Datebook: Towers of clay, the L.A. landscape reconsidered, dance at the Getty Villa
Sculptural pieces that dwell on material and color. A performance inspired by the work of women sculptors. Paintings that draw from the unremarkable aspects of L.A.’s urban settings. And a daylong dance choreography that looks at identity in antiquity. Here are four openings and events to check out in the coming week:
Bosco Sodi, “Malpaís,” in a pop-up exhibition at 143 N. Robertson. The Mexican artist is known for densely pigmented monochromes and geometric clay cubes (evocative of the work of Isamu Noguchi) that play with color and the visceral qualities of his earthy materials. This one-off show is presented by the New York-based Paul Kasmin Gallery with Brandon Davis Projects and Jose Mestre. Opens today and runs through Oct. 8. 143 N. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Grove, Los Angeles, brandondavisprojects.net.
After 5: Renée Petropoulos: Cheek by Jowl, at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. Organized by Los Angeles-based Petropolous, this performance takes the gallery’s show of sculptures by women — “Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947-2016” — as a point of inspiration for a performance. The piece engages art history, but also the domestic and private lives of the artists who made each creation. 7 tonight. 901 E. Third St., downtown Los Angeles, hauserwirthschimmel.com.
“taisha paggett & Yann Novak: Mountain, Fire, Holding Still,” at the Getty Villa. Paggett, an L.A.-based dancer, is teaming up with Novak, a sound artist, for a daylong performance that examines issues of blackness in antiquity. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday. The performance will take place in the Outer Peristyle, 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, getty.edu.
“Karla Klarin: Subdividing the LAndscape,” at CSUN Art Galleries. The San Fernando Valley-raised artist examines some of our city’s more quotidian landscapes in a series of painted works that take sprawl and the suburban as points of inspiration. But don’t expect the cookie cutter: Klarin’s works have a way of capturing grit. Opens Monday and runs through Oct. 8. A reception will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10; an artist talk will take place at 10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 12, at Cal State Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, csun.edu.
LAST CHANCE
“Sam Maloof Woodworker: Life/Art/Legacy,” at the Maloof Foundation. The foundation is celebrating the centennial of the birth of the renowned Southern California woodworker, whose elegant objects and furnishings are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the L.A. County Museum of Art and the Smithsonian. The exhibition features more than 60 objects from throughout the artist’s life, including furnishings, drawings, photographs and other ephemera. Through Saturday. 5131 Carnelian St., Alta Loma, malooffoundation.org.
“Teen Choice,” at C. Nichols Project. A summer group show featuring work by various artists, including painter Zak Smith, video artist Stanya Kahn and collagist Bjorn Copeland, riffs on that in-between state of adolescence — and all the conflict and desire it entails. Through Saturday. 12613 1/2 Venice Blvd., Mar Vista, cnicholsproject.com.
“Southland: A Group Exhibition Inspired by the Greater Los Angeles Area,” at Charlie James Gallery. Organized by artist and curator Patrick Martinez, this group show takes Southern California as its point of inspiration. Martinez gathers works by a range of figures — including Gregory Bojorquez, Sandow Birk, Mario Ybarra Jr. and Kenturah Davis — that in some way depict or deal with different aspects of the city’s landscape. Through Saturday. 969 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, cjamesgallery.com.
Deanna Thompson, at Kayne Griffin Corcoran. The California painter has a posthumous exhibition (she died last year) that brings together images of isolated desert homesteads and paintings of cars. They are simple works that emanate a vibrating intensity. Through Saturday. 1201 S. La Brea Ave., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, kaynegriffincorcoran.com.
Sigrid Sandström, “Other Places,” at Anat Egbi. New works by the Swedish painter takes abstraction to an intimate scale with a series of small, portrait-sized canvases that play with form and color. Through Saturday. 2660 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, anatebgi.com.
“Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only,” at the Hammer Museum. The third iteration of the Hammer’s SoCal-focused biennial keeps things wondrously minimal, featuring thoughtful exhibits by 26 artists that jump between art-making styles, ideas and generations — from the powerful totemic wood sculptures of Kenzi Shiokava to the bright, graphic paintings of Huguette Caland to the humorous research-based installation of Daniel R. Small. The show is a testament to the notion that, in Los Angeles, many ideas can bubble to the surface at once. Through Sunday. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, Los Angeles, hammer.ucla.edu.
“In Focus: Electric!” at the Getty Museum. Electricity: It powers your home, it powers your work and it powers the phone on which you are likely reading this post. This photographic exhibition at the Getty gathers historic images that showcase the allure of light and power. Through Sunday. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.
“Ambos,” at the U.S.-Mexico international border. Tanya Aguiñiga, a Tijuana-born, L.A.-based artist, has organized a series of happenings and events at the international border — from image projections to a hyper-local pirate radio station run out of a station wagon. Events will take place at the Mercado de Artesanías, the craft market situated between the regular lanes and the medical pass lanes on the Tijuana side of the border. Through Sunday. See the website for a calendar of events and the Google Map coordinates for exact location. San Ysidro Port of Entry, international border, Tijuana, Mexico, ambosproject.com.
“Art of the Austronesians: The Legacy of Indo-Pacific Voyaging,” at Fowler Museum. A look at the legacy of Austronesian-speaking peoples gathers art and artifacts from the Philippines, Indonesia and other points in the South Pacific. This includes nearly 200 works, from wood sculptures to ceremonial textiles to canoe prow ornaments. Through Sunday. 308 Charles E. Young Drive N., Westwood, fowler.ucla.edu.
“Duchamp to Pop,” at the Norton Simon Museum. Drawing mostly from the Norton Simon’s permanent collection, this exhibition looks at the influence Duchamp likely had on generations of artists, from assemblagists to pop painters — figures who have appropriated elements of the everyday world and transformed them into art. Through Monday. 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, nortonsimon.org.
“Maiden L.A.,” in locations around Los Angeles. Part of a monthlong series of happenings around the county, “Maiden L.A.” features talks, exhibitions, digital projects and open studios. This includes a peephole cinema in Chinatown and sculpture inspired by surrealist fistfights. Through Wednesday. Locations around Los Angeles, maiden.la.
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS
“Closing Celebratory Show,” at Rosamund Felsen Gallery. On the Los Angeles gallery scene since 1978, Rosamund Felsen is bidding farewell to her space with this group exhibition featuring works from her stable of gallery artists — which includes figures such as painters Karen Carson and Steven Hull and sculptors Jacci Den Hartog and Tim Ebner — among countless others. On view through the summer. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, rosamundfelsen.com.
Veronika Kellndorfer, “Tropical Modernism: Lina Bo Bardi,” at Christopher Grimes Gallery. The German artist explores the work of Brazilian Modernist architect Lina Bo Bardi — among other influential Brazilian designers — in works that place silkscreened photographic images onto reflective glass paneling. The focus, ultimately, is on unusual pairings — of the architecture and Brazil’s riotous plant life. Through Sept. 2. 916 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, cgrimes.com.
Betty Tompkins, “Sex Works/WOMEN Words: 1000 Words, Phrases and Stories,” at Gavlak. Known for paintings that take graphic images of pornography and give them a distinctly feminist cast, Tompkins has taken on the ways in which women are referred to in our society. An installation of 1,000 paintings features words that describe women — from “babe” to “sis” to “hot tomato” to others that remain unprintable. The show also includes works from her various series devoted to sex and sexuality. Expect up-close views of various body parts. Through Sept. 3. 1034 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, gavlakgallery.com.
TMR as Hub: Páramo, at the Mistake Room. As part of its TMR as Hub series, the Mistake Room is showcasing the works of other cultural platforms — from galleries to artist-run spaces to schools. For this iteration, they are featuring the work of the Mexican collective Gabinete Homo-Extraterrestre (Gabinete H-E) in collaboration with the Guadalajara gallery Páramo. For this, their first Los Angeles exhibition, Gabinete has produced a body of new work that riffs on a symbolic exhumation of their past projects. Through Sept. 3. 1811 E. 20th St., downtown Los Angeles, tmr.la.
“Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947-2016,” at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. The debut exhibition at the city’s newest gallery tackles more than half a century of sculpture by women, featuring key works by important international figures (Louise Bourgeois, Lee Bontecou) and key California artists (Ruth Asawa, Clare Falkenstein). Pieces range from the ethereal (Lygia Pape’s golden threads) to downright hilarious (Lara Schnitger’s lacy/cat/fur assemblage sculptures). Altogether, the show offers an alternative to the narrative of the macho man postwar painting scene that has so dominated the story of 20th century art. Through Sept. 4. 901 E. Third St., Los Angeles, hauserwirthschimmel.com.
“Gronk’s Theater of Paint,” at the Craft and Folk Art Museum. The Los Angeles artist Gronk (born Glugio Nicandro) is widely known for his career as a painter, conceptual artist and for his work with the inventive 1970s collective Asco. He is also a longtime set designer, one who has built and painted elaborate sets for performances, plays and avant-garde operas, including works by the celebrated director Peter Sellars. This exhibition that tracks a long-running practice that melds art and architecture with the theatrical. Through Sept. 4. 5814 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, cafam.org.
“Ed Ruscha: Books & Co.,” at Gagosian Gallery. For their summer group show, the gallery is gathering historic artist books by Ed Ruscha (think: the seminal “Every Building on the Sunset Strip”) and exhibiting them with a range of book and book-inspired works by other artists, such as Amy Park’s ambitious paintings project that renders Ruscha’s famous work as a series of watercolors, as well as other pieces that bear Ruscha’s influence in less direct ways, such as Jennifer Dalton’s exhaustive catalogue of potentially hazardous environmental sites in Brooklyn. Through Sept. 9. 456 N. Camden Drive, Beverly Hills, gagosian.com.
“Phantom Limb,” at Shulamit Nazarian. A group exhibition features the work of five artists whose work treads the line between the figurative and the abstract, including the wild collaged canvases of Trenton Doyle Hancock and the paintings of Scott Anderson, whose abstracted figures and landscapes manage to nod to art history even while feeling totally sci-fi. Through Sept. 9. 17 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, shulamitnazarian.com.
Ken Price, “Drawings,” at Matthew Marks Gallery. The gallery is displaying more than 40 drawings from the estate of the artist, one of the largest West Coast presentations of the famous ceramicist’s work on paper. He produced often whimsical and otherworldly renditions of mundane objects, as well as sketches for possible sculptures. The exhibition will also feature a small selection of the three-dimensional works. Through Sept. 10. 1062 N. Orange Grove Ave., West Hollywood, matthewmarks.com.
“Claire Falkenstein: Beyond Sculpture,” at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. The 20th century California artist, whose name has is circulating once again after being included in the debut exhibition at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, is now the subject of her own retrospective, tracking her entire career, from the 1930s to the ‘90s. (She passed away in 1997.) The artist, who worked in San Francisco and Los Angeles — as well as Paris — produced prints and murals, among other works, but she is best known for her sculpture: in particular, her often gritty assemblages made out of wire studded with chunks of glass. Through Sept. 11. 490 E. Union St., Pasadena, pmcaonline.org.
Danielle Abrams, “Quadroon,” at the Grand Central Art Center. A reference to someone who is one-quarter black, the term “quadroon” gets at the absolutist ways in which race is viewed in the United States. (Someone who is part black is regarded simply as black.) Abrams is part Jewish and part African American, and in this video installation, she picks apart the myriad elements — beyond simple ethnicity and race — that come together to make up any one person’s identity. Through Sept. 11. 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, grandcentralcenter.com.
Hito Steyerl: Factory of the Sun, at the Museum of Contemporary Art. A video installation by the German artist takes the viewer into a dystopia where the movements of workers are harvested to create artificial sunshine. The piece, which debuted at the Venice Biennale in 2015, is a mash-up of contemporary communication, told as video game, news report documentary film and Internet video. Through Sept. 12. MOCA, 250 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, moca.org.
Alex Da Corte, “A Season in He’ll,” at Art + Practice. An exhibition by the New Jersey-born conceptual artist includes a series of works inspired by French poet Arthur Rimbaud’s influential prose poem, “A Season in Hell,” which explores topics of morality, desire and death. In video and in sculptural installations — works that employ banal consumer goods and pop cultural tropes — Da Corte takes on these topics and others, touching on issues of identity, alienation and instability. Through Sept. 17. 4339 Leimert Blvd., Leimert Park, Los Angeles, hammer.ucla.edu and artandpractice.org.
Tanya Aguiñiga, Loie Hollowell and Lenore Tawney, “3 Women,” at the Landing. A three-woman show — inspired by the Robert Altman movie of the same name — serves as a cross-generational gathering of works that blur the line between craft and fine art. These are represented by the weavings of Tawney, a contemporary of painter Agnes Martin; Hollowell, who paints pulsing abstractions inspired by the female form; and Aguiñiga, who uses modern and traditional weaving techniques to create wild biomorphic forms. Through Sept. 17. 5118 Jefferson Blvd., West Adams, thelandinggallery.com.
“Reflections on the Self,” at the California African American Museum. Drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, this wide-ranging exhibition looks at the representation of the self, examining the idealized and mythicized ways that artists have portrayed pop and cultural icons, from Malcolm X to Thelonious Monk to a New Orleans grand marshal. Also on view at the museum is “Oh Snap! West Coast Hip Hop Photography,” which will feature an array of hip-hop artists who came up in the ’90s, such as Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur and others. Through Sept. 18. 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, caamuseum.org.
“Play: Open Call 2016,” at the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery. A community-based biennial riffs on the notion of “play” — featuring works of painting, photography, collage and more by 300 L.A. artists. Through Sept. 18. 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, lamag.org.
“In the Cut,” at Gallery Luisotti. A group show curated by Michael Peña explores the myriad meanings of the phrase “in the cut” — from the idea of a wound to places that are remote, either physically or psychologically. The show brings together photography by Sam Contis, Whitney Hubbs, Lisa Ohlweiler and Cindy Bernard, depicting secluded desert spaces, nudist camps and a Riverside ranch, among other spaces. Through Sept. 24. An artist’s reception will be held at 6 p.m. Aug. 13. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building A2, Santa Monica, galleryluisotti.com.
Fast Forward: The Architecture of William F. Cody, at the Architecture and Design Museum. A new exhibition looks at the career of one of Palm Springs’ most notable Modernist architects — known for a range of designs (some quite flamboyant) that included homes, condominiums, commercial centers and the temple-like El Dorado Country Club for a clientele that included Frank Sinatra, Walt Disney and Bing Crosby. Through Sept. 25. 900 E. Fourth St., downtown Los Angeles, aplusd.org.
Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle and Tyler Matthew Oyer, “Exploring The Nowannago: Kentifrican Modes of Resistance,” at Grand Central Art Center. A combination of performance and video piece, “Exploring the Nowannago” is part of Hinkle’s long-running exploration of the ways in which black female bodies are commoditized and exoticized. Also on display is Jesse Kees’ sound installation featuring a series of pieces drawn from the artist’s experience working in Santa Ana. Through Oct. 16. 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, grandcentralartcenter.com.
“London Calling,” at the Getty Museum. Drawn primarily from the collection of the Tate in London, this exhibition brings together six of the leading British painters of the 20th century, figures who resisted trends toward abstraction to focus on the figure, revolutionizing the act of painting in the process. Through Nov. 13. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.
WATCH: Writer-director Guillermo del Toro takes us on a tour through Bleak House, his suburban L.A. home where he has amassed a formidable collection of art, books, horror movie props and other oddities that serve as inspiration for the filmmaker.
“Guillermo del Toro: At Home With Monsters,” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The filmmaker’s work — which includes movies such as “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Hellboy” and “Pacific Rim” — all play with notions of the fantastical. This exhibition looks at the director’s artistic process, including plenty of drawings and maquettes, along with the objects that inspire him (including some truly odd and macabre works from LACMA’s permanent collection). These are presented in a series of thematic rooms that explore magic, occultism, death and monsters. A totally wild ride. Through Nov. 27. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.
Marcos Ramirez ERRE and David Taylor, “Delimitations: A Survey of the 1821 United States-Mexico Border,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. In 2014, Ramirez and Taylor set out on a more than 3,000-mile journey to mark the 1821 border between the U.S. and Mexico, which took them to unlikely places such as Medicine Bow, Wyo., and Dodge City, Kan. This exhibition presents photography and other documentation from that journey, one that looks at the fragile nature of political borders. Also on view will be the wild urban architecture-inspired sculptures of L.A. artist Ruben Ochoa — rising like monsters from the gallery floor. A pair of shows not to miss. Through Nov. 27. Jacobs Building, 1100 Kettner Blvd., downtown San Diego, mcasd.org.
“American Mosaic: Picturing Modern Art Through the Eye of Duncan Phillips,” at the Orange County Museum of Art. In the early 20th century, at a time when many U.S. moguls were focusing on amassing European masters, banking and steel scion Duncan Phillips focused his collecting efforts on American art, acquiring canvases by now venerated painters such as Thomas Eakins, Marsden Hartley, Winslow Homer, Georgia O’Keeffe and Helen Frankenthaler. This exhibition brings together more than five dozen works from his collection. Through Dec. 4. 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, ocma.net.
“The Spun Universe: Wixárika (Huichol) Yarn Paintings,” at the Fowler Museum. A new show at the Fowler gathers the brightly woven yarn paintings of Wixárika artist Ramón Medina Silva, known for his elaborate compositions depicting astral figures, holy plants and important ritual objects, all crafted with brilliant threads. Through Dec. 4. UCLA, 308 Charles E. Young Drive N., Westwood, Los Angeles, fowler.ucla.edu.
“MOLAA at Twenty: 1996-2016,” at the Museum of Latin American Art. The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach is celebrating two decades in existence with a show that draws from the museum’s permanent collection of more than 1,600 objects. These include works by renowned Modernists Joaqun Torres-Garca and Wifredo Lam, Argentine conceptualist Len Ferrari as well as contemporary figures such as Alexandre Arrechea and Patssi Valdez. Through Jan. 1. 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach, molaa.org.
Ernesto Yerena Montejano, “Espejismo/Cicatriz,” at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes. A series of intensely detailed, layered collages by the Los Angeles-based artist explore issues of identity in the Latino community. Through Jan. 1. 501 N. Main St., downtown Los Angeles, lapca.org.
“Senses of Time: Video and Film-Based Works of Africa,” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. For one of its long-term installations, the museum has gathered works of video or film by contemporary African artists that explore the body and the looping nature of time. This includes pieces by figures such as Yinka Shonibare, Sammy Baloji, Berni Searle, Moatax Nasr and Theo Eshetu. Through Jan. 2. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.
“Non Fiction” at the Underground Museum. An emotionally charged exhibition curated by the late Noah Davis, in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles brings together works that explore issues of race and violence. This includes important works from MOCA’s permanent collection by artists such as Robert Gober, Kara Walker, Henry Taylor and David Hammons. Through March. 3508 W. Washington Blvd., Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, theunderground-museum.org.
“Islamic Art Now: Part 2” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Contemporary works from LACMA’s permanent collection by 20 artists who live in or have roots in the Middle East look at questions of society, gender and identity. Runs indefinitely. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.
Loris Gréaud, “Sculpt,” at the L.A. County Museum of Art. The entire theater has been taken over by the European artist for a film that only screens to one person at a time. The nonlinear picture follows “a man about whom we know very little, who seems to be constantly developing the concept of what experiencing beauty, thought, or obsession can be,” according the write-up. Times critic Christopher Knight describes it as “pretentious and uninvolving.” A good hate-watch, maybe? On view through a yet to be determined date. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.
Stay up on the latest with our weekly Essential Arts & Culture newsletter. Sign up today! »
Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.
ALSO
In Gary Edward Blum’s paintings, everything is not what it seems
The art of the developmentally disabled on its own terms, minus the lens of sympathy
Laura Lasworth paintings read as luminous reflections of life
L.A. theater openings, Aug. 28-Sept. 4: ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ and more
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
