I’m becoming accustomed to conversations changing overnight over the last year or two; and certainly the context of those conversations is being altered more or less continuously. Less expected is when the perceptions of a set of issues or phenomena of any variety –...
Summer Feast of Art
This past weekend brought a summer feast of art exhibitions all over town, some with potent topical messages. The 11th annual "Diverted Destruction" exhibition at Loft at Liz’s featured works made of found, discarded or recycled items, and a found-object giveaway...
Alexa Gilweit
Promise of the past rudely collides with dread of the future in Alexa Gilweit's nostalgic Americana scenes viewed through dystopic lenses. Satirically titled "Big Winners," Gilweit's show at AM Gallery consists of paintings inspired by mid-century ads depicting...
Queer Biennial: “What If Utopia?”
June is LGBT+ Pride month, and it also marks the month of the third annual Los Angeles-based Queer Biennial, founded and curated by Ruben Esparza, which opened on June 1, titled “What if Utopia?" I have to admit that I am disappointed by this queer biennial, unlike...
Vincent Price Art Museum: : Rafael Cardenas
Rafael Cardenas is known for his high-contrast, high-drama black and white street photography, but in “Backyard Tableaux,” his new exhibition at the Vincent Price Art Museum, his color photographs of quasi-urban backyard parties evoke the artistry of historical eras...
The Cats Are Alright – Cat Art Show 3
I love most animals, in fact pretty much all animals, including some species especially hostile to human life (maybe those most of all). But I’m not one to fetishize them – or many other things, either (I think). However, whether it’s because of social media or just...
A Bountiful Garden Party
The annual garden party fundraiser for SASSAS (Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound) had most things one would expect in a swanky fundraiser. The event took place in the private residence of Mary Blodgett and Carlton Calvin in the painfully...
Mattea Perrotta; Jonathan Ryan
Mattea Perrotta abstracts figures and Jonathan Ryan abstracts architecture; their juxtaposition at The Landing educes the two painters' similar manners of distilling contemplative moods from their divergent subjects. Ryan's buildings frequently assume anthropomorphic...
Baert Gallery: : Daniel Silva
While uneven in impact, Columbian-born, British-educated Daniel Silva’s exhibition, “WE ARE EXPERIENCING SOME TURBULENCE – PLEASE STOW AWAY YOUR ELECTRONIC DEVICES LHR | HND | BOG | LAX,” remains impressive for the evocative three-dimensional works that the artist has...
Curator Ceci Moss on ‘Take Care’ at Gas Gallery
If a 1993 Chevrolet P30 step van found on Craigslist is not at the top of your gallery rounds list, think again. Gas Gallery, a mobile art space founded by curator Ceci Moss, has set up shop outside Night Gallery, The Pit, and most recently, BBQLA. Ceci found the van...
A Tribute to Female and LGBTQ Silent Filmmakers
Last Saturday I attended "Silent Salute: Women Directors of Silent Film" at Small Green Door in East LA; the event was a tribute to female and LGBTQ directors of silent film, both historical and contemporary. The space is a creative studio by day and gallery by night....
David Henry Hwang’s “Soft Power”
Soft Power is a very timely musical about the uses and misuses of power, a profoundly ambitious satire in which noted playwright David Henry Hwang tries to explain the dismal results of the 2016 elections. Hwang is no shrinking violet when it comes to tough...
Pippa Garner
There is irony in donning a mass-produced item that ostensibly projects one's individuality via a saucy slogan coined by somebody else. Pippa Garner uses her art like a knife to cut straight to the revelatory heart of such prosaic absurdities. Under her satiric lens,...
M+B: : Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Somewhere between the complex compositions of Cubism and Francis Bacon’s distorted imagery lies Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s distinct approach to portraiture. On view at M+B gallery, Quinn’s newest series looks to music as narrator. Aptly titled “Soundtrack,” the exhibition...
Museum of Mirth: Hammer’s Made in L.A. Opening
Where were you last Saturday night? Did you try to make it to the Hammer’s Made in L.A. reception? We heard a lot of people aborted their plans as the crowds were insane, and forget parking! Fortunately we arrived on the early side to attend the Director’s Reception...
Alexandra Carter
Alexandra Carter's current show, "All gods are hot," is a maze of artworks so tightly packed that one can hardly turn around without colliding with translucent paintings adorning the walls and hanging from the ceiling at Radiant Space. Even so, cramped quarters seem...
Visitor Welcome Center: : Middle Voice
A faint odor of incense wafts amidst turquoise and indigo walls at Visitor Welcome Center, an artist-run gallery that seems especially inviting now for its present installation, “Middle Voice,” a homey interior outfitted by Sarita Dougherty with fellow collaborators...