Artist visits ‘mythical location’ through pieces

Offshore from the Long Beach Marina on Sunday between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m., artist Christian Salcedo Ward concluded the opening of his latest exhibit by hitching up his pink kayak and going to sleep on a buoy in the middle of the ocean.

Before spending the night on the buoy, Ward had wheeled the kayak down sidewalks from Cal State Long Beach's Merlino Gallery, where he introduced "Ocean Camp," the latest installment of work related to his larger series "Movin' Around."

Essentially, the series is an exploration of human migration. The focus of the artwork is not limited to the physical migrants because it also includes the metaphysical.

Some of his recent mono-serigraph, relief, etching, and monoprints are on display, embodying his assertion that "humans generate ideas through printed information and its distribution".

In Ward's 2011 mixed media piece, "Maps (ocean layers)," he combines his prints with found documents and items, such as a passport, to signify the printed encapsulation of travel. The objects hold a personal meaning of a place and time to the viewer in relation to their finding.

"Objects are placeholders for new formations of aura and culture," Ward said.

The art is chosen for the nostalgia they provoke within him. He said he considers it to be a "vehicle of origin." It alludes to his family's ceremony of celebrating the ocean, which is how ‘Ocean Camp' originated.

His combined mono-serigraph prints, collectively called "Mariners," allude to the length he has gone relating to others through his own personal experience of growing up by the ocean. The prints depict ocean-faring peoples from around the world — New Guinea, Micronesia and Polynesia all fused into the distinct aesthetics of his printing style.

Fueled by postmodern ideals and essays by Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault, Ward displays his found object piece "Tarpaulin." It consists of a tarpaulin tent strung up in the gallery with a collection of camping tools, books and a cast handgun "for protection" underneath.

Another piece, "Pink Kayak," refers to the protection of civilization that he has repeatedly toyed with by venturing into obscure situations. He has been challenging the fear of the "undesignated".

Ward describes "Ocean Camp" as a "mythical place you can go to," and documents some of his first visits through his work "Derelict Futbol," a bronze cast of a floating soccer ball found by him and his father on one of their voyages. When Ward dismantled "Pink Kayak" halfway through his opening, he was going to "Ocean Camp" by putting on the displayed wetsuit and straw hat to take the kayak out.

Ward's prints are always enjoyable and original, and while his found object sculptures do not translate easily, they do add to the mystery of his coveted destination. The work emphasizes Ward's postmodern theory of human life returning to the sea.

Ward also included an anagram contest to his exhibit by mixing in 50 hand-printed gallery cards with the 100 commercially produced. Guests who successfully complete the nearly-impossible anagram will win the chance to visit "Ocean Camp" with Ward. He was a bit concerned about actually having to bring someone to a mythical location, but if someone does find the cards, Ward said, "We will go to 'Ocean Camp.'"

"Ocean Camp" is on display at student art galleries this week. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday from noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are located between the FA2 and FA3 buildings.

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