Category: Art/Culture
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A Case for Black Art History Month in Los Angeles
We tend to define key visual art moments through seminal shows that seek to define, map, and place an artist’s work in a historical context. In Los Angeles, many of these moments revolve around large-scale exhibitions like the Hammer’s Made in L.A. biennial or the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time. When they are executed well, these…
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Artist a Day: Fred Eversley
“The genesis of energy is central to the mystery of our existence as animate beings in an inanimate universe.” Fred Eversley Fred Eversley was an electronic engineer who turned curiosity and experimentation into sculptures that capture his fascination with light and energy. His work beautifully merges art and science in a practice that’s defined by…
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Artist a Day: Frieze Edition
Art fairs are like glorified prom nights for collectors and as such, galleries are the poor chauffeurs, dress makers, and florists that have to cater to whims of giddy, hopeful, attendees– Frieze L.A. was no exception. For those of us who are outside both the blue chip collector class and the P&L engines that drive…
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Artist a Day: Kehinde Wiley
Over the last 2 months, every museum that I have visited has featured work by Kehinde Wiley, and this piece at Duke’s Nasher Museum of Art is probably one of my favorites purely because of its location. St. John the Baptist II is part of the Nasher’s permanent collection, and they chose to place the…
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Artist a Day: Ming Smith
As a young model in New York, Ming Smith was drawn to photography and portraiture. Her friendship with photographer Anthony Barboza cultivated her artistic interests and she eventually became the first woman to join New York’s Kamoinge’s photography collective. In 1975 MoMA acquired one of her works making Smith the first Black woman photographer represented…
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Artist a Day: William T. Williams
I’ve been thinking about the traveling exhibition Soul of a Nation and the artists, particularly the abstract painters from this era and how they approached their work during the tumultuous societal and economic shifts that took place between the 1960s and 1970s in New York. One common thread among many of the artists in the Black Arts…
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With Gratitude, So Long 2018!
One of the last shows I attended in 2018 was the Fowler Museum’s Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths. Of the 200+ works on display which included tools, totems, weapons, jewelry, and adornments, the most interesting items told stories of people who commissioned blacksmiths to create pieces that told their life story. Other works…
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Unsynthesized Intuitions: Confronting Discomfort with Adrian Piper
As I left Adrian Piper’s “Concepts and Intuitions” at the Hammer museum, I noticed a series of wooden structures resembling voting booths positioned outside of the exhibit’s entrance. I walked into one of the private booths steadying myself as I prepared to write in the binder that was resting on a shelf in front of…
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“Project Blue Boy” Gives Visitors a Glimpse Into an Historic Restoration
The Huntington Library acquired The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough in 1921, and it has graced the walls of the Library as one of it’s crown jewels ever since. The piece has never been loaned or taken out of view for an extended period of time, and the only exception was made in 2017 when…
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Popular Collector Event Makes a Comeback in L.A.
Incognito is what happens when the Hunger Games meets a Blind Box Toy pop up- it’s a race toward the unknown. The ICA LA recently resurrected its wildly popular, mysteriously enigmatic fundraising event to mark their one year anniversary in their new DTLA space. Incognito displays over 400 works of art by 350 artists whose…
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 