Shana Nys DambrotThis week’s calendar includes a drive-in movie campaign benefit, the virtual return of a beloved anonymous art sale, an audio-guided storytelling walking tour, several exciting and eclectic in-person gallery exhibitions, a storefront-window video art festival, and politically engaged poetry and performance art for streaming at home.
A Walk In My Neighborhood
Thursday, October 15
Audio Event: A Walk in My Neighborhood. Katie Lindsay has been taking a walk in her Atwater neighborhood every day since quarantine began. And now she would like to share it with you. This mile-long (half-hour give or take) is a guided morning tour in Atwater Village and along the L.A. River. Katie will be present in your ear, but you will be walking alone. You’ll meditate together on the present moment, the landscape, and history. All you’ll need is comfy shoes and a mask, a smartphone for the audio file, and earbuds. Address provided with rsvp; mornings, Thursday – Sunday, October 15 – November 1; $10-25 suggested donation; eventbrite.com.
Red Hen Press at the Broad Stage
Friday, October 16
Red Hen Press Poetry Hour: Good Trouble, Necessary Trouble. Sandra Tsing Loh hosts a panel of literary voices amplifying the movement for racial justice through their work. Poets and writers appearing on the program include National Endowment for the Arts Award-winning author and artist Frances Payne Adler, Ohioana Book Award winner Kazim Ali, New York Times bestselling author Steve Almond, Guggenheim fellowship recipient Afaa Weaver and 2020 Iowa Poetry Prize winner and 2019 CantoMundo Fellow Felicia Zamora. The Broad Stage, Friday, October 16, 6pm; online; free; thebroadstage.org.
Event Pick: Drive-In 4 Biden Fundraiser. Want to help Joe Biden win the 2020 election? Attend this live auction and drive-in movie theater pop-up behind the Andaz Hotel in West Hollywood. They’re screening the infuriatingly prescient Mike Judge film (documentary?) Idiocracy. There will be food and drinks and an auction culminating in the final night of bidding live. All proceeds from the auction and ticket sales support both Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, and down-ticket Democratic candidates across the U.S. The Andaz Hotel, 8401 Sunset Blvd, WeHo; doors 5:30pm, auction 6:30pm, movie 8pm; $250 per car (however many people are in it); loop1tickets.com.
Ned Evans at Craig Krull Gallery
Saturday, October 17
Ned Evans and Ann Chamberlin at Craig Krull Gallery. The foundation of Ned Evans’ artistic life is rooted in the light and space of his Southern California upbringing and his life-long connection to the ocean and surfing. In Evans’ most recent paintings, his use of simple planes of color and interlocking shapes is not about exploring pattern, or revisiting formal relationships of minimalist repetition, but rather about revealing the moments of subtle vibration and visual energy that stitch forms together or push them apart. Ann Chamberlin’s paintings draw inspiration from fantasy, myth, stories and the depths of the artist’s own imagination. Her paintings evoke the traditions of magical realism, presenting a world just adjacent to our own where the fantastical and mundane blend. Craig Krull Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica; open house reception: Saturday, October 17, noon-6pm; on view through November 28; craigkrullgallery.com.
Ann Chamberlin at Craig Krull Gallery
Senon Williams at LSH Colab
Senon Williams: Deep Cuts at LSH Colab. Curated by Laura S. Howe, Senon Williams’ first solo show of works on canvas suggests myriad influences stemming from his life as a touring musician, craftsman and artist. Williams uses the book as an ancient motif to comment on today’s digital propaganda and manipulation of human emotion. The translucent volumes in his paintings reveal the light and dark interplay beneath the cover. The aphorisms question what would be held in a tome of knowledge. LSH Colab, 778 N. Virgil Ave., Echo Park; opening reception: Saturday, October 17, 4-6pm; on view through November 21; lshcolab.com.
INCOGNITO 2020
INCOGNITO at ICA LA. Nearly 400 established and emerging artists have contributed 12×12-inch original works, all of which are sold for $500. All the artists are “incognito,” as their identities are revealed only after you purchase their work. A virtual event, this year you can attend from the comfort of your home using your computer or mobile app. The live broadcast is hosted by actor and comedian Joel McHale, and will feature a song by artist Stephen Prina, a stylish and funny “how-to” video by artists Jade Gordon & Megan Whitmarsh, psychic readings by comedian Kate Berlant with artists Nayland Blake, rafa esparza, and Tala Madani, and a browsing playlist by Muñeka.
Jade Gordon & Megan Whitmarsh for INCOGNITO
Those who want to be one step ahead when the sale opens can attend PRECOGNITO, an exclusive in-person preview of the artworks taking place during private timed appointments on October 15-17 at The Rendon, a historic former hotel and bar just a few blocks from ICA LA. PRECOGNITO ticket holders not only get to see the artworks up close and personal, but will receive a special gift bag, and the ticket price also includes access to INCOGNITO. Saturday, October 17, 5pm; tickets start at $150; theicala.org/en/incognito.
Remie Akl, Arabiyati (I Am Arab), 2019 (Womxn In Windows)
Womxn in Windows. What started as an annual public exhibition of art films made by female-identifying artists, installed in storefront windows along public thoroughfares, is now a mission to support global cross-cultural dialogue. This year’s artists — Christine Yuan, Everlane Moraes, Ja’tovia Gary, Kilo Kish, Kya Lou, Rémie Akl, Rikkí Wright and Sylvie Weber — come from the United States, Brazil, Lebanon, Taiwan, the Dominican Republic and Germany. In New York City, to L.A., Shanghai, and London, windows in all locations will be free to view 24 hours a day, with the audio for each accessible via your smartphone via posted QR codes. (The exhibition will also be streamed online.) In partnership with dublab a soundscape experience will play throughout Chung King Road for the opening night event. Various locations along Chung King Road, Chinatown; Opening Event: Saturday, October 17, 5-8pm; free; womxninwindows.com.
John M. Valadez at Eastern Projects
John M. Valadez: Pinturas Pandemia! at Eastern Projects. One of L.A.’s most interesting and beloved artists has been busy in the studio during quarantine, and he’s ready to show us what he’s been doing. “The majority of the work was made during our collective pandemic experience. Some began before the virus hit. Some of the work themes cover travels I’ve had and travels thwarted since we are all banned in Europe. The paintings cover multiple themes and ideas, figuration, indigenous contrast, history, and burlesque. May a vaccine liberate us all and we can reacquaint ourselves with creative and subversive normalcy.” — John Valadez. Eastern Projects Gallery, 900 N. Broadway, Chinatown; opening reception: Saturday, October 17, 6-9pm, timed entry with rsvp; on view through November 28; easternprojectsgallery.com.
Tanya Aguiniga at the Armory
Ongoing
Streaming Video Series by Tanya Aguiñiga at the Armory. A rotating selection of video-based work by Tanya Aguiñiga from her exhibition Borderlands Within/La Frontera Adentro draws from the lived experience of the U.S./Mexico border. Given the ongoing persecution of migrants along the border, and amid an increasingly polarized political climate, Aguiñiga’s exhibition at the Armory highlights her long-standing commitment to thoughtful and urgent dialogue on immigration politics, transnational identity, and community activism. The Armory, streaming through Sunday, October 25; armoryarts.org.
Jesse Draxler at NO Gallery
Jesse Draxler: Table of Losses at NO Gallery. With rock ‘n’ roll rough-going soul and gothic flourishes, Jesse Draxler’s current exhibition, being made during the era of Covid, speaks to the memory of the dashed hopes from the Before Time, the struggle to figure out what the hell is going on in the everlasting limbo of the present, and the first blush of promise that things might, somehow, someday, be alright. The visual language of the works and the evocative installation vignettes encompasse imagery of fragility, luxury, ritual, grief, destruction, amnesia, violence and dark magic.
Draxler’s recombinant use of unconventional materials from printed paper to lit candles, IV drips delivering unrelenting information, handheld talismans of protection, texts of threat, anguish and shady humor, and the strategy of collage to more fully represent the enforced juxtapositional surreality of collective anxiety. At times beautiful and with affection for fragility, at other times speaking to the magma of unresolved dread, and at all times giving physical form to the interior state of whatever the fuck this is we’re living through, Draxler’s work is not pretty, but in several crucial ways, it is perfect. NO Gallery, 961 Chung King Road, Chinatown; on view through October 27; nogalleryla.com.
Jesse Draxler at NO Gallery
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.