Los Angeles

November 3, 2021 • View in browser

Your Concise Art Guide for November 2021

Hey LA, we hope you enjoy this selection as much as we do. Below are suggestions for 10 different art dates, from the much-anticipated Holbein show at the Getty to a takeover of the USC Pacific Asia Museum.

— Matt Stromberg and Elisa Wouk Almino

Umar Rashid: En Garde / On God
Blum & Poe, November 6–December 18

There is revisionist history and then there is the work of Umar Rashid, who reimagines whole eras of colonial history to center those who have been pushed to the edges of accepted narratives. En Garde / On God is the latest entry in his saga chronicling the fictitious Frenglish Empire, which has taken shape over the past 15 years. Rashid draws on period artwork, afro-futurism, folk art, hip-hop, and a heterogeneous mix of styles and sources to create a tableau that is no more constructed than the histories which he critiques.

Intervention: Fresh Perspectives after 50 Years
USC Pacific Asia Museum, November 12, 2021–February 6, 2022

Since its founding in 1971, the USC Pacific Asia Museum has showcased the broad sweep of historical and contemporary arts in Asia, from exhibitions of ceremonial arts in Indonesia and Korean folk paintings, to contemporary textiles in Pakistan and the influence of Mexican art on Chinese artists in the 20th century. Intervention features new artworks from seven Asian American artists and scholars who engage with the museum’s collection, presenting new perspectives on its history. Participating artists include Antonius Bui, Audrey Chan, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Amir Fallah, Akiko Jackson, Alan Nakagawa, and kate-hers RHEE.

Miguel Angel Payano Jr.: Elusive Nature
Make Room through November 20

Lips and eyes float across canvases, individuals in family portraits merge into one another, plants crawl out of sitter’s collars, and amazing sculptures composed of fur and toys resemble faces in Miguel Angel Payano’s work. In this solo show, the artist makes portraiture excitingly strange and sensual. 

the body is a blade (that sharpens by cutting)
Fellows of Contemporary Art through December 4

Curated by Vinhay Keo and Evelyn Hang Yin, The Body is a Blade (that sharpens by cutting) brings together three artists who examine how Black, brown, and other marginalized bodies can counter the violence of representation. Works include Samira Yamin’s interventions into popular news media that call into question their objectivity; Kenneth Yuen’s sleek, fiberglass fortune cookie; and Charlotte Zhang’s automotive roll cage with straps, resembling a performance art prop. A virtual panel discussion with the artists and curators will take place Saturday, November 13, from 1 to 2pm (PST).

Revolution Everywhere: Threshold of Resistance
University Art Galleries at UC Irvine through December 11

Revolution Everywhere highlights the potential of art to engender solidarity and perseverance in the context of authoritarianism and rising tensions around the globe. The show takes its title from a 2020 conversation between the Lebanese journalist and activist Joey Ayoub and the Hong Kong based Lausan Collective, and features large-scale works by Panos Aprahamian, Heather M. O’Brien, and Simon Liu. Through video installation, photography, and text, the artists illustrate specific strategies to deal with similar political situations.

Lukas Geronimas, Nevine Mahmoud, Vanessa McConnell
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery through December 12

The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery presents the first institutional solo exhibitions of three LA-based artists, who each emphasize materiality and process in their work. Lukas Geronimas presents new sculptures that recall ritualistic or devotional objects. Nevine Mahmoud crafts sensuously curved sculptures from marble, glass, and resin. And Vanessa McConnell’s paintings are defined by layered acrylic paint built up into textured surfaces that often incorporate found objects.

Tiffany Alfonseca: De las manos que nos crearon
The Mistake Room through December 18 

In popping paintings, Tiffany Alfonseca portrays Black Latinx grandmothers, mothers, and daughters going about their days, rearranging flowers, laughing with each other, and washing dishes. Based on Alfoneca’s own family photographs, the artworks reveal the home as another protagonist, a lens into the joys and struggles of Black Latinx people. 

Holbein: Capturing Character in the Renaissance
Getty Center through January 9, 2022 

In this anticipated exhibition, visitors get an intimate look at Hans Holbein the Younger’s intricate, and often expressive, portraits of aristocrats and royal families. Holbein also designed several books and emblems, which are astonishing to see 500 years after their creation.

Unseen Picasso
Norton Simon Museum through January 10, 2022

While prints are normally characterized by a uniformity in each edition, Unseen Picasso highlights works by the Spanish master that stand out for their distinctiveness. These include a version of the lithograph “Two Nude Women” (1946), the only one to be printed in color, as well as an artist’s proof of a 1939 aquatint of Dora Maar printed on Japan paper. Rather than focus on the breadth of his career, this selection of prints from the museum’s collection encourages close looking at a narrow slice.

Don Reitz: Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal
American Museum of Ceramic Art through February 20, 2022

Don Reitz is hailed as one of the most influential ceramicists of the 20th century for the “muscular anarchy” of his works and the way he “wrestled clay off the dinner table,” according to his New York Times obituary. Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal presents his “Sara Series” (1983-91), a body of work he produced after a series of tragedies: a debilitating auto accident, the death of his father, and the cancer diagnosis of his niece Sara. Onto slabs of clay rolled by his students, Reitz painted fanciful scenes inspired by childhood, reigniting his creative fire.

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CLOSING SOON

Betye Saar: Black Doll Blues
Roberts Projects through November 6

Acting Out: Cabinet Cards and the Making of Modern Photography, 1870-1900
 LACMA through November 7

Encoding Futures: Critical Imaginaries of AI
Oxy Arts through November 19

WAVE – New Currents in Japanese Graphic Arts
Japan House Los Angeles through November 28

Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration
Craft in America Center through December 4