Happy New Year! Hope your year is filled with great artful experiences.
Upcoming Noteworthy Events
The Annual Women’s March is on Saturday, January 18th from 10-4 p.m. and begins at Pershing Square in downtown L.A.
Another compelling event is the conversation between Jill Moniz and Alison Saar at the California African American Museum on Thursday, Feb. 5, 7-9 p.m.
In Conversation: Constance Mallinson and Rebecca Lowery on Thursday, January 23, 2020, 7 p.m. at MOCA Grand Avenue.
IN THE GALLERIES
Lois Lambert Gallery presents Gratitude, a compilation of 20 years of work by artist Hillary Gruenberg. The exhibit includes oil paintings, books, works on paper, and her latest work: paintings on silk, taffeta and satin. January 11-March 2, 2020.
Hillary Gruenberg
Opening Reception: January 11, 2020; 6-9 p.m.
I am so looking forward to the upcoming exhibit at Walter Maciel Gallery, Lezley Saar: Conjuring of Conjurers. Saar’s work always delights. January 11-February 22, 2020. Opening Reception: Saturday, January 11, 6-8p.m.
Lezley Saar
Anat Egbi 2 gallery presents Amsterdam-based artist, Amie Dicke: One-Liner. It is a series of horizontal image compositions made up of fragments of images she culled from books and magazines, as well as snapshots taken with her camera, which she refers to half-jokingly as the “cold eye”. January 11-February 16, 2020.
Amie Dicke
George Billis Gallery presents Connie Connally: Wild by Nature. Expressive brushwork and sweeping gestural marks fill her canvases of brightly colored observations and memories of nature. January 11-February 15, 2020. Opening Reception: Sat., Jan. 11, 5-8pm.
Connie Connally
Loft at Liz’s presents Collaborate and Curate curated by Andi Campognone. In what looks like an amazing selection of artists who collaborated in pairs, the results are sure to be nothing short of amazing. Alex Couwenberg & Lisa Schulte, Snezana Saraswati Petrovic & Chenhung Chen, Karen Hochman Brown & Ann Marie Rousseau, Samuelle Richardson & Catherine Ruane, Kate Carvellas & Jill Sykes, Randi Matushevitz & Debbie Korbel, Stevie Love & Cudra Clover are just some of the collaborating artists. January 18- May 3, 2020. Artist Talk-Collaborating as a Community: Tuesday, January 28, 1-4 p.m. Collaboration Workshop: Saturday, February 29, 1-4 p.m.
Katie Herzog: Yankee Candle is the upcoming exhibition at Klowden Mann Gallery. The exhibition features works made over the last year and a half in a rural cattle-ranching community in Central California. Herzog uses a variety of mediums and formats to present a layered narrative responding to issues and materials defining the current political and commercial landscape. January 18th to February 29th, 2020. Opening reception: Saturday January 18th , 6-8pm. Artist talk: Saturday February 15th at 4pm.
Katie Herzog
IN THE MUSEUMS
Now is a good opportunity to visit the Wende Museum in Culver City, specializing in artwork, artifacts, archives, films, and personal histories from Cold War–era Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union relating to the period 1945–1991. Their current exhibition looks particularly intriguing: The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain.
“Medea: controversial archetype of female strength and passion from the East. In the years before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, East European writers and painters often turned to ancient mythology to express their discontent with authoritarian rule. Their interpretations of mythological figures like Medea, Cassandra, and Penthesilea were crucial in shaping contemporary images for women, and sometimes they were straight-up punk. Working under the radar of the accepted art establishment, the artists in this exhibition provoked, protested, played with fire, and experimented while refusing socialist and bourgeois stereotypes. The Medea Insurrection was conceptualized and curated by Susanne Altmann for the Albertinum (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden). It has been adapted by the Wende Museum for its Culver City appearance.” Among the many artists whose works are included: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Tina Bara, Chelle Barbour, Sibylle Bergemann, Geta Brătescu, Anna Daučíková, Lezley Saar, Zorka Ságlová, Christine Schlegel, Cornelia Schleime, Gabriele Stötzer, Erika Stürmer-Alex, Hanne Wandtke, Doris Ziegler, and Sichong Xie. Thru April 5, 2020.
Sibylle Bergemann
Käthe Kollwitz: Prints, Process, Politics continues at the Getty Center Research Institute galleries. Kollwitz, one of the foremost graphic artists of the 20th century, is celebrated for her printmaking skills used to depict the hardships of war, poverty, and injustice as well as for her technical virtuosity. A selection of works on paper including rare preparatory drawings, working proofs, and trial prints—shed light on Kollwitz’s creative process and reveals the depth of her social and political engagement. Thru March 29, 2020.
Käthe Kollwitz
Shirin Neshat: I Will Greet the Sun Again is the main exhibition at The Broad. The exhibition includes over 200 photographs and eight immersive video installations. Thru February 12, 2020.
Shirin Neshat
Don’t miss the exhibition of works by Julie Mehretu continuing at LACMA. This is a very extensive survey as It includes nearly 40 works on paper with 35 paintings dating from 1996 to the present by the Ethiopian-born artist. Here is a link to Art 21 to learn more about this artist. Floor 1 Thru March 22, 2019; Floor 3 thru May 17, 2020.
Also at LACMA Betye Saar: Call and Response continues. This wonderful yet rather small exhibition focuses on her sketchbooks and their transition to finished works in physical form. I found each of the works quite moving; they are personal, poetic and important. I recommend getting the catalogue. Continuing thru April 5, 2020.
Betye Saar
With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972–1985 at MOCA is the first full-scale scholarly survey of this groundbreaking American art movement, encompassing works in painting, sculpture, collage, ceramics, installation art, and performance documentation. Thru May 11, 2020.
Miriam Schapiro
At the end of the month is the 2nd Clay Biennial,The Body, The Object, The Other, opens at the Craft Contemporary. This group exhibition features 21 artists whose practices reflect the expanding notion of figuration within ceramics. All of the artists use the human body as their starting point to challenge traditional notions of representation, often going beyond the bounds of a recognizable figure. Among the participating artists are Jenny Hata Blumenfield, Phyllis Green, Raven Halfmoon, Roxanne Jackson, Anabel Juarez, Cynthia Lahti, Galia Linn, Nicole Seisler, and Meghan Smythe.
January 25-May 20, 2020. Opening reception: Saturday, February 1, 2020, 6 – 9 p.m. Curator’s Walkthrough: Holly Jerger and Andres Payan Estrada, Sunday, February 16, 2 p.m. | Free
Roxanne Jackson
