Shaun Gladwell, ‘Skaters vs Minimalism’ (2016) (via torranceartmuseum.com)
LOS ANGELES — This week, new nonprofit PSSST opens with a series of events on SoCal Latino youth culture in the 1990s, a show of work from seminal Color School painter Sam Gilliam opens at David Kordansky, Andrea Bowers brings a body of labor-themed art to Susanne Vielmetter, and more.
Edges of Chaos: Promoting Madness and Dissent in the ’90s
When: Opens Friday, June 3, 7–10pm
Where: PSSST (1329 E 3rd Street, Boyle Heights, Los Angeles)
New nonprofit art space PSSST will open its doors with Edges of Chaos, a series of talks, screenings, performances, and a physical archive focused on the SoCal Latino party crew scene of the ’90s. Organized by PSSST’s first artist-in-residence Guadalupe Rosales, the show builds off of research she completed on Latino/Latina youth culture, which can be seen on her popular Instagram accounts Veteranas and Rucas and Map Pointz. The series begins this Friday with a video screening and conversation about art, culture, and politics between Rosales and independent curator Adrian Rivas.
‘Edges of Chaos’ at PSSST (via Facebook)
Sam Gilliam: Green April
Sam Gilliam, “One On” (1970), acrylic on canvas, 123 x 93 x 13 inches (via davidkordanskygallery.com)
When: Opens Saturday, June 4, 6–8pm
Where: David Kordansky Gallery (5130 W. Edgewood Place, Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles)
Sam Gilliam is a pioneering member of the Washington DC-based Color School of painters who emerged in the 1960s. Like his colleagues Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland, Gilliam experimented with soaking, staining, and pouring techniques, but he took these innovations a step further, exhibiting large folded and draped canvases as three-dimensional objects freed from the constraints of the wall. “For an African-American artist working in the nation’s capital in the late 60s, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement,” notes the press release, “this was not merely an aesthetic proposition.” Green April features large-scale works of the ’60s and early ’70s, many shown here for the first time.
Skateboarders vs. Minimalism
When: Saturday, June 4, 5–9pm
Where: Torrance Art Museum (3320 Civic Center Drive, Torrance, California)
When some people look at a Donald Judd or Carl Andre sculpture, they see the zenith of American minimalism. Others just see a great opportunity for a Backside Heelflip or a Noseblunt Slide. Shaun Gladwell’s latest film Skateboarders vs. Minimalism features skateboarding legend Rodney Mullen grinding, flipping, and sliding over works by these artists and others in the ultimate mash-up of high and low culture. This video work makes its US premiere this Saturday at the Torrance Art Museum, where it was filmed. Skateboarding demos will begin at 5:30 followed by the screening at 8pm.
Andrea Bowers: Triumph of Labor
Andrea Bowers, “Triumph of Labor” (via vielmetter.com)
When: Opens Saturday, June 4, 6–8pm
Where: Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects (6006 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California)
Triumph of Labor reflects Los Angeles-based artist Andrea Bowers’s expansive vision of the labor movement focusing on art, activism, and service. The exhibition includes large-scale drawings on found cardboard based on historical representations of women in support of labor. These will be shown alongside over 100 contemporary photographs taken at protests and rallies, reflecting a more diverse and nuanced portrait of the struggle for workers’ rights. A pair of sculptures will focus on the current situation in higher education, where rising student tuitions are accompanied by shrinking wages and benefits for faculty.
Left: Mette Clausen, “Standard Incomparable reference image” (2016); right: Ellen Lesperance, “Mis Cuerdas Están Llorando, Y Mi Corazón También” (2015), gouache and graphite on tea-stained paper, 22 x 29 1/2 inches (via armoryarts.org)
Ellen Lesperance, Helen Mirra, Traversing
When: Opens Saturday, June 4, 6–8pm
Where: Armory Center for the Arts (145 N. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, California)
Traversing presents work by Ellen Lesperance and Helen Mirra, two artists who explore conceptual and idealogical frameworks through their use of textiles. Lesperance will debut new paintings that incorporate elements of the minimalist grid and weaving patterns, while Mirra will present an intergenerational, international weaving project.
‘Where Black is Brown’ at the Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles (via maaala.org)
Where Black is Brown: The African Diaspora in Mexico
When: Opens Sunday, June 5, 2–5pm
Where: The Museum of African American Art (4005 Crenshaw Blvd.,Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 3rd Floor, Crenshaw, Los Angeles)
Where Black is Brown explores the African presence and heritage in Mexico through photography, artifacts, and installations, ranging from the controversial theory that the Olmecs had an African connection, through the period of slavery, to present-day African-Mexican culture. The opening reception will feature African and Azteca dancers and musicians, as well as a talk by curator Dr. Toni-Mokjaetji Humber.
