3B Collective: Highway Hypnosis explores the cultural lineage of 3B Collective, a group of native (and immigrant) Angeleno multidisciplinary artists. Presented at Craft Contemporary, the exhibition delves into past and present connections within the collective’s work, such as challenging preconceived notions of craft, the commodification of cultural goods, hyper-individualism, and hidden labor. All of these while honoring indigeneity and also shedding light on migration histories. The exhibition is a testament to collective effort, revealing the masterful hidden labor of artists and artisans who contribute to each work.
3B engages in collaborative works with skilled artisans from regions integral to their familial roots, such as Oaxaca, Jalisco, El Salvador, and Baja California. This ongoing collaboration forms a contemporary manifestation of ancestral cultural networks within an urban context and sensibility in present-day America.
The exhibition features murals, assemblages, textiles, ceramics, mask installations, and other media that serve as vital expressions of a culture forced to migrate and adapt due to socio-political and financial pressures. The artworks embody a resilient cultural heritage that thrives and evolves across borders in a capitalist system that unintentionally makes them collaborators in their own exploitation.
Viewers are encouraged to celebrate and question craftsmanship in relation to ancestral knowledge in this dawning age of artifice.
