Brittany Menjivar
DUELING REVIEWS: ALAKE SHILLING
2025 CALIFORNIA BIENNIAL: Desperate, Scared, But Social at Orange County Museum of Art
Navigating the tension between impulsive expression and mastery of one’s craft is a fundamental aspect of the artist’s journey. A similar tension underscores the construction of personal identity that defines adolescence, and hence, the Orange County Museum of Art’s...
THE ABSTRACT FUTURE at Jeffrey Deitch
The seminal Jeffrey Deitch exhibition “Post Human” (presented in 1992 and reimagined in 2024) explored evolving concepts of identity in the digital era. “The Abstract Future” feels in some ways like its spiritual sequel. Brilliantly curated by Alia Dahl, the gallery’s...
LEE FRIEDLANDER at Castle
In the shadow of social media, describing a nude portrait of a woman as “authentic” or “not performative” is often a subliminal way of acknowledging that the image has been composed according to an “alternative” set of stylistic constraints: soft, flattering lighting;...
JORDAN ROUNTREE at Baert Gallery
When we are small, adulthood comes to us in impressions: a staticky scene from a horror film, an overheard whisper. As adults, we see childhood memories through a similar film. “I Hear a New World” seamlessly weaves together these visions of curiosity and nostalgia....
David Hammons at Hauser & Wirth
I went in blind to David Hammons’ Concerto in Black and Blue (on view for the first time since its 2002 debut)—both literally and figuratively. When I pushed back the heavy curtain shrouding the gallery, darkness swallowed me. I couldn’t pull out my phone to navigate...
YORGOS LANTHIMOS at Webber Gallery
The images in Yorgos Lanthimos’ first photography exhibition were captured while the filmmaker was shooting Kinds of Kindness (2024) and Poor Things (2023), but you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at them. Except for the actress Hunter Schafer in one stark...
HAILEY HEATON at Authorized Dealer
Sontag famously wrote about the photograph as a means of securing ownership over an ethereal past. Her words come to mind as one moves through Hailey Heaton’s "Hissyfit," which reckons with the erosion of memory (and therefore history) through dementia. (The...
DERRIANN PHARR at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles
It’s not uncommon that an art show claims to deconstruct the human form and challenge societal notions of beauty. Derrian Pharr’s innovative “I Am a Bloodstone” makes good on this promise. The otherworldly heroines in Pharr’s works (made with pastels and prisma...
ADORATION at REDCAT
Atom Egoyan’s 2008 film Adoration follows a half-Arab teenager who weaves a fictional story about his father orchestrating a terrorist attack, causing a stir within his suburban community. Adapting it would be a difficult task in any case—not just because of the...
The Monster: Curated by Robert Nava at Pace Gallery
Per the exhibition text, “The Monster,” a multi-media group show at Pace Gallery, deals with the abstract creatures from early nightmares rather than the metaphorical “monsters” that haunt our adult existence. Childhood logic filtered through an adult POV often lends...
Jaxon Demme and Paz de la Huerta at Spy Projects
The damsel in distress; the innocent vindicated. These are relatively common motifs when it comes to trauma and recovery, yet Paz de la Huerta’s beautifully bizarre paintings make them feel new. Women and girls embrace while crowded by angelic creatures and wild...
Gabriel Madan at Gattopardo
Not all pop art is created equal. Gabriel Madan’s literally pops off the wall: As in, a colorful macaw plushie is affixed to one of his paintings, a heart-shaped tag reading “I’m a puppet.” I want to stick my hand up its rear and make it talk. Vulgar, yes, but...
“a field once more” at Melrose Botanical Garden & Jane Galerie
Melrose Botanical Garden is not actually a garden, but it might as well be. Tucked between thrift shops and piercing parlors on the avenue, the narrow gallery feels like an oasis. “a field once more,” a group show drawing upon Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s essay In Praise of...
