Shana Nys Dambrot
Photography showing us the everyday beauty in everything around us, a sneak peek at the next generation of photographers, zoomy spoken word for arts equity, immersive theater that drags you into the party, quirky and colorful coastal landscape paintings, cinema-inspired surrealist noir, an independent dance and movement showcase about the artist’s journey, a show about the legacy of Marin County bohemia, a show paying tribute to L.A. beatnik royalty, a group show about the screen-based phenomenology of post-digital generations, and more.
Nick Lagger in munDAAANG LA
Thursday, July 7
Art Share and munDAAANG! Magazine present munDAAANG! LA at Angel City Brewery. munDAAANG! is an LA-based photography zine which celebrates photography that captures random normal stuff in fresh and unusual ways — the beauty hiding in plain sight. This month they present a group exhibition featuring the best of the marvelous mundane. 216 Alameda, downtown; Opening reception: Thursday, July 7, 6-9pm; On view through August 4; free; mundaaang.com.
A Confluence of Coastal Creativity at alberta benda
A Confluence of Coastal Creativity at albertz benda. Miami gallerist Mindy Solomon curates a show blending the two coastal-city galleries’ programs in which graphic imagery and bold stories are the governing language. 8260 Marmont Ln., West Hollywood; Opening reception: Thursday, July 7, 6-8pm; On view through August 5; free; albertzbenda.com.
Brian Sonia-Wallace in Hot Justice (Artist Magnet)
Friday, July 8
Artist Magnet Justice Alliance presents Hot Justice (Virtual). An interactive virtual networking, panel discussion, live poetry and participatory somatic experience for emerging arts leaders, featuring performers, producers, and advocates discussing how the intersection of performing arts and digital media can provide revenue-generating opportunities for emerging artmakers who have historically been (and are currently being) excluded from establishment institutional funding. Friday, July 8, noon; Free-$25; eventbrite.com.
Tim Biskup: Apse Head, 2022, cast vinyl and plastic
Tim Biskup: APSE Project at Faceguts. In new paintings and sculptures, Biskup plays with forms and ideas as a way of making sense of the chaos. The word apse refers to the central focus of an architectural space. In churches it refers to the cavernous, area behind the podium, usually elaborately ornamented with imagery intended to depict an embodiment of godhead. The heads in this series are highly focused energetic containers that represent human life. 4136 Verdugo Rd., Glassell Park; Opening reception: Friday, July 8, 6-9pm; On view through July 24; free; timbiskup.com.
These Days
Spiral Bound at These Days. A group show featuring eleven recent alumni of the Hartford Art School’s MFA Photography program. This showcase ponders what it means to be human in times of monumental change, spiraling in and out of ourselves, bound to paths yet to be revealed. Including abstraction, landscape, and portraiture, in color and in black-and-white, the wall works and photobooks in this exhibition coalesce in an eclectic dialogue. 118 Winston St., downtown; On view: July 8-10 only; Opening reception: Saturday, July 9, 6-9pm; free; thesedaysla.com.
Indian Ink Theater Company: Mrs. Krishnan’s Party
Indian Ink Theater Company: Mrs. Krishnan’s Party at the Broad Stage. Step into the back room of Mrs. Krishnan’s dairy where garlands decorate the ceiling, music flows and Mrs. Krishnan is throwing a party like no other. The actors juggle cooking, music and guests in a heartfelt semi-improvisational drama unfolding where no two nights are the same. 1310 11th St., Santa Monica; Performances July 8-24; $45-$65; broadstage.org.
Clare Rojas: Hanging On, 2022. Acrylic on panel 64 x 56 inches (Jessica Silverman Gallery)
Saturday, July 9
Clare Rojas: The Magic of it All at Jessica Silverman Gallery. In a Los Angeles popup show from one of San Francisco’s most impactful art galleries, Jessica Silverman presents new paintings by Bay Area artist Clare Rojas fusing the artist’s magic realist figuration with her precise abstraction to create compositions that are at once witty and sublime. Combining the surreal whimsy of Dorothea Tanning with the geometric vigor of Kazimir Malevich, Rojas explores the curious and precarious beauty of the California coast and its sentient wildlife. 154 N. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills; Opening weekend: Saturday-Sunday, July 9-10, 10am-6pm; On view through August 6; free; jessicasilvermangallery.com.
Carter Flachbarth at Richard Heller Gallery
Carter Flachbarth: Picture Show, at Richard Heller Gallery. Flachbarth’s bold idiosyncratic paintings riff on reinvented tropes of mid-century cinema. “Within the paintings I can stay within the language of the time period,” writes the artist. “While the work updates the imagery associated with this time period of cinema, it also pays homage to the ways films of this time have stayed beautiful.” Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica; Opening reception: Saturday, July 9, 3-5pm; On view through August 13; free; richardhellergallery.com.
Epiic Dance: Pay to Play
Epiic Dance presents Pay to Play at 2220 Arts + Archives. Freedom Dunn leads a theatrical movement and art showcase striking at the core of what it means to be an artist in Los Angeles. Hope, sacrifice, sleepless nights and restless mornings, and the urge to bet it all on that one bright, crazy moment. Featuring a gathering of some of the city’s most dynamic movement artists, Pay to Play provides clues to answer a few of life’s toughest choices and their costs, through dance and philosophy. 2220 Beverly Blvd., East Hollywood; Saturday, July 9, 7pm; $15; thefriidom.com.
JB Blunk furniture installation in the Marin County home of Anna & Lawrence Halprin (Photo: Leslie Williamson. Courtesy of Blum & Poe)
Three Landscapes: JB Blunk, Anna and Lawrence Halprin at Blum & Poe. Three Landscapes is the first in a series of exhibitions curated by Ruthanna Hopper and Mariah Nielson intended to share the history and profound impact of the Marin County creative community from the 1950s to today. The series begins with the story of Anna, Lawrence, and JB—a dancer, a landscape architect, and a sculptor—each a pioneer of their respective disciplines. Deeply engaged with each other’s practices during the 1960s and ‘70s, these three innovators sourced “spiritual and ecological sustenance” from Marin County, culling endless inspiration from the natural landscape and incorporating its raw materials into their work. 2727 S. La Cienega, Culver City; Opening reception: Saturday, July 9, 5–7pm; Panel discussion followed by “still dance at dusk” by Daria Halprin: Saturday, July 30, 6–8pm; On view through August 13; free; blumandpoe.com.
Charles Brittin: Shirley Berman, Venice, CA, 1957 (Kohn Gallery)
Lyrical Cool: A Tribute to Shirley Berman at Kohn Gallery. Celebrating the unique legacy of this inspirational but lesser-known woman, who passed away in early 2022 at the age of 88, Karl Puchlik curates an exhibition presenting never-before-shown portraits of Berman, as well as original works drawn from her private collection, including by her husband Wallace Berman, Charles Brittin, Bruce Conner, George Herms, Lun*na Menoh, Dean Stockwell, Edmund Teske, and others. An accompanying catalog will feature an extended interview with Berman by Claudia Bohn-Spector, illuminating the underappreciated role of women in the Beat Generation as well as an essay by Bohn-Spector and Tosh Berman, son of Shirley and Wallace Berman. 1227 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood; Opening reception: Saturday, July 9, 5-7pm; free; kohngallery.com.
Christopher Cascio at Otra Vox
Sunday, July 10
Christropher Cascio: Optic Pathways at Otra Vox. Playing with themes of obsession, compulsion, and ritual practice through hard-edge abstraction and quilting designs, Cascio addresses pure color and its transformative effects on the human psyche. For Cascio, painting is a devotional exercise and a form of mental self-care. The idea of moving up and through is at the crux of this work. 1317 Palmetto St., downtown; Opening reception: Saturday, July 9, 6-9pm; Talk and Performances: Sunday, July 10, 2pm; free; otravox.com.
Open Mind Art Space
POST CINEMA at Open Mind Art Space. OMAS is participating in B-LA Connect, an international art exchange with curators and artists from Berlin and Los Angeles, with a group exhibition curated by panke.gallery (Berlin) and JAUS (LA). For decades, dreams of global utopia have been rushing over the airwaves and electronic superhighways into the clouds of the internet, flowing further into the (inter)streaming networks of today. These artists use various digital mediums to explore common themes throughout the history of cinema and TV within the context of today’s cyber world dominated by social media and virtual reality. 11631 Santa Monica Blvd., West LA; Opening reception: Sunday, July 10, 1-4pm; free; On view through July 23; openmindartspace.com.
Pasadena Playhouse
Tuesday, July 12
Freestyle Love Supreme at Pasadena Playhouse. Before Hamilton, before In the Heights, there was Freestyle Love Supreme, a 2020 Special Tony Award Recipient. Now — direct from Broadway — the hip-hop musical phenomenon from Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Anthony Veneziale arrives at Pasadena Playhouse! Using cues from the audience, the cast takes you on a hip-hop comedy ride where no two performances are the same. 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena; Performances July 12 – August 7; $34-$106; pasadenaplayhouse.org.
Judy Chicago: Immolation (from the series Women and Smoke), 1972. Archival pigment print, 40 x 40 in., at ICA LA (Courtesy the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco)
Wednesday, July 13
Roundtable: Address and Assembly from the 1960s to Today, at ICA LA (Virtual). Co-curators of the current exhibition of The Condition of Being Addressable Marcelle Joseph and Legacy Russell converse with artists Lynn Hershman Leeson, E. Jane, Mary Kelly, Imran Perretta, and Zadie Xa. The panel tackles several issues explored in the exhibition with five of the participating artists in a roundtable discussion to incite intersectional, intergenerational, and multinational dialogue on the current world condition. Participants will explore exciting propositions for a shared futurity beyond. Wednesday, July 13, 6pm; free; theicala.org.
Clare Rojas at Jessica Silverman Gallery
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