ArtRx LA

LOS ANGELES — This week, the filmmaker Guillermo del Toro shares his creative process at the Los Angeles County of Museum Art (LACMA), Visitor Welcome Center sets up a unique artistic exchange, four artists mine “the depths of Brown creativity/identity,” and more.

 London Calling

When: Opens Tuesday, July 26
Where: Getty Center (1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles)

Emerging from the ashes of postwar Britain, the painters in the “School of London” threw a monkey wrench into the prevailing art historical narrative that portrays the 20th century as an inevitable progression towards abstraction. Although working in very different styles — from cold, airless realism to heavily impastoed expressionism — they were united by their focus on the figure and the everyday world outside their studio windows. London Calling presents the work of six of the most prominent artists in this milieu: celebrated painters Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and R.B. Kitaj, alongside their perhaps less well-known but significant colleagues Leon Kossoff, Michael Andrews, and Frank Auerbach.

 Xina Xurner Performance

When: Thursday, July 28, 7–9pm
Where: Shulamit Nazarian (17 N. Venice Blvd, Venice, Los Angeles)

The group show Shapeshifters at Shulamit Nazarian features artists and performers who engage in transformation as a way to explore difference, identity, and self-preservation. These include Felipe Meres’s cinematic analyses of hermaphroditic microscopic organisms, Martine Gutierrez’s project celebrating and updating Guatemalan textiles, and Norwegian artist Tori Wrånes’s performance as a fur-suited troll. On the occasion of the exhibition’s closing, Xina Xurner — the drag/noise/techno duo of Young Joon Kwak and Marvin Astorga — will perform with members of Project Rage Queen, followed by a discussion with fellow artist Jennifer Moon.

Se Mueve: Aqui / Here: It Moves

When: Saturday, July 30, 8pm
Where: Grand Performances (350 S. Grand Ave., Downtown, Los Angeles)

As part of their Evolución L.A.tino series showcasing Latino culture through music, theater, film, and art, Grand Performances presents Se Mueve Aqui. The free program features four Los-Angeles based artists who use performance and poetry to explore “the depths of Brown creativity/identity“: Rafa Esparza, Maria Garcia, Yesika Salgado, and Yosimar Reyes.

 Shared Value: An Open Letter

When: Opens Saturday, July 30, 7pm
Where: Visitor Welcome Center (3006 W 7th Street, #200A, Koreatown, Los Angeles)

Is there a way to ascribe value to art outside of a purely capitalist system? This is the question that artist Kim Ye poses with her upcoming exhibition Shared Value. Instead of showing her own work, Ye will be displaying objects made by other artists that they have traded in exchange for an experience with her.

As Ye is also a pro dominatrix, these experiences range “from the vanilla to the extreme,” tailored specifically to each artist. Works will be added throughout the run of the show, as more artists sign on for this unique exchange.

 Piston Head II: Artists Engage the Automobile

When: Opens Saturday, July 30, 5–8pm
Where: Venus Over LA (601 S. Anderson St., Boyle Heights, Los Angeles)

Art and cars go hand-in-hand as aestheticized symbols of American individualism and freedom. Piston Head II explores the relationship between the two, featuring artists who consider both the physical and cultural aspects of the automobile. Artists include Katherine Bernhardt, Richard Prince, Sterling Ruby, Peter Shire, Lawrence Weiner, and others. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Peterson Automotive Museum will have on display a 1971 Land Rover Series 3 painted by Keith Haring in 1983.

Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters

When: Opens Monday, August 1
Where: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles).

Amidst the current wave of bland CGI blockbusters, Guillermo del Toro’s films stand out for their strong narratives, diverse source material, and fantastical visual wonder. Although he does use some digital effects, overall his oeuvre recalls an earlier era of horror and sci-fi movies, where a man in a monster suit could be as terrifying as any green screen fiend. At Home with Monsters provides a trip down the rabbit hole of his creative process, as well as an opportunity to see some of the classic Hollywood horror artifacts housed in his suburban Los Angeles home known as “Bleak House.” There will also be a book-signing with del Toro this Friday at 5pm.