In September during a visit to Paris, I got lost in the Louvre, a common occurrence caused by its diabolical mazelike layout (maps are useless) and I found myself in the museum’s Oriental Antiquities wing. After viewing hundreds of paintings in the French and Italian...
You always hear about how we’re living in a golden age of TV, but you rarely hear the same thing about comic books. Which is weird, since comic books have taken over the film industry, further fueling the current golden age of TV. But far below the Olympian economics...
Shortly after I installed the YouTube channel, I found my official “sport.” I went for weeks not knowing what this wonderful thing that I was watching was called. Even though I had seen Paris is Burning and watched a season of Pose, I didn’t immediately make the...
DEAR BABS: "I’ve been an artist for a long time and I want to get rid of my old art. I don’t want it anymore and I don’t want to try and sell it, but I feel bad just throwing it in the dumpster. What’s the best way to get rid of my art?” Bernard, Los Angeles Dear...
“Blessed are the meek…” – Gospel of Matthew, 5:5 Has Theaster Gates truly “upcycled” his entire wardrobe as a spiritual gesture and a means of achieving transcendence? Perhaps he has. But in the most literal sense, Gates has taken the raw material of his sartorial...
The 22 representational paintings, drawings and prints comprising Vincent Valdez’ show, “It Was Never Yours,” symbolize American decline and apprehension with varying degrees of overtness. The Houston-based artist’s occasional flirtations with obvious content, such as...
It is hard to imagine living in Los Angeles and not being acquainted with the work of Kenny Scharf. His comic style, painted murals of interlocking faces, often derived from television and pop culture icons have adorned numerous buildings as well as individual’s cars...
References to narrations from the Old and New Testaments are hard to miss in the paintings of Naudline Pierre, as the fabulist spiritualism of her compositions presents an iconography of winged beings, gardens, serpents and sunrise convocations. More than one work...
Elyse Pignolet’s “You Should Calm Down” at Track 16 is a wry call-out of the misogynistic and patriarchal culture in the U.S. and the barrage of passive-aggressive phrases that women in our society frequently hear. It’s a collection of works that are distinctly of the...
If the minimalist impulse was to eradicate any trace of the artists’ hand, then at first glance the work of Robert Moreland seems to fully participate in that inclination. Upon closer scrutiny, it becomes clear that his animating spirit is much more related to a DIY...
Inter Milan, an Italian football powerhouse, recently endured another racial incident. It is common for Italian fans, and other football teams’ supporters, to throw bananas at Black players on opposing teams. This latest insult, however, came not from fans but an...
Lima, Peru is a city of idiosyncrasies, where modern skyscrapers neighbor aging Spanish baroque mansions and colonial squares, all in varying ages of birth and decay. While Lima is not particularly known for having an overwhelming number of art galleries—there are...
What we take as concrete reality often seems as changeable as a hologram: a door appearing orange in the morning looks yellow in afternoon light; former familiars refashion their characters beyond recognition. Inklings of such slipperiness with regard to perception...
In her installation Alchemy Tunnel, now at Radiant Space, artist Laurie Shapiro has created a literal and figurative cave of wonders. Using fabric, foil, sequins, and water-based paint, Shaprio’s inventive fantasy environment glitters and beckons. A distinct floral...
Murmurs began making waves on my radar this Summer, initially with their strong group exhibition featuring Genevieve Belleveau, Joel Dean, Lesley Jackson, Jenine Marsh, Jack Schneider and Alison Veit, and since with their astute and integrated programming (most...
There was plenty to see – and nosh on - at galleries in mid-city this past weekend, from new solo shows to lively group outings. At George Billis on La Cienega, three terrific solo shows offered a wide range of work. Audra Weaser’s Gathering Light created a moody,...
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