Wobbly hot pink letters pasted above the threshold of the interior gallery of Walter Maciel spell "Short Stories," the title of Greg Mocilnikar's exhibition. Appearing more like a literary heading than the title of an art exhibition, this seemingly minor gesture sets...
This week’s announcement that Klaus Biesenbach, director of New York’s PS1, the Museum of Modern Art’s satellite in Queens, was chosen to be the new MOCA director was greeted by mixed notices among the LA art community including: “He never smiles.” True if he’s judged...
The heat goes on—and so does the beat of pulsating great art in Los Angeles. On Thursday, Laurie Shapiro offered a DTLA studio preview of her about-to-open gallery installation at Da Plume, "All Yoni is Love." The immersive lush psychedelic installation was draped...
When I walked into OURCHETYPES (2018), an installation by Jade Gordon and Megan Whitmarsh at the Hammer Museum’s biennial exhibition “Made in L.A.,” I felt as though I had entered a bubble. The soft purple carpeted floors, the ambient voices emanating from the video...
Just as sordid episodes leak bit by bit from grand American narratives, a morbid sense of truculence stealthily emerges from Joshua Hagler's bright palette and superficially quaint old-time imagery. His show "The River Lethe" at the Brand Library encompasses two...
Across a series of ethereal vignettes in Sophie von Hellermann’s new series, the petri dish operates as both a quirky formal motif and a sophisticated allegorical framework. Each of the mostly large-scale paintings (all acrylic on canvas, all 2018), display a picture...
There is a new queen in town. Last Saturday the Tanya Bonakdar matriarchy entered Hollywood in the most appropriate of ways—with the 12th solo presentation of gallery SoCal artist Charles Long. The exhibition “husbands, sons, fathers, brothers” provides context; it is...
Contorting harlequins bow and sprawl over pastel chairs, rugs, walls and potted houseplants in Sara Berman's paintings. Are these mysteriously leotarded people lost in reverie, engaged in awkward stretching exercises, or merely lolling indolently? It's impossible to...
Imagining an art object made entirely without thought and therefore completely physical is a fascinating exercise. On the other hand, trying to imagine as art something that was entirely wrought by thought without a physical trace (and therefore practice) is equally...
When I learned of the news that Jonathan Gold had passed away, I was at a memorial for a dear friend—what a cruel irony. It came as a shock to me as I had interviewed Jonathan in late May for Artillery’s food issue. Gold’s name is emblazoned in black-and-gold letters...
Temperatures might have cooled slightly—just slightly—this week, but the art scene remains hot and happening. Saturday evening at SoLA, a packed house of art lovers and exhibiting artists mingled over two strong shows. Pulse of LA in the main gallery, a juried...
Many conceptual artists employ sign painting techniques, but few execute such craftsmanship on their own. That's partly what renders Norm Laich so intriguing. Overlapping shows at ICA LA and AWHRHWAR complement one another to provide insight into Laich's work as...
Fairies, pixies, anthropomorphic animals, porn actors, newspaper ads, strange symbols, beings from outer space, and leering mystics inhabit colorful, dissolute settings in mostly small-scale works on paper and canvas. These mixed media paintings and drawings by E’wao...
It’s summer, so the art scene is easy—with a wide range of cool openings that help beat the heat. It was a hot, steamy evening at PØST gallery in the Bendix Building last night, but that didn’t stop an excited and engaged crowd from enjoying the wide array of...
Just inside the house comprising the Women's Center for Creative Work is a cozy den that, except for its moody lighting and nostalgic decor, seems to fit right into its residential setting. Though appearing to have long existed in its current furnished state, this...
"Spotlight—Selections from Kehinde Wiley’s The World Stage: Israel" is small, but splendid. The exhibit attracts through its display of exuberant colors, masterful artistic skill, and political relevance. It consists of two large-scale paintings from Wiley’s “World...
The Renaissance Hotel chain has undertaken a wide-ranging renovation of its global brand, upgrading scores of properties around the world in a bid to carve out a new, more contemporary identity. Each of the new treatments seeks to exploit connections between the...
Last week I took the trek out to Long Beach to the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) to check out their Craft Beer fest, just in time for Artillery’s food issue. While the amount of vendors was modest—15 or so small tents were scattered across the sculpture...