August can be a slow month in the art world, but the 10 shows below offer some visual and conceptual delights before the big fall openings. UPEND gathers new perspectives on feminist solidarity and activism in the face of our current reactionary backsliding, while PUNK LIVES shows the long legacy of transgression and tumult that punk progenitors laid down 50 years ago. At Track 16 Gallery, a multi-faceted call to arms through the work of 35 artists encourages visitors to sit in our unease and glimpse new ways of living. Lila de Magalhaes’s captivating fabric works reveal the sex lives of insects and other life forms, while Dogs & Dads offers a reappraisal of its two titular symbols of power and authority.

See the full list of shows to see in LA this month

NEWS ACROSS LA

Artist Says LA Billboard Reproduces His Text Without Permission

“If it was another artist doing it, recycling it into an artwork, that’s different, but this is an ad campaign,” David Horvitz told Hyperallergic. | Matt Stromberg 

Contemporary Artists Breathe New Life Into a Historic California Mansion

The John Rowland Mansion is now open to the public with site-specific contemporary artworks centering access and found materials. | Matt Stromberg 

FROM THE ARCHIVE

The Hand-Painted Signs and Murals of Latinx LA

Sign painters and muralists have helped create the visual language of Los Angeles. | Samantha Helou Hernandez