Michele StuevenBlackBook Art Gallery has released one of the most stunning and comprehensive art books ever published, Mother Nature in the Bardo, in collaboration with UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report.
The landmark book explores the intersections of art, culture, nature, and spirituality, tracing how some of the most noted artists have responded to shifting cultural and environmental paradigms over centuries.
Starting with the Impressionists’ reaction to the Industrial Revolution and their practice of painting en plein air, the book follows the trajectory through Modernism to the present day, considering how each generation of artists has reflected on and reshaped their relationship with nature.
Just some of the featured artists include Andy Warhol, Ai Weiwei, Marc Chagall, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Yoko Ono, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Kay WalkingStick, Salvador Dalí, Doug Aitken, Lita Albuquerque, Lucian Freud, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Georgia O’Keeffe, Ugo Rondinone, Ed Ruscha, Julian Schnabel, and Jonas Wood.
The book is sustainably produced and available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, online platforms, and on BlackBookPresents.com.
The Hour Wherein by Greg Breda (Courtesy Hammer Museum at UCLA)
Made in LA is back at the Hammer Museum at UCLA, featuring local emerging and under-recognized artists. The biennial event features 28 participants working across various disciplines, including film, painting, theater, choreography, photography, sculpture, mixed-media installation, sound, and video.
Some highlights include murals that engage the Los Angeles urban environment, including the recreation Eye on ’84 (1984) by the late Alonzo Davis for the museum lobby and a contemporary mural-scaled installation by Patrick Martinez.
There will be paintings by Greg Breda, Ali Eyal, Hanna Hur, Kristy Luck, and Beaux Mendes that expand the parameters of painting from within, and work by Carl Cheng and Pat O’Neill, who have been working and exhibiting in L.A. for more than sixty years, made mostly from industrial materials and cast-offs from the aerospace industry.
Also on display will be sculptures that bring a contemporary approach to traditional art media by Alake Shilling and Brian Rochefort, spotlighting the rich tradition of ceramics in LA. A full calendar of events is available on the Hammer’s website.
Artist Ana Teresa Fernández (Courtesy of Laguna Art Museum)
San Francisco–based, Mexico-born artist Ana Teresa Fernández’s SOS: Save Our Seas will take over Laguna’s Main Beach with mirrors, sculpture, and performance to create a massive public activation as a distress signal from Saturday, Nov. 1 through Monday, Nov. 10 as a call for climate and ocean action. The installation is part of Laguna Art Museum’s Art + Nature 2025 program.
Fernández is internationally recognized for site-responsive works that blend climate, culture, and identity. Her project is both visual and deeply community-focused, inviting 800 volunteers to participate in a mirrored installation that reflects the ocean while amplifying the urgent need for collective climate solutions.
Marine Scientist and photographer Oriana Poindexter will debut The Blue Forest at the Catalina Museum for Art and History, beginning on Saturday, Nov 8, running through Oct 11, 2026. The immersive installation places visitors in a labyrinth of life-size cyanotypes printed on silk and an underwater soundscape recorded off Catalina’s shoreline.
A Princeton- and Scripps Institution of Oceanography–trained scientist, Poindexter combines intense marine research with fine art practice, turning Catalina’s fragile kelp forests into a multisensory experience. Her story brings together the area’s natural environment, its science leadership, and its cultural institutions.
The Library of Esoterica, Meagan Boyd (Courtesy Gallery 33)
TASCHEN and The Library of Esoterica are presenting the group exhibition, Arcana: Art as Divination at Gallery 33 at the Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica, starting Wednesday, October. 8 through Monday, Nov. 10.
The ongoing series of visual encyclopedias explores esoteric art and philosophy, featuring artists who draw inspiration from divination, dreams, and intuition within their work. The exhibition brings together works by contemporary artists as well as rare historic examples, highlighting tarot and oracle decks not only as esoteric artifacts but as evolving artistic mediums that blend painting, illustration, and design.
Over centuries, creatives have used the oracle card format to explore questions of identity, ritual, and imagination. Arcana highlights how these ancient symbolic systems have been translated into modern expressions, art that functions as both a mirror and a map – a tool of reflection, imagination, and spiritual inquiry.
Throughout the Arcana exhibition run, Gallery 33 will be hosting artist talks, tarot readings, and performances. Featured artists include Meagan Boyd, Melinda Lee Holm, Rohan Eason, Michael Eaton, Arish A. Khan, Isis Indriya, Kim Krans, Penny Slinger, Elena Stonaker, Uusi, and Mike Willcox
Emergence from the Oubliette by Elena Stonaker (Courtesy Gallery 33)