DAILY NEWS, VIEWS, REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS
CRITICS' PICKS, OPENINGS, YOUR VIDEOS, YOUR BLOGS

Among the highlights this month in LA are Matthew Ronay's latest show at Marc Foxx (don't miss the video we are also showing today); new paintings by Ami Tallman and Tomory Dodge; an exhibition of 15 Romanian artists; and Blum & Poe's inaugural show in their new space.

Justin Lieberman's 2007 installation 'Kurt Russell: RE-GENESIS' is a thorough assessment of the actor's hodgepodge of roles and slow move towards "cult" status. The series consists of 12 paintings, each incorporating a movie poster from a Kurt Russell film. Collaging, painting and defacing their surfaces, Lieberman worked each poster into an assemblage that was aesthetically guided by the respective movie's plot or poster design. ... read more...

LA's best summer shows include 'Bitch is the New Black' (below) at Honor Fraser, which features a group of LA-based female artists, 'Interiority Complex' at Artist Curated Projects, and a survey of 12 Korean artists at LACMA.

Highlights in LA include paintings and posters by Jason Yates (below), a new series of portraits by Kehinde Wiley, John Waters's film stills in which nothing is ever off limits, Mike Kelley's black and white photo editions and the first full-scale US survey for West Coast artist Larry Johnson.

The winner of the March Saatchi Online Studio competition is 李奇安 from China. Saatchi Online correspondent, Catherine Taft, comments: "I was struck by the spontaneity of this work, and the way in which the artist has managed to create online a sense of fluidity, characteristic of traditional Chinese painting'. The Saatchi Gallery will donate £500 in the artist's name to a children's hospital of the winner's choice.
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Highlights in LA in March and April include a solo show by Swedish painter Sigrid Sandstrom (below), a major retrospective for Dan Graham, nine of LA's 'most visionary' artists at the Hammer, the late Stan Vanderbeek's expanded cinema installation 'Movie Mural' and a solo show by Sophie von Hellerman, her first in LA for five years.

The winner of the February Saatchi Online Studio competition is Noredin Art from the US. Saatchi Online correspondent, Kate Cary Evans, comments: "Against a wall background this tonally flat image of a figure references graffiti art but this image is far from the static stylised forms which usually appear on urban walls. The contrasting layers of rollered marks and fast scribbles give the form texture, complexity and an unexpected feeling of motion." The Saatchi Gallery will donate £500 in the ... read more...

On view in LA this month are new candy-coloured paintings by Monique Prieto (below), wall-sized collages by Kirsten Stoltmann, Maaike Schoorell's negation of portraiture, photorealist paintings and graphite drawings by Becca Mann depicting the Romanov dynasty, and a series of new photographic works by Farrah Karapetian.

Saatchi Online's LA correspondent selects her top 10 shows of the year in the city including Guy de Cointet at Overduin and Kite, Francis Alys at the Hammer, the inaugural show at Chinatown's new collaborative exhibition space Cottage Home, Allan Krapow at MoCA, Vishal Jugdeo's impressive video installation at LAXART and Margie Schnibbe at Circus Gallery (below). ... read more...

Not to be missed this month in LA - the California biennial which features over fifty artists and collectives with a pointed political tone; Lebanese artist Lamia Ziade presenting intimate interior scenes rendered in textiles; sculptural origami by Damien Echols (below), a death row inmate unfairly imprisoned in Arkansas; evidence of Keith Walsh's life-long passion for car culture; new paintings by Dutch artist Helen Verhoeven; and the Dave Muller Musical Library. ... read more...

Don't miss Martin Kippenberger's first major retrospective in the US at LA MOCA, Nathalie Djurberg's debut US museum show at the Hammer, new works by Amanda Ross Ho, sculptural collages by Aaron Curry (below), and drawings by Raymond Pettibon.

This month in LA don't miss Julian Hoeber's bronze sculptures, German artist Michael Muller's US debut, Eleanor Antin's large tableau photographs, collaged compositions by Simmons and Burke, Japanese artist Keiichi Nitta first US solo show (after working with Terry Richardson for 6 years), and a show curated by writer Jan Tumlir that explores the urban psychology of Southern California (below). ... read more...

On view this month in LA are: a comprehensive show of John Lautner's visionary architecture, Marlene Dumas' first mid-career survey to be organized in the United States, solo shows by Kori Newkirk and Roni Horn, an exhibition of work by French drawing collective Frederic Magazine (below), and the L.A. Art Girls' take on the art fair.

Up this summer in LA are group shows inspired by books and Southern California's unique winds, plus solo exhibitions for two exciting young LA-based artists, Ali Smith (below) and Ami Tallman, and a debut in the city for Spanish artist, Antonio Ballester Moreno at Peres Projects.

The winner of the June Your Studio competition is Moti Sagron from Tel Aviv, Israel. The Los Angeles-based critic Catherine Taft writes about the winning work (below): 'This image is intensely abstract yet suggestively figurative in its careful balance between line and form; the basic outline of a body, seen from behind, emerges from fragmented lines and bold streaks of fleshy color. The figure's gender, features and visage remain compelling mysteries.' The Saatchi Gallery will donate £500 in t... read more...

On in LA this month: Sterling Ruby's towering stalagmite sculptures (below), Tillman Kaiser's first US show, collages by Jean Conner, a solo show by Kris Martin, new sculptural works by Liz Craft, Noah Sheldon's kinetic, instrument-like devices, plus the sequel to Andrea Zittel's "Raugh Furniture" series, entitled "Energetic Accumulators."

The winner of the May Your Studio competition is the Brooklyn-based Jessica Findley. Trent Morse, Saatchi Online Magazine regular correspondent, comments: 'At first I assumed this drawing was a self-portrait or perhaps a tribute to Natalie Portman. But the sitter's identity soon became clear: it is a deft rendering of Saatchi Online Magazine's Berlin correspondent Alix Rule. By scrawling 'I Choose You' next to Alix's headshot, Jessica Findley turns the tables on us critics and judges. And the cy... read more...

Not to miss in LA this month: Mark Bradford's new rooftop project, "Help Us", which reads like an S.O.S. following some mass disaster (to watch a video of Bradford's new work click here), Erika Vogt's exploration of portraiture, a debut show for Shana Lutker, Andrea Cohen's complex topographies which seem on the verge of collapse (below), and solo shows for Sandeep Mukherjee, Margie Schnibbe, Emilie Halpern, Naotaka Hiro, Ellen Berkenblit and Monika Baer. ... read more...

To give a concrete presence to an art practice that is based in ideas and actions rather than in objects, has been a challenge since the earliest days of conceptual art. For example, there is always the danger that an audience will confuse mere documentation of a happening with the circumstantial meaning of the actual event. Seekers of Lice, who take their name from Arthur Rimbaud's early symbolist poem, Les Chercheuses de Poux (1871), seem to have addressed this challenge by presenting their id... read more...

Highlights in LA this month include photographs and videos by Chen Xiaoyun, Lesley Vance's paintings of poppies and nautili, Bill Komoski's kaleidoscopic canvases, the opening of a new gallery Norma Desmond Productions, plus a group show with work by Michael Arcega, Sam Durant and Mary Kelly.

Combining painting, drawing, and collage with a virtuosic fever, Elliott Hundley creates fantastical worlds full of cryptic imagery and allegorical meaning. Catch a talk with the artist at the Guggenheim, on Wednesday 12 December.