The Observer and the Observed

Painter and songwriter Eloy Torrez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He grew up there and in Barstow, California. He studied art at the Otis Art Institute of Los Angeles and lives and works in Los Angeles, creating an extensive body of work that includes studio paintings, public art and music compositions. His body of paintings and murals is a manifest of life in Los Angeles and a tribute to its people.

Exhibition: The Observer and the Observed

Juliane Backmann was born in Muenster, Germany and studied photography at the Academy of Photo Design in Munich. Now living in Los Angeles she has been working on numerous fine art projects that include documenting urban landscapes as well as a number of portrait series, utilizing different photographic approaches, like assemblage and collage and unconventional darkroom techniques. During the last decade she has been creating video works as well. Her photographs, collages, and installations have been exhibited throughout the United States and Germany and her video works have been screened and awarded at international film festivals.

Exhibition: The Observer and the Observed

Michael Massenburg was born in San Diego and raised in Los Angeles California. Michael pursued his studies at California State University, Long Beach and Otis School of Art and Design and has exhibited in galleries and museums, completed private commissions, and worked on public art projects throughout the country and abroad. Along with his art-making practices, Michael is a teaching artist, community organizer and activist for various organizations and causes. In his practice he strives to investigate the language and imagery to explore the issues class, race and culture in their relationship through rituals. In each artwork, he assembles constructions of objects and images in an attempt to engage the subjects through representational, psychological and spiritual perspectives.

Exhibition: The Observer and the Observed

Emilia Cruz is a first generation Mexican American artist born in San Diego, CA, 1993; currently residing in Simi Valley, CA

Cruz is enrolled in the Illustration program at Art Center College of Design. She teaches art classes for kids at Plaza de la Raza’s Cultural Center for the Arts and Education, located in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, CA. She was recently commissioned by CNN en Español for Proyecto Ser Humano (Humanity Project), as well as a Netflix series called Gente-fied, and was asked to design a mural for Netflix Selena: The Series.

Exhibition: The Observer and the Observed

Born in Munich, Germany, Ekecs graduated from the Staatslehranstalt für Photographie in 1990. Work as a commercial photographer took him around the world, and he soon settled in Los Angeles. Over the years, his clients have included Time Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, HBO, Lufthansa, and Audi, among many others.
A longtime resident of downtown Los Angeles, Gabor Ekecs is a fine artist as well as a commercial photographer, and has steadfastly worked to challenge our assumptions about image, meaning, and perspective.

Exhibition: The Observer and the Observed