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DAILY NEWS, VIEWS, REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS
CRITICS' PICKS, OPENINGS, YOUR VIDEOS, YOUR BLOGS
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Kehinde Wiley
Kehinde Wiley
Roberts and Tilton
Through May 30
In his third solo show with Roberts and Tilton, artist Kehinde Wiley presents the newest portraits in his World Stage series, this time venturing to Brazil to paint young men from the streets and favelas of Rio De Janeiro. With the seriousness of each sitter's face and the angles of his body juxtaposed with bright floral backgrounds and colorful football jerseys, these large scale canvases conflate outright expressions of masculinity with a soft festiveness that might characterize the South American country.
Alexis Smith
Alexis Smith
Thomas Solomon Gallery and Margo Leavin Gallery
Both through 23 May
This month, Alexis Smith presents new work in two concurrent shows - "Play It As It Lays" at Tom Solomon in Chinatown and "Imitation of Life" at Margo Leavin in West Hollywood. Both exhibitions are driven by found images and objects that have inspired new works and, in many cases, reflect the ways in which we embody the cultural clutter around us.
Sandra Vasquez de la Horra
Sandra Vasquez de la Horra
Daniel Weinberg Gallery
Through May 23
Sandra Vasquez de la Horra's pencil drawings on yellowed paper are darkly whimsical and symbolically loaded. The Chilean artist's recent L.A. exhibition, "Confesiones de una Musa," presents imagery that is sexual, childlike, familial, and folkloric and taps into the hidden worlds of human and animals, the living and the dead.
John Waters
John Waters
Gagosian Gallery
Through May 23
Hollywood's Hays Code of 1930 dictated, among other things, that "the treatment of low, disgusting, unpleasant, though not necessarily evil, subjects should always be subject to the dictates of good taste and a regard for the sensibilities of the audience." In "Rear Projection," a new exhibition of photographs, John Waters once again bends such dated rules of taste presenting a slew of film stills in which nothing is ever off limits.
Installation view
MATTHEW BRANNON, MARCEL BROODTHAERS, JAMES LEE BYARS, WILLIAM E. JONES
David Kordansky Gallery
Through June 13
This four-man, conceptually driven show draws parallels between two artists of an older generation, the late Byars and Broodthaers, and two contemporary artists, Brannon and Jones. While the work can be unyielding at times, it looks strong and distinct in Kordansky's impressive new gallery space.
Jason Yates
Jason Yates
Circus Gallery
May 23 - June 27
In contrast to the bold lines and designy seriousness of Kordansky's group show is this solo show by Jason Yates across town at Circus. Yates, a recent Art Center graduate, is known for his frequent print work for experimental bands like Animal Collective and Ariel Pink. In this exhibition, he brings together these far-out poster designs with a "more formal" group of canvases.
João Paulo Feliciano in 'New Age Riot'
New Age Riot
Country Club
Through July 4
In typical summer group show fashion, "New Age Riot" brings a strong selection of primarily New York artists (and a couple from L.A. and Manila) to the city. With work that channels heart-breaking adolescence, creepy nostalgia, and trippy high-times, this show arrives just in time for the long, hot California summer.
Mike Kelley
Mike Kelley
Patrick Painter, Inc
Through July 11
In this dense exhibition of several of Kelley's black and white photo editions, one can trace the various fascinations and themes that have run throughout the artist's oeuvre for over two decades. The show includes photos dating from the mid-1980s that resonate with recent large-scale projects, most notably Kelley's Day Is Done series from 2005.
Olga Koumoundouros
Olga Koumoundouros
REDCAT
Through August 23
Olga Koumoundouros' exhibition "Demand Management" will be one of several architecturally-related shows that have transformed REDCAT's gallery space into a site for social, economic, and political commentary through monumental form. This will be a new, site-specific commission for the artist and, as REDCAT is housed inside the massive design monument that is the Walt Disney Concert Hall, I hope Koumoundouros will make good use of received notions of such urban, public and cultural spaces.
Larry Johnson
Larry Johnson
Hammer Museum
Through September 6
What the Met's Pictures Generation show fails to make explicitly clear is that so many of the Pictures Generation artists began their careers on the West Coast before moving East to define what we now consider a characteristically New York art movement. Larry Johnson was among the many important artists that CalArts produced in the early 1980s and unlike artists like Allan McCollum or David Salle, Johnson stayed in Los Angeles. This exhibition, Johnson's first full-scale U.S. survey, should lay bare why the artist's distinctive brand of photography, drawing, writings and painting remain undeniably tied to the cultural landscape and psychologies of Los Angeles.
Catherine Taft |
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Catherine Taft is a Los Angeles-based writer and critic. Her writing on contemporary art and culture has appeared in magazines including Modern Painters, Art Review, Artforum.com, and Metropolis M and in various museum catalogs. Her recent projects include curating a series of video and film screenings throughout LA, and research and curatorial assistance for the Getty Museum's exhibition, 'California Video' (March 2008). |
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| Published on 19-05-2009 |
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