Shana Nys Dambrot
Outdoor theater about the power of a matriarchy, a solo show that plans to melt your eyes, an epic and eclectic art star group show benefiting our animal friends, an evening among stained glass masterworks, a virtual workshop on how to make art out of your extra stuff, original art inspired by icons of music, architectural photospheres, a talk about the cultural impact of cartographic interventions, and romantic photographs printed from moldy slides.
Folklore of the Freeway (Fowler Museum)
Thursday, August 19
The Folklore of the Freeway, at the Fowler (Virtual). UCLA professor Eric Avila’s book, The Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modern City, maps the creative strategies devised by urban communities in the 1960s and 1970s to document and protest the damage wrought by highways, which cut through and destroyed many communities of color. Join the Fowler and Avila to learn about this history; the impact of redlining on Boyle Heights; the work of the Latinx artists who critique and satirize highway construction as a racist and sexist enterprise; and the influence of diverse communities on urban policy. Thursday, August 19, 4-5pm; free; fowler.ucla.edu.
Friday, August 20
The Roots & Wings Project: Matriarch: She’s Wide Awake Shining Light, at MKM Cultural Arts Center (Outdoors). A transformative theatre experience that explores the roles women play in our patriarchal society and the urgent need to transform the dynamic, Matriarch is produced in association with the Houston Coalition Against Hate and will be performed live at the MKM Cultural Arts Center Outdoor Theatre. 11401 Chandler Blvd., North Hollywood; Friday-Saturday, August 20-21, 8pm; $20; eventbrite.com.
Art Beyond Survival in the Arts District. Featuring works by Shepard Fairey, Risk Rock, Jason Meadows, Yassi Mazandi, Freehand Profit, Riley Holloway, Thomas Garner, Victor Castillo, Cole James, Elizabeth Orleans, and Damon Martin, this exhibition celebrates legends of L.A. street art with live mural-painting, a DJ set by Shepard Fairey, and a special exhibition honoring skateboarding legend Danny Way. The event raises funds for The Humane Society International and the Life Rolls On Foundation. Mateo & 7th Gallery, address provided with rsvp; Friday, August 20, 6-11pm; $20-40; eventbrite.com.
Judson Studios at Forest Lawn Museum
Saturday, August 21
Celebrating Stained Glass: An Evening with the Art of Judson Studios, at Forest Lawn Museum. An evening of exhibition tours, drinks and hors d’oeuvres, and a Q&A with Judson Studios President David Judson, artist Jane Brucker, and Museum Director James Fishburne. In conjunction with Forest Lawn Museum’s current exhibition, Judson Studios: Stained Glass from Gothic to Street Style which runs through September 12. Founded in Los Angeles in 1897, Judson Studios is the oldest family-run stained glass studio in America. The exhibition includes nearly 100 original stained glass artworks, preparatory drawings, watercolors, and archival photographs as well as collaborations with contemporary artists. 1712 S. Glendale Ave., Glendale; Saturday, August 21, 5-7pm; free w/ rsvp; forestlawn.com.
When I Went to School I Carried Lunch in a Bag – by Jason Abraham Smith (Gabba Gallery)
REMIX: The Art of Music, at Gabba Gallery. The fourth annual (How has it only been four? This show already feels like an institution!) music-inspired art exhibition features more than 60 artists, reinterpreting album covers, band photos, portraiture and just vibes from their current and past-life playlists. Icons, legends and inspirations from all genres from punk to rap, reggae, country, rock god and pop diva represented and interpreted in painting, sculpture and printmaking, with proceeds to benefit the arts education programs of Adopt the Arts. 3126 Beverly Blvd., East Hollywood; opening reception: Saturday, August 21, 7-11pm; on view through September 18; free; gabbagallery.com.
SEK at the Container Yard
SEK: These Things WIll Fuck with Your Eyes, at the Container Yard. “A body of work that reflects and represents the high energy, bright colored aspect of pop art, the pieces are meant to play on the very surface level content that pop art usually offers. The palette is eye candy for the viewer, but each piece has an undertone of a more complex message,” writes the artist. “The topics range from things I saw and experienced in my everyday life to my personal opinions of how I have felt as I’ve navigated my way through this life as an artist.” 610 Anderson St., dtla; Saturday, August 21; 7-11pm; free; eventbrite.com.
Alphons Greber: Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Winslow Garage)
Sunday, August 22
Alphons Greber at Winslow Garage. A selection of photospheres by Los Angeles artist Alphons Greber. The new works are recent explorations into the emotional and intellectual possibilities created by investigations into architectural structures. Greber’s photospheres are large fiberglass globes surfaced with photographs that the artist has taken from a fixed vantage point corresponding with the center of his sphere of vision. These spheres allow the viewer to experience the image from multiple viewpoints, in a novel experience where “straight becomes crooked and things appear and disappear as a result of walking around the object.” 3540 Winslow Dr., Silver Lake; opens Sunday, August 22, 6-9pm; free; winslowgarage.com.
Two Chairs at BBAX
Workshop: Two Chairs, at Building Bridges (Virtual). Gabriela Ruiz is a self-taught artist whose sculptures incorporate found objects and industrial materials, such as thrift store furniture and insulation foam, and investigate ideas of home and self and our relationship to our environment. Artist noé olivas uses printing making, sculpture, and performance to consider labor as it fits into the conceptions of femininity and masculinity in order to play with and reshape cultural references, narratives, myths, traditions, and objects. Through the spirit of play, imagination, and intuition, Ruiz and olivas will lead the one-hour online workshop Two Chairs, about how to make a sculpture with ordinary household objects as well as discuss the importance of improvisation, breathing, and healing within their artistic practices. Sunday, August 22, 3pm; free; buildingbridgesartexchange.org.
Doug Harvey: Practical Mason Den, 2021 (another year in la)
Ongoing
Doug Harvey: Moldy Slides: Romantic Landscapes Rearranged, at another year in la (Virtual). Harvey’s Moldy Slides project began with a chance discovery of a cache of discarded amateur photographic transparencies dating to the 1970’s in the piles of material being disposed of during an apparent hoarder intervention. The slides had been subjected to flooding and grown various types and degrees of fungal layers, altering the pictorial content of the emulsion — sometimes slightly, sometimes transforming the image into a total abstraction. The once personal narrative contained in the travel photographs had been altered, obscured and even destroyed by the natural processes of decay and the ravages of time in a manner analogous to the effects of memory loss. Harvey transforms this pile of refuse into a commentary on cultural amnesia and decay by using the apparatus originally intended for nostalgia. Through August 31; online; free; anotheryearinla.com.
Drink to Me by Hope Kroll (Gabba Gallery)
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