Alfredo Ramos Martinez, “Procession of Nuns” (circa 1935), tempera, 16 x 20 inches (courtesy Louis Stern Fine Arts)
LOS ANGELES — The holiday season is a time most of us spend with family or friends around festive meals and celebrations, rather than gallery hopping. But there is plenty of good art to see before the new year. Here are five shows in Los Angeles to check out before they close this month.
1. Alfredo Ramos Martinez and Latin American Modernism at Louis Stern Fine Arts
Alfredo Ramos Martinez was born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1871 and spent the last years of his life in Los Angeles, straddling the geographic poles explored in the Getty’s current Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative, which funded more than 75 exhibitions on Latin American and Latino art. Louis Stern Fine Art’s Alfredo Ramos Martinez and Latin American Modernism features six works from the “Father of Mexican Modernism” as he was known, as well as other modern and contemporary artists from all over the region including Roberto Matta from Chile, Carlos Cruz-Diez from Venezuela, and Uruguay-born Cecilia Z. Miguez.
When: Closes Friday, December 22
Where: Louis Stern Fine Arts (9002 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California)
More info here.
2. Tomorrow’s Man 4 at Regen Projects
Installation view of Tomorrow’s Man 4, curated by Jack Pierson, at Regen Projects (photo by Brian Forrest, courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles)
Whether he’s assembling abandoned roadside signage into evocative phrases or borrowing images from popular culture, Jack Pierson’s work has always been characterized by strategies of appropriation. The group exhibition, Tomorrow’s Man 4, curated by Pierson, could be considered his latest appropriative act, bringing together the work of 10 LA-based artists into an overlapping installation. Featuring Cali Dewitt, Brian Calvin, Shari Elf, Liz Larner, Lily Stockman, and others.
When: Closes Friday, December 22
Where: Regen Projects (6750 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles)
More info here.
3. Cammie Staros: les vases communicants at Shulamit Nazarian
Cammie Staros, “Eros and Anteros” (2017), ceramic, MDF, epoxy, paint, 48 x 20 x 40 inches (courtesy Shulamit Nazarian, photo by Josef Jacques)
Cammie Staros’s ceramic objects allude to the forms of classical vessels, but update them with neon or metal additions, as well as references to feminism and S&M. Her exhibition les vases communicants pairs these hybrid sculptures with works by other artists who explore the link between antiquity and the present: Fay Ray, Whitney Hubbs, David Korty, Matt Lipps, and Sara VanDerBeek.
When: Closes Saturday, December 23
Where: Shulamit Nazarian (616 N La Brea Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles)
More info here.
4. Martín Ramírez: His Life in Pictures, Another Interpretation at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Martín Ramírez, “Untitled (Parade Horn and Rider with Bugle and Flag) (c.1960–63), gouache, colored pencil, and graphite on pieced paper, 16½×21½ in. (collection of Howard and Janet Ecker, courtesy Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, image courtesy Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York)
Martín Ramírez emigrated to the US in search of work, but instead fell on hard times during the depression, eventually spending the last 30 years of his life in Northern California mental institutions. During his incarceration, however, he took refuge in art, producing drawings that combined geometric abstraction with scenes and symbols from his homeland. Martín Ramírez: His Life in Pictures, Another Interpretation is the first comprehensive exhibition of his work, bringing together over 50 visionary drawings and collages.
When: Closes Sunday, December 31
Where: Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA) (1717 E. 7th Street, Downtown, Los Angeles)
More info here.
5. Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985 at the Hammer Museum
Liliana Maresca, “Sin título (Untitled),” from the series Liliana Maresca con su obra (Liliana Maresca with her work) (1983) (photo by Marcos López, photo performance: two selenium gelatin silver prints, sheet: 19 11/16 × 19 11/16 in. archivo Liliana Maresca and Marcos López, ©the artist)
Of all the PST: LA/LA shows not to be missed, Radical Women is at the top of the list. Over 100 women from 15 countries are included, from well-known artists like Lygia Clark, Ana Mendieta, and Judy Baca, to scores of underrepresented pioneers, working across a wide spectrum of media from painting and sculpture, to photography, video, installation, and ephemeral actions. This important reappraisal is testament to the fact that just because certain artists are left out of the historical record does not mean they did not produce historically significant work.
