Artist Spotlight: Carmen Argote
Now at ICA LA, “I won’t abandon you, I see you, we are safe”
![Carmen Argote at ICA LA](/sites/default/files/images/2023-07/L1065898.jpg?width=480&fit=bound&quality=1&auto=webp)
Carmen Argote is a visual and performance artist, raised in LA. Her practice is grounded in collaboration, ritual, and walking. Her most recent exhibition at ICA LA titled, “I won’t abandon you, I see you, we are safe” will run through Gallery Weekend 2023, July 27th-29th. The title is drawn from the phrases that Carmen speaks to her inner child, which speaks to a theme of play present throughout the exhibition.
![Carmen Argote at ICA LA](https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/sites/default/files/images/2023-07/1F87EB3E-A78B-459C-930F-CBF8F35BA1FF_1_105_c%20%281%29.jpeg?width=480&fit=bound&quality=1&auto=webp)
![Carmen Argote at ICA LA](https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/sites/default/files/images/2023-07/A24AE0D1-93D9-4A0F-AFA8-D417410A5844_1_105_c.jpeg?width=480&fit=bound&quality=1&auto=webp)
Filled with the stuff of life, Carmen’s shows are breathing and active. She visits her artworks every day and tends to them:
“I have this idea of tending to my own rituals, tending to myself, tending to the flock [her chickens], and tending to the show. And tending to the show both with collaborations, but also tending to the show with what has become a residency within it. The kitchen here at ICA LA has been transformed. I’m calling it the kitchen residency. I am using the space as both a studio and an exhibition space. The show is a living thing. It’s a living presence. It’s not like the art came here and is static. I’m still very much in relationship and conversation with these works, even as they are being shown.”
![Carmen Argote at ICA LA](https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/sites/default/files/images/2023-07/442DE741-7DBF-4CB7-8F62-B4DFEA58A46A_1_105_c%20%281%29.jpeg?width=480&fit=bound&quality=1&auto=webp)
![Carmen Argote at ICA LA](https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/sites/default/files/images/2023-07/E8A49ABE-8B28-4DE3-8B28-3C606E8921B5_1_105_c%20%281%29.jpeg?width=480&fit=bound&quality=1&auto=webp)
Carmen walks for miles through the city each day as a foundational part of her practice. Her “stuff of life” found materials are the stuff of LA. The artist and her artworks are closely tied to the city: “I grew up here, so let me see if I can put my connection with LA into words. There is the downtown skyline and seeing it from different vantage points. I grew up in West MacArthur Park and now I live in East LA, so I have seen it from both sides. When I’m walking, I see it in the distance, then walk into it, then pass through it. In my walking I feel very connected to the pedestrian perspective of LA.” Here are three of Carmen’s spots for inspiration, problem solving, and art in LA:
![Bonaventure](https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/sites/default/files/images/2023-07/Bonaventure.jpg?width=480&fit=bound&quality=1&auto=webp)
![Evergreen cemetery](https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/sites/default/files/images/2023-07/evergreen%20cemetery.jpg?width=480&fit=bound&quality=1&auto=webp)
Carmen Argote’s artworks are relics, documentations of the performance and rituals that made them– play, collaboration, walking, and the materials of the city. Always the city: “I feel connected to LA. I feel very connected to Boyle Heights. I feel connected to the bridge. I feel connected to my favorite places, like the Bonaventure. I love the LA Central Library. Places I knew that are no longer there– that’s a huge thing. There are all of these emotions– there’s grief, there’s love, and there’s walking over the freeway passes on the bridge and feeling like it’s an ocean.”
![Carmen Argote at ICA LA](https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/sites/default/files/images/2023-07/6410C29A-E2BE-47DE-BBEA-EADF021A2F06_1_105_c%20%281%29.jpeg?width=480&fit=bound&quality=1&auto=webp)