Juxtapoz Magazine - Shizu Saldamando: May the Ground Seethe @ Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles

"Saldamando's intimate portraits distill figures from context, focusing on the body as the site of political struggle and communal joy. The title of the exhibition borrows a lyric from the song "MML" by Dorian Wood, whose portrait is a centerpiece of the show. Wood's lyrics describe a collective movement built on love and rage, one that Saldamando takes up in this body of work."

"For Saldamando, materials are extremely important as signifiers of history and carriers of memory. Her wood panels nod to the beautifully crafted woods of Japanese design, but also to the small wooden sculptures made by the artist's grandfather while he was interned with other Japanese-Americans during the second World War. The panel rejects the often heroically masculine twentieth century art history of painting on canvas. Instead of beginning with a blank canvas, Saldamando works with wood as a readymade, inviti"

May the Ground Seethe presents paintings and sculptures by Shizu Saldamando that center intimate community portraits and the body as a site of political struggle and communal joy. The exhibition title borrows a lyric from the song "MML" by Dorian Wood, whose portrait anchors the show and evokes a collective movement built on love and rage. Saldamando spotlights figures who resist division and hate, proposing joyful, beautiful revolution. Works use raw wood panels and mixed-media collage, with compositions that follow wood grain, incorporate washi paper and gold leaf, and reference Japanese design, farm labor histories, and familial memory from wartime internment.

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