From the Valley to the Beach to Downtown LA, a wide range of entertaining art exhibitions opened this past weekend.

At the Museum of the San Fernando Valley, artist Jodi Bonassi launched her retrospective, “PUBLIC SETTINGS… Private Conversations.” Showing a collection of paintings created between 1998 and 2017, Bonassi captivated a lively, interested crowd with a talk on her highly detailed work. Viewers enjoyed wine and cheese and tiny chocolate eclairs at the VIP reception while taking a visual ride on Bonassi’s Metro series, visiting customers in her Barber Shop series, or taking in the rich, magical realism in valley scenes such as the Chess Players Café in Tarzana. Her words of advice for other art-makers during a laughter-filled Q&A: “Just make art.”

Jodi Bonassi painting

A large collection of assemblage-art dollhouses, “Treasured Again” by artist Gilena Simons, was on display at her shop/gallery TATABA on Santa Monica’s Main Street. Enchanted attendees peered in tiny rooms filled with evocative ephemera from other lives.

Gilena Simons with her installation

My Mirror includes snippets from vintage women’s magazines, while Black Pearl – The Josephine Baker House, serves as homage to the entertainer and resistance agent. Gallerygoers sipped champagne and noshed on shitake mushroom bread and falafel wraps while Simons wove among her works explaining her intricate and diminutive world.

Kim Schoenstadt with her work at Chimento Contemporary

Ending in DTLA on Anderson Street in the notorious Boyle Heights district, things were jumping a little more, with more of everything. Chimento Contemporary showed Kim Schoenstadt and Cole Case. The place was packed, but even more packed on the patio where delicious tacos were being served with cold brew. Starving artists included Carole Caroompas, Mary Anna Pomonis, Jud Fine and Barbara McCarren, Lisa Adams, Laura London. A rare spotting of Bob Gunderman from the recently defunct ACME gallery.

Nicodim gallery

As the belated dusk arrived—the first weekend of daylight savings time—we headed to Nicodim gallery just up the street. A stark contrast to the muted twilight greeted us in what almost seemed like a large circus with the crowd and colors and lights and shiny objects.

John Knuth, Richard Jackson, Benjamin Lee Richard Handler

Mara McCarthy and Keith Boadwee

The group show curated by the ever-charming John Knuth and recent newly appointed director of Nicodim Benjamin Lee Richard Handler (fresh from Gagosian BH). The placed was packed with many familiar faces including Andy Moses, Keith Boadwee, The Box’s Mara McCarthy, Hyperallergic scribe Matt Stromberg and participating artists Richard Jackson, Margie Schnibbe.

Man with Snake, by John Knuth

But the real star of the show was a performance piece by Knuth, Man with Snake. Indeed. Snake Man (Shamu Azizman) was buck naked, with, uh, a snake. A sight to behold, even though practically invisible among throngs of art and art lovers.

Tulsa Kinney contributed to this piece; photos by Genie Davis and Lynda Burdick