Michele StuevenThe Hammer Museum at UCLA has announced its Spring 2026 exhibitions lineup, featuring four diverse and interdisciplinary shows: Arthur Jafa: The White Album, an experimental film about the power of visual media to influence Black music and the American culture; SPACE IS THE PLACE: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, an exploration of afro-futurism, belonging, and placemaking through works by 30 artists; Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials, an ambitious exhibition revealing the intertwined relationship between living materials and contemporary art.
Also starting on Easter Sunday, April 5, through January 2027, Hammer Projects: Mike Cloud, mixed-media assemblages that highlight contemporary social and political issues, will be on display.
Grunwald 70th anniversary show,
Albrecht Dürer, The Babylonian Whore., woodcut. UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Gift of the UCLA Art Council, 1966
Cloud is a Chicago-based artist who explores social and political issues through the visual language of abstraction. It will be the artist’s first solo museum presentation on the West Coast, and will scale the expanse of the museum’s lobby wall and present three “loosely abstracted portraits”, including two commissioned works, collaged from paper grocery bags, magazine advertisements, cash, and other printed materials. Additionally, Cloud will exhibit works from Painted Clothing (2007–08), a series of collages fashioned from children’s clothing, which comment on the relationship between consumer culture and childhood through visual signifiers such as dragons, fairies, and rainbows.
The opening celebration takes place on Saturday, April 4. Explore the galleries after hours with late-night access, soundtracked by DJs from Chulita Vinyl Club in the courtyard. Throughout the evening, there will be interactive moments, including a photobooth and a hands-on cyanotype art-making activity. Food and drinks will be available for purchase all night. The event is free and open to the public.
On Saturday, April 11, at Debris in Echo Park, Art for the Cure will take place, a one-day, benefit art show that honors the artistic legacies of Jill “Fiora” Kirshbaum and Dr. John Groper. About 85 works from Ghettogloss gallery owner and Silver Lake Flea founder Kirshbaum will be displayed, including paintings, silkscreens, and mixed-media prints, as well as small classical sculptures by Dr. John Groper.
Courtesy Jill “Fiora” Kirshbaum
Proceeds from the sale of the artworks will benefit Susan G. Komen, the non-profit breast cancer foundation for breast cancer research. The founder of Ghettogloss Gallery and the Silver Lake Flea, artist Kirshbaum has been recognized for her graphic sensibility and large-scale, brightly colored canvases with cartoon-like forms and edgy punk-influenced visuals overlaid with text.
Her fascination with color, bold graphics, and found photos of iconic cultural figures grace her canvases, blending silk screen techniques, spray-painted motifs, and acrylics. Groper’s small clay figure sculptures with hand-painted patinas will be presented.
This will be the final event at Debris, next to the TAIX restaurant in the heart of Echo Park, before the Debris building and TAIX’s demolition. The Silverlake Flea will move from the TAIX parking lot to its new permanent location at Blueground at Reframe Studios in Atwater Village, starting on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5, and every Saturday from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m and Sunday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m thereafter. For more information about the benefit art show, contact the Silver Lake Flea, (323) 467-0623.
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Art Park will present Heavy Metal, a major group exhibition made up of 20 artists, which revisits and challenges historically dominant narratives of large-scale sculpture. Concurrently, the gallery presents two focused solo exhibitions: Ivan Bridges: Infinite Game and Rachel Bridges: I’m Not Your Filipina (coincidentally, they’re married but maintain separate art practices). Together, the three exhibitions examine material sensitivity, memory, and the psychological and cultural weight carried by objects and images. The exhibitions are on view now through Saturday, June 20, with a free opening reception for the public on Saturday, April 4, from 2 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Beatriz Cortez, The Lakota Porch: A Time Traveler, 2017 Steel, Courtesy of the artist and Commonwealth and Council