Category: Los Angeles
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Kerry James Marshall’s Mastry Examines the Power of the Image
In 2008, artist Kerry James Marshall was the subject of an oral history interview with the Smithsonian Institute where he recalled his childhood memory of the Watts riots of 1965. He remembered hearing sirens and seeing smoke, miles away coming from where he used to live in Nickerson Gardens. Over the course of the afternoon…
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Last Call! Signifying Form at the Landing Gallery
To signify means, “to make a sign or signal”. In a NYT book review penned by professor John Wideman in 1988, the writer explains how the practice of “signifying” assumes a more nuanced connotation within the black community. “In black vernacular, Signifying is a sign that words cannot be trusted, that even the most literal utterance…
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Playlist-30 Day Music Challenge
It’s not all about art reviews over here, and today I decided to share some music with you all. I simply cannot overstate how important music is in my life, and for that I am forever grateful to my dad for bringing me up around an eclectic array of musical artists. For those of you…
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Extreme Times Call for Extreme Heroines: Betye Saar at the Craft & Folk Art Museum
Wall color plays a specific role in Betye Saar’s latest exhibit at the Craft and Folk Museum in Los Angeles. The second floor gallery is painted in a soft shade of stone blue and in the world of laundry products, blue is a color reflector that makes whites appear whiter. The color has been a…
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Holding a Mirror to Ourselves: Genevieve Gaignard in The Powder Room
“We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay – and rise!” ~Dr. Maya Angelou We are arguably our most vulnerable when we are alone with a mirror. It’s…
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Kevin Beasley at the Hammer
Last month Daily Serving featured my shotgun review of Kevin Beasley’s current installation at the Hammer Museum. Check it out! The installation will be on view at the Hammer through April 23, 2017. Daily Serving: Hammer Projects: Kevin Beasley at the Hammer Museum For more on Kevin Beasley click here.
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Talking Heads: Jimmie Durham & Wangechi Mutu
I recently encountered two similar works of art, one in L.A. and the other online: the first is by an artist with a 40+ year career who has self selected out of the U.S. art scene for over 2 decades and the second is from a Kenyan born artist with a Brooklyn based practice…
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Artist a Day Challenge (27): Kerry James Marshall
As I near the end of my Artist a Day Challenge for Black History Month, I bring you to the very first name on my list of artists to feature this year, and that is Kerry James Marshall. Mastry, Marshall’s critically acclaimed and highly anticipated retrospective is finally coming to MOCA Los Angeles in March after its two successful runs…
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Artist of the Day Challenge (26): Henry Taylor
Upon graduating from Cal Arts in the mid 90’s, Los Angeles artist Henry Taylor has cultivated a career as a portrait artist who uses his medium to connect with his subjects. That familiarity shows through in his work as most of his portraits come from impromptu encounters with the people who find themselves in his orbit: family, friends andhomeless people in…
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Artist a Day Challenge (24): Mark Bradford’s Homage to the Roxy
I have this mythologized view of New York that I have created entirely from the city’s nightclub scene between 1973 and 1987. The Loft, the Gallery, the Paradise Garage and the Roxy sit at the center of this utopia, with the music in these venues acting as the heartbeat of the city. Notice I didn’t mention Studio 54, because in my…
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 