young artists ventured into Chicano art forms and context, adding their own sense of creativity and cultural information. The resulting work is two mural size canvases that are startling renditions of contemporary vision and ancient tradition, which reflect many facets of living in a pluralistic, transnational and multi-culturally modern Los Angeles.

Sunook Park, Director of ANDLAB and associate professor at California State University,

Long Beach’s Department of Art, states: “These students have been committed to an intense training in art and design disciplines, highlighted by the mentorship of Magu and ANDLAB’s teaching staff. As part of their ongoing education they are challenged to apply their design and artistic expressions to create a collaborative piece that not only builds a bridge between generations, but more importantly, across cultures.”

Park adds, “ These students are first and second generation Korean-Americans who are still developing their identity. At home they live with immigrant parents who embody the values of an ancient culture, and outside they live side by side youth who are predominantly Latino/Chicano. At home they subscribe to My Space like many others, but at the same time to cyworld, the Korean version of My Space. They are at a critical point of their young lives where their future interaction with their neighbors depends on their present involvement.”

Gilbert “Magu” Lujan is universally regarded as one of the early leaders of the Chicano Art Movement, and was a founding member of the group LOS FOUR, the first group of Chicano artists to get an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Over the years he has continued to inspire and mentor artists through his own work, including numerous public art projects, his Mental Menudo forums, several collaborative spaces, as well as his teaching and publications.

For more information about ANDLAB, please visit www.ANDLAB.com/art or call 323-222-2225

For more information on the Ministry of Culture, please visit: www.MinistryOFCulture.org