Shana Nys Dambrot
More remarkable gallery shows open — including exciting inaugural exhibitions at two brand new venues — as the new season marches on, plus multiple outdoor dance events, literary and XR art projects, and virtual talks on pressing cultural issues. NB: venues are increasingly requiring proof of vaccination and/or negative test results for in-person visits, so plan for that.
Nick Brandt: Alice, Stanley, and Najin, Kenya, 2020, Archival Pigment Print (Fahey Klein)
Thursday, September 16
Nick Brandt: The Day May Break, at Fahey Klein. New works made in 2020 as part of the first in a global series of images portraying people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction, these photographs were taken at five sanctuaries and conservancies in Kenya and Zimbabwe. The animals featured in this series are almost all long-term rescues, victims of everything from the poaching of their parents, to habitat destruction and poisoning. The human subjects have all been badly affected by climate change — some displaced by cyclones that destroyed their homes, others displaced and impoverished by years-long severe droughts. Both subjects share the same space and are shot together in the same frame, at the same time. The images from The Day May Break, as with all of Brandt’s works, are an investigation into and a plea for the conservation of the natural world. 148 N. La Brea, Mid-Wilshire; Exhibition reception: Thursday, September 16, 7-9pm; On view through October 30; free; faheykleingallery.com.
Blue13 Dance Company: Shaadi
Friday, September 17
Blue13 Dance Company: Shaadi, at Heritage Square (Outdoors). An immersive, interactive (as in, they’re going to get you to dance), site-specific performance event, Shaadi (“wedding” in Hindi), takes place on the grounds of the iconic Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles. Blue13 is dedicated to what they call “the confluence of the contemporary and the classical, honoring while departing from the cultural art legacies of the Indian subcontinent to create a new vision of American dance,” through innovation and exuberance. The more expensive tickets include wine and thematic treats. 3800 Homer St., Montecito Heights; Thursday-Friday, September 17-18; 7:30pm: $10-$75; blue13dance.com.
Kayla Mahaffey at Thinkspace
Saturday, September 18
Kayla Mahaffey at Thinkspace. As we remember our childhood and the larger past, we often create a shroud of nostalgia, wrapping each memory up with a bow. While chaos and hate have always been present, and even prevalent, we share a collective recollection of peaceful times, a useful coping mechanism in the hardship of the present day. As a young woman of color in the current climate, it would be easy to fixate on the hardships of just existing, let alone having a voice, but rather Mahaffey is an inspiration, using nostalgia to recreate the necessary escape that many of us as adults have forgotten about entirely. 4217 W. Jefferson Blvd., West Adams; Opening reception: Saturday, September 18, 6-10pm; on view through October 9; free; thinkspaceprojects.com.
Andrea Chung: detail of Sula Never Competed; She Simply Helped Others Define Themselves, I, 2021 (Tyler Park Presents)
Andrea Chung: We Was Girls Together, at Tyler Park Presents. We Was Girls Together, inspired by Toni Morrison’s book Sula, is a series of large-scale collages that celebrates the relationships of black women in all their complexities and displays Chung’s gratitude for them. As Chung says “Our sisterhood, our love for one another, is not always visible to the unfamiliar, nor should it always be.” Through a variety of different mediums, Chung’s researched-based practice explores labor and materials in their relationship to post-colonial countries, the body, and migration involving perishable and precious materials with strong underlying histories. 4043 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Feliz; September 18 – October 30; free; tylerparkpresents.com.
Mòyósóré Martins: Egun Mehi (Path Galleries)
Mòyósóré Martins: Irànti (Nostalgia), at Path Galleries. The grand opening of a new gallery dedicated to “new-age influences in contemporary art, and to incubate both young and established talents with a focus on experimental collaborative experience,” features the work of Mòyósóré Martins. A self-taught mixed-media contemporary artist who picked up a paintbrush and pencil at a young age to fuel his innately curious and spiritual nature, Martins’ mixed-media artistic expression combines figurative and abstract modes inspired by his unique experience. His bold oil brushstrokes, drawings, scribbles, layering of materials in applique, and use of text are obscured within each painting and symbolize spiritual elements from protection to wishes fulfilled. 1073 Glendon Ave., Westwood; grand opening reception: Saturday, September 18, 6-10pm; on view through November 14 free; instagram.com/pathgalleries.
Vakseen: Roy Ayers, 2021
Legends Only: Los Angeles at Vakseen Art. Vakseen’s signature painting style fuses elements of photorealism, cubism and fashion design into vibrant, abstract portraits. A celebration of beauty, fashion, personal identity, luxury, excess, insecurities and vulnerability, his portraits and iconic homages throughout numerous portfolios and of course the NFT space demand the viewer’s attention with their mash-up of beauty and pressure, joy, power, and introspection. Now Vakseen takes the big step of opening his own gallery space, and he’s celebrating with a new print release and bespoke desserts. RSVP encouraged. 5649 Strohm Ave., NoHo; Grand opening: Saturday, September 18, 6-9pm; free; vakseenart.com.
Glenn Kaino (Photo by Danny Liao)
Artist Talk: Glenn Kaino on Art, Hope + Visibility, at Compound. Cultural inquiry and engagement are integral to Compound’s mission. We invite collaborating artists to speak to urgent questions and pressing issues at this particular cultural moment. Join Compound for a discussion with interdisciplinary Glenn Kaino, whose participatory installation, Tidepools, is currently on view in The Lab at Compound. The experimental installation is composed of two parts: a series of cloud chambers, and a bioluminescent wishing well, designed in ways that allow for invisible objects to become visible. Both works are accompanied by sonic compositions created in collaboration with musicians Jacques Greene and Nosaj Thing. 1395 Coronado Ave., Long Beach; Saturday September 18, 5-7pm; free; compoundlb.com.
Norishige Sasabe: Unknown Goggles Pastels and colored pencils on paper, 40 1/2 x 28 1/2 inches, 2021 (Japan House Los Angeles)
WAVE: New Currents in Japanese Graphic Arts at Japan House (IRL & Online). The exhibition presents the rich and varied work of 55 Japanese contemporary artists, showing how their creations in books, magazines, comics, animation, posters and other media extend far beyond the well-known manga and anime styles and represent a diverse and expressive art scene little known outside Japan. WAVE is curated by artists Kintaro Takahashi and Hiro Sugiyama (also featured in the exhibition) and is based on the popular annual art exhibition WAVE, which has been held at Arts Chiyoda in Tokyo since 2018. Hollywood & Highland, 6801 Hollywood Blvd,; On view through November 28; free; japanhousela.com.
Nancy Baker Cahill / 4th Wall App
Sunday, September 19
Oxy Arts’ Encoding Futures: Speculative Monuments for L.A. Offsite Launch. Oxy Arts’ Encoding Futures residency program artists have completed their original augmented reality monuments, AR blueprints for site-specific imagined futures, with a focus on future technologies that might transform public space. Artists were invited to choose any site in Los Angeles, and to consider how past and present social, economic, and cultural inequities, power imbalances, and other forms of subjection might operate in that space. Timed activations are planned for each of the four sites between 11am-2pm today, after which the artworks will be hosted indefinitely in the 4th Wall app (download it before you go!) and can be viewed at any time. Patrick Martinez, Homegrown (11am) at NE corner of Figueroa & Arroyo Glen, 6144 N Figueroa St.; Joel Garcia with Meztli Projects, Astrorhizal Networks (noon) at Yaangna Park, 540 N Los Angeles St.; Nancy Baker Cahill, Motherboard (1pm) at Grand Park, across from City Hall, 231 N. Spring St.; Audrey Chan, The Assata Center (2pm) at the NE Corner of 8th St. & Columbia, 1313 W. 8th St. Launch events Sunday, September 19, 11am-2:30pm; on view indefinitely; free; oxy.edu.
Kris Graves: George Floyd Projection, Richmond, Virginia, from American Monuments, Negative, 2020; print, 2021. Inkjet print. (Courtesy of the artist)
Wednesday, September 22
Art Talk: Re-Envisioning American Monuments at the Getty (Virtual). How have artists and photographers grappled with the momentous protests of the past year? How can we think about changes to historical monuments as a form of reimagining rather than destruction? In his 2020––021 project American Monuments, artist and publisher Kris Graves features images of Civil War monuments re-envisioned in light of Black Lives Matter protests. In this conversation with curator LeRonn Brooks, Graves discusses his experience photographing monuments over the past year as it relates to his practice of creating art that confronts societal problems. This program is presented in relation to the exhibition In Focus: Protest on view through October 10. Wednesday, September 22, noon; free; getty.edu.
Leela Dance Collective: ReSound
Leela Dance Collective: ReSound (Outdoors). A celebration of kathak dance, featuring street performances and workshops to educate and inspire audiences of all ages. Experience North Indian classical dance as it reverberates through Grand Park, Third Street Promenade and Culver City Town Plaza. Take a workshop and experience the way kathak dance can ground the body, focus the mind, and uplift the spirit. Workshops are hosted at a wide variety of venues and locations across both cities. Downtown, Santa Monica, Culver City; Wednesday, September 22 – Sunday, September 26; Performances are free; workshops are $10; leela.dance/resound.
Michael Kearns at Stories (Outdoors). A special evening with esteemed Los Angeles playwright Michael Kearns to commemorate the publication of his eighth theatre book, Who’s Afraid of Michael Kearns?. The author will be joined by special guest JoNell Kennedy who will reprise her role from Bang Bang—one of the plays from this anthology—with a gripping monologue. 1716 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park; Wednesday, September 22, 7-9pm; free; storiesla.com.
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