Shana Nys Dambrot
Bananas bonkers crosstown cannonball run type gallery hopping to ring in the new art season, experimental music and contemporary dance in the park for balance, a downtown group show honoring the past and gearing up for the future, lyrical testimonial and politically urgent theater, ancestral dance forms for healing the modern world, humanistic musings on the city, cinema of the New Black Wave, choreography takes over the museum, women take over the metaverse — and did we mention there are like 500 art openings.
Sarana Haeta at Eye of the Huntress
Thursday, September 8
Goddess at Eye of the Huntress (Virtual). Eye of the Huntress launches its inaugural NFT show in collaboration with SuperRare, bringing together nine international women from fine art, fashion, film and design, whose work intersects the physical and digital. EOTH has partnered with some.place, a new metaverse destination founded by women entrepreneurs, where the artworks will be on display in an immersive 3D setting and a VIP launch event. September 8-22; free; eyeofthehuntress.com.
Neelamjit Dhillon at Clockshop’s Listening by Moonlight
Listening by Moonrise: Neelamjit Dhillon, Gaayatri Kaundinya, and Dimitris Mahlis at LA State Historic Park (Outdoor). On the eve of the full moon (or as close to it), this program offers listeners moments of reflection, connection, and joy while experiencing music and sound collectively within the context of a community-centered green space. Curated by Chris Votek, a multi-instrumentalist and composer, Clockshop invites musicians Neelamjit Dhillon, Gaayatri Kaundinya, and Dimitris Mahlis for a cross-cultural music program exploring Hindustani, Turkish, and Greek music traditions. 1245 N. Spring St., Chinatown; Thursday, September 8, 5-7pm; free; $5 suggested donation; clockshop.org.
Emily Johnson / Catalyst: Being Future Being at the Broad Stage (Photo by Cherylynn Tsushima)
Emily Johnson / Catalyst: Being Future Being at the Broad Stage. Being Future Being is a constellation of activities, performances, and gatherings that delves into the power of creation, building from an ancestral landscape of Indigenous power. Created by choreographer and writer Emily Johnson, who belongs to the Yup’ik Nation, and featuring a score by Pulitzer Prize-winning Diné composer Raven Chacon, this multilayered performance invites you to experience a transformation, ushering into focus new futures with the potential to reshape the way we relate to ourselves, our environment, and to the human and more-than-human cohabitants of our world. 1310 11th St., Santa Monica; Thursday – Sunday, September 8-10, 7:30pm; $20-$100/pay what you can; broadstage.org.
Emmeric Konrad at Gloria Delson Contemporary Art
Metropolitan at Gloria Delson Contemporary Art. The best laid plans can so easily be touched by hope as by tragedy, and so it is with this group exhibition celebrating the visceral jumble of classic DTLA art and life. Curated by Jonathan Jerald and Petra Wright and conceived as a snapshot survey of 10 stalwart DTLA artists — Emmeric Konrad, Mark Brosmer, Michele Castagnetti, Edem Elesh, Tanner Goldbeck, Gronk, Kathe Madrigal, Antonio Mendoza, Bill Sherman and Rick Robinson — the tone grew more pensive when it was announced last week that one of the shows stars, the irreplaceable Emmeric Konrad, had passed away. An absolute legend among the neighborhood’s art and shenanigans set for decades, Konrad’s work was rich with frenetic detail, celebrations of titillation and taboo, progressive profanity, and cheeky send-ups of martini male cultural aberrations. Also, rubber chickens. Konrad’s works form a show within a show, as Bring Tequila features old and new paintings, drawings, and prints.
Rick Robinson: Pink Fist: VOTE, silence is not an option
Also featured, Rick Robinson’s Pink Fist: VOTE, silence is not an option presents a suite of 50 steel cut day-glow pink fist-shaped glossy, sharp-edged, darling and defiant sculptures arrayed like an army, in the pattern of the stars on the US flag, to serve as a reminder and a fundraiser for the Center for Common Ground to help Register Voters for the upcoming Midterm elections. The opening includes a voter registration fundraiser within the release of these 50 Pink Fist NFT-tethered wall sculptures. 727 S. Spring St., downtown; Opening reception: Thursday, September 8, 6-9pm; On view through September 30; free; gdcagallery.com.
Citizen, An American Lyric at Grand Performances
Friday, September 9
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED: Citizen: An American Lyric at Grand Performances (Outdoors). Claudia Rankine’s award-winning poetry collection has been adapted for the theater by Stephen Sachs and directed by the accomplished Shirley Jo Finney at the Fountain Theater and went on to numerous acclaimed venues — and now comes to Grand Performances for one night only performance and post-show talkback. Citizen: An American Lyric is a provocative meditation on race, fusing prose, poetry, movement, music, and the visual image. 350 S. Grand Ave., downtown; Friday, September 9, 7:30pm; free; grandperformances.org.
Justin John Greene at Matthew Brown Gallery
Justin John Greene: The Castle at Matthew Brown Gallery. Taking Franz Kafka’s novel of the same name as a point of departure, Greene re-envisions his native Los Angeles as an uncanny terrain that is at once familiar, farcical, and unnerving. Familiar L.A. nightlife locales like the Red Lion Tavern and Edendale become surreal, abstruse, and even perilous. Ordinary social situations are suffused with both humor and an underlying class anxiety as Greene’s characters attempt to negotiate the nebulous boundaries between labor and recreation. 712 N. La Brea, Hollywood; Opening reception: Friday, September 9, 6-8pm; free; matthewbrowngallery.com.
Beyond Baroque
A Reading with Fellows of The Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at Beyond Baroque (Live & Virtual). The Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities and Beyond Baroque host a night of poems, short stories, and non-fiction. Eight LAIH fellows will share their unique perspectives on the city we call home. Readings by Cody Sisco, Dana Johnson, Timothy Steele, Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn, Josh Kun, Lynne Thompson, Shonda Buchanan, and Peter J. Harris. A reception on the outdoor patio with refreshments and music precedes the readings. 681 Venice Blvd., Venice; Friday, September 9, 7pm; $10, livestream free; beyondbaroque.org.
Karen Knorr: India Song at Danziger Gallery
Saturday, September 10
Bergamot Station Arts Center Fall Open House. Rumors of the city’s original open-plan adaptive reuse gallery campus’ demise have been exaggerated, and to prove the point, this weekend nearly all the site’s 20+ galleries stage new exhibition openings, curator tours, artists talks, live performances, and more. With rolling programming throughout the day, extended hours, and a cluster of late afternoon and early evening receptions, come early or stay late for painting, photography, sculpture, installation, auction previews, book sales, interdisciplinary prompts, and epic people watching. 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica; Open House; Saturday, September 10, 11am-9pm; Most gallery exhibitions remain on view into October; free; bergamotstation.com.
REWA at Band of Vices
REWA: Pink Party, Tiffanie Delune: See Me Flowing at Band of Vices. REWA’s new works represent a shift in attitudes of younger generations towards ancient rites such as courtship and premarital consummation. Whilst appearing fun and light-hearted on the surface, the work invites an introspection into the injustice of the marginalization of others and also asks for an accommodation of change. While Delune works with an intuitive curiosity, she creates multilayered pieces. All new works were created this year from her studio in Lisbon and reflect the nourishing enchantment exuding from working with the Portuguese’s golden light and pastel tones while being confronted with life’s universal lessons, regardless of someone’s origins and status. 5351 W. Adams Blvd., West Adams; Opening reception: Saturday, September 10, 4-7pm; Artists talk, 2pm; On view through October 8; free; bandofvices.com.
Carolyn Castaño at Walter Maciel Gallery
Carolyn Castaño: Future Ruana at Walter Maciel Gallery. In this new body of work, Castaño envisions the utopian promise of Modernism while paying homage to the glory of South America’s Pre-Columbian gold empire and her cultural identity as a Colombian-American. The paintings adopt several visual languages: abstraction, collage, watercolor painting, screen-printing, fabric, and sequin appliqués that speak to identity and family memory, the relationship to the land, and the craft and skills that are passed down amongst immigrant families from generation to generation. 2642 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City; Opening reception: Saturday, September 10, 3-7pm; On view through October 29; free; waltermacielgallery.com.
Kent Williams at KP Projects
Kent Williams: Kawidan at KP Projects. Williams interprets the supernatural Japanese stories of Lafcadio Hearn, within the backdrop of possessed forests and ghostly lore where strange tales of man-eating goblins, monks, and un-dead samurai come to life as never before under the artist’s brush. The exhibition will feature all of the published paintings from the hard bound publication The Kwaidan Collection by Beehive Books, plus a special selection of unpublished pieces selected by the artist. 633 N. La Brea Blvd., Hollywood; Opening reception: Saturday, September 10, 7-10pm; free; kpprojects.net.
John Griswold & Maryrose Crook at La Luz de Jesus
John Griswold & Maryrose Crook: Persistence of Vision, Carrie Ann Baade: Sawing a Woman in Half, at La Luz de Jesus. Persistence of vision traditionally refers to the optical illusion that occurs when visual perception of an object does not cease for some time after the rays of light proceeding from it have ceased to enter the eye. Sawing a woman in half evokes violent delights with the illusion of danger, the suspension of disbelief when engaged in spectacle, and the importance of theatricality in narrative. 4633 Hollywood Blvd., Los Feliz; Opening reception: Saturday, September 10, 5-9pm; On view through October 1; free; laluzdejesus.com.
Yool Kim at Arushi Gallery
The Hero She Needs at Arushi Gallery. The exhibition brings together a group of international female artists to celebrate unexpected figures in their lives who uplift, inspire and guide them. The works presented evoke a conversation about how women supporting women leads to overcoming systemic and cultural hindrances, through artworks that remind them of impactful times when a woman in their life led them to success. 1243 W. Temple St., Angelino Heights; Opening reception: Saturday, September 10, 7-11pm; free; arushikapoor.com.
Luis A. Sahagun at Patricia Sweetow Gallery
Lien Truong, Linda Sormin, Luis A. Sahagan at Patricia Sweetow Gallery. The inauguration of the formerly SF-based gallery’s new LA location, features work by Lien Truong, Linda Sormin, and Luis A. Sahagun — three artists whose practices are immersed in complex visual and political American histories. They share personal, spiritual and cultural stories of migration during war, economic collapse and sovereign colonization; their journeys come alive through a mélange of performative sculpture and painting, amplified by their respective interrogations of ancestral, racial, gender and ritual erasure. 1700 S. Santa Fe, 3rd floor; downtown; Opening reception: Saturday, September 10, 2-8pm; Artists talk, 3pm; On view through October 15; free; patriciasweetowgallery.com.
New Black Wave Cinema
CAAM Cinema: New Black Wave Vol. 2 at 2220 Arts + Archives. Films by Black filmmakers that push cinema’s conceptual and aesthetic boundaries to explore deep-rooted emotions within the African diaspora. The films in New Black Wave Vol. 2 remix public and personal archives to reveal new meanings within familiar images of Black life in America. The screening features films by Michèle Stephenson and Imani Dennison, Julie Dash, Ja’Tovia Gary, Paige Taul, Jenn Nkiru, Moïse Togo, and Darol Olu Kae and is followed by a discussion with filmmakers CAAM curator Taylor Renee Aldridge. 2220 W. Beverly Blvd., Westlake; Saturday, September 10, 1pm; free; caamuseum.org.
Heidi Duckler Dance: Ebb & Flow Culver City at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook (Outdoor). A beautiful walk around the scenic park. The festival will feature a variety of interdisciplinary art pieces stationed throughout the park. Each unique piece is an exploration of climate change, nature, humanity, and health. Audience members will have the opportunity to stroll through the park and engage with each work. 6300 Hetzler Rd., Culver City; Saturday, September 10, 3-5pm; free; heididuckler.org.
Ever Present: Milka Djordjevich, Victoria Fu, and Matt Rich at the Getty Center
Ever Present: Milka Djordjevich, Victoria Fu, and Matt Rich at the Getty Center. Choreographer Milka Djordjevich and visual artists Victoria Fu and Matt Rich collaborate on an original performance for the Getty Center. Djordjevich and dancers perform throughout the site with Fu and Rich’s wearable artworks. Ever Present is an ongoing experimental series that brings contemporary performance into the Getty’s architecture and gardens. 1200 Getty Center Dr., Brentwood; Saturday, September 10, 5pm; free; getty.edu.
Iva Gueorguieva at transformative arts
Sunday, September 11
Intersection: Iva Gueorguieva at transformative arts. An installation of tapestry paintings, films, and sound, dedicated to exploring the interconnectivity of painting, sound, dance and film by interdisciplinary artist and painter Iva Gueorguieva and friends, whose goal is to construct a non-hierarchical entwinement of these traditionally separate mediums. Gueorguieva builds immersive worlds and invites people to freely interact with the unstretched “tapestry” paintings. Sound produced by Matt McGarvey, the Unthem music collective, and pianist Phil Skaller. Performers: Tonya Anderson, Svitlana Zavialova, Jasmine Albuquerque. 410 S. Spring St., downtown; Project on view September 8-17; live performance event, Sunday, September 11, 3pm; free; instagram.com/transformative_arts_now.
EZTV
Tuesday, September 13
LA ACM SIGGRAPH and the EZTV Online Museum present DIGITAL ART: Los Angeles ACM SIGGRAPH x EZTV/CyberSpace Gallery at 18th Street (Virtual). The recent increased awareness and appreciation of Digital Art in both the wider panorama of contemporary art, as well as both in the mainstream press and social media, has suggested a need to revisit the groundbreaking and often visionary history of the computer-based arts. Curated by Michael J. Masucci, Joan Collins, Victor Acevedo as a way of building a dialogue as well as awareness of ACM SIGGRAPH’s role in the LA arts community, this series focuses on new work by current digital artists as well as retrospective recollections and re-presentations of classic work, in collaboration with the EZTV Online Museum. Tuesday, September 13, 7-9pm; free; 18thstreet.org.
Adam Greener at Art Unified
Wednesday, September 14
Adam Greener: See me After Class at Art Unified Gallery. Greener’s book and expanded exhibition explores new and classic works highlighting concepts of what it means to grow up, in a series of ink illustrations, created on handmade graphic large-scale spiral bound notebook sheets. By monumentalizing the size and scale of this staple of school age memories, Greener invites the viewer to remember how everything feels magical and large-than-life as a child. 1329 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice; Opening reception and book-signing: Wednesday, September 14, 7-9:30pm; On view through October 12; free; adamgreener.com.
Sanctuary City at Pasadena Playhouse. From Pulitzer Prize-winner Martyna Majok (Cost of Living) comes an exhilarating, unforgettable love story of two life-long friends, their tenuous grip on an uncertain future, and finding sanctuary among those closest to them. Profoundly human and undeniably universal, this edge-of-your-seat drama asks: what would you do for love, and how much do we owe to one another? 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena; Performances September 14 – October 9; $35-$94; pasadenaplayhouse.org.
Tiffanie Delune at Band of Vices
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