Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP – the world’s leading business litigation firm – has today announced that its fifth artists-in-residence program, established to create opportunity for and bring visibility to emerging and mid-career artists in the greater Los Angeles area, will be hosting Lorenzo Baker and Rimski Chua. The firm—whose offices overlooking the Crypto.com center in Downtown Los Angeles will serve as the artists’ studios—has thus increased its financial commitment to the program, extending grants and stipends to three artists in support of their 4-month residency.
“At first thought, traditional visual arts like painting may seem to have nothing in common with litigation and dispute resolution. Litigation, however, is a creative exercise. Litigators have to decide what the story of a dispute is, who the core storytellers are, and how to build the case around that story,” said Founder and Chairman John B. Quinn. “In litigation, as in anything else, there is always a risk of falling into a rut, even if you’ve been successful. The challenge is always to figure out how to do it new and differently. I look forward to receiving inspiration from these three artists—artists who literally start with a blank canvas—and learning how they work to achieve their visions and execute their ideas.”
The program commences on September 5, 2023, with each artist receiving a $20,000 stipend and the use of an office as a studio within Quinn Emanuel’s headquarters in Downtown LA over the course of four months. In Winter 2024, the residencies will culminate in a two-person exhibition of the new work the artists have created. Quinn Emanuel’s Director of Art and Outreach and Curator of the program, Alexis Hyde, will facilitate studio visits and other artistic and exhibition-related support.
Lorenzo Baker is a multimedia visual artist and a graduate of Dillard University and Otis College of Art and Design. Working in sculpture, video, installation art, and collage, Lorenzo’s art practice illuminates the social and political connotations embedded within everyday objects and materials. Published in Umber Magazine issue #4 and featured on the television show Bel-Air, Lorenzo Baker has exhibited their artwork across the United States including Los Angeles, CA, New Orleans, La., and North Adams, Mass. In 2021, Lorenzo Baker was a guest speaker at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD) In The Artist Studio program, and in 2022 Lorenzo collaborated with The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on a year-long project and exhibition highlighting the connections between technology and Black History. In 2023, Lorenzo Baker was an inaugural member of The Ellsworth Artist Residency program at Art Share LA.
Rimski Chua is a Los Angeles-based artist who moved to California from the Philippines at the age of ten. She received her AA in Studio Arts and Communications at Los Angeles City College. Her practice engages painting, drawing, and digital media production and management. Her fine arts related work is mainly self-reflective and observational; her cross-cultural experience and Filipina heritage heavily impacts the way she conceptualizes her works. As a recipient of the Dreamers Act, Chua draws strength from immigrant stories, as they possess distinct narratives that challenge stereotypes and expand perspectives within the art world. Since 2022, she has been participating in and curating group art exhibitions.