Los Angeles
March 1, 2023

10 Art Shows to See in LA This March

Now that the fairs are over, it may seem like the Los Angeles art world is settling down and getting back to normal, but the art on view this month is still volatile and boundary-pushing. Sculpture is packing a punch, whether it’s Alison Saar’s radical, revisionist take on racist, colonial imagery, or Kathleen Ryan’s fabulously fetid depictions of American exceptionalism, rot and all.

Two-dimensional work kicks back just as fiercely, from Luis Garza’s documentation of Chicano activism of the late 1960s and early 1970s to an exhibition of art as activism at Subliminal Projects. Korakrit Arunanondchai uses fire and ash as creative elements, while Gaetano Pesce proves that his delightfully unrestrained designs still offer a welcome rejoinder to staid Modernism after more than five decades.

— Matt Stromberg

See our full list of highlights.

FIRSTS & DEBUTS

Trulee Hall Creates a Paradise of Lesbian Forest Nymphs

In the artist’s first feature-length film, Ladies Lair Lake, the choice to not have children is presented as valid and dignified. | Renée Reizman

LA’s Hottest New Gallery Is in a Cemetery

Artist Nao Bustamante debuted Grave Gallery on a 3-by-7-foot burial plot at the historic Hollywood Forever cemetery. | Matt Stromberg

California’s City of Compton Gets Its Own Museum

“We don’t have to go to Long Beach, or Downtown, or West LA to the Getty,” said artist Anthony Lee Pittman. “We can see art right here.” | Matt Stromberg

CRITIC'S PICKS

Chloë Bass: Wayfinding
Nov. 17–Mar. 12, 2023
Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 North Sepulveda Boulevard, Bel Air (skirball.org)

Wayfinding features five themed sections of 30-plus different styles of signage throughout the Skirball’s outdoor campus. Each sign poses a text that quietly pokes at the truths you’ve hidden from yourself or features an image of bodies touching that stirs up a sense of tenderness. For this show, its final stop after a multi-year national tour, Bass added the fifth site-specific section as well as an accompanying audio work.

— Nereya Otieno

Read the review.

Alicia Piller: Within
Jan. 29–May 7, 2023
Craft Contemporary, 5814 Wilshire Boulevard, Mid-Wilshire (craftcontemporary.org) 

Alicia Piller’s awe-inspiring sculptures give the impression of everyday material run amok, threatening to expand and overwhelm us like a mutant mycological strain. Her constructions incorporate xeroxed photos, found objects, and dried plants, with resin and latex, creating forms that are alien on the macro level but familiar up close. Within is her first solo museum exhibition, a site-specific installation curated by jill moniz that zooms between geological vastness and biological minutiae to bring forgotten histories into sharp focus.

Amir H. Fallah: The Fallacy of Borders
Jan. 29–May 14, 2023
Fowler Museum at UCLA, 308 Charles E. Young Drive North, Westwood (fowler.ucla.edu)

Amir Fallah draws on a rich mixture of sources, from Persian miniatures to children’s books, botanical illustrations, maps, and textile patterns to compose his vibrant, maximalist paintings. The Fallacy of Borders, his first museum show in Los Angeles, presents painting, sculpture, stained glass, and printed matter that reflect his own experiences with migration, material culture, and multi-faceted identity.

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OUTSIDE LA

Eight California Art Spaces Off the Beaten Track

California is a big state: 163,696 square miles connected by nearly 400,000 miles of roadways. Given that imposing vastness, it’s easy for even dedicated art lovers to have missed some of the area’s many varied and engaging art experiences. To help fill in the gaps, this list presents eight art spaces that justify an art pilgrimage.

— John Seed