ArtRx LA
LOS ANGELES — This week, there's a film on vibrant street life in Marrakesh, a talk on the history of gay Japanese art, a multi-media sci-fi installation, and much more.
LOS ANGELES — This week, there’s a film on vibrant street life in Marrakesh, a talk on the history of gay Japanese art, a multi-media sci-fi installation, and much more.
Karima: A Day in the Life of a Henna Girl
When: Wednesday, May 13, 6:30pm
Where: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles)
Moroccan-born artist Hassan Hajjaj is well known for his vibrant photographic portraits that capture his subjects amidst a riot of color and pattern, reflecting their complex global identities. His recent series, Kesh Angels, focuses on veiled, motorcycle-riding young women in Marrakesh who embody this tension between East and West, modernity and tradition. Karima, Hajjaj’s first feature-length film, follows one such woman and her friends — “henna girls” — over the course of one day spent cruising around and plying their trade as henna artists in the historic Jemaa el-Fnaa market. A question and answer session after the screening will include Hajjaj, Karima, and other cast members.
Discussion of Japanese Gay Art History
When: Thursday, May 14, 7pm
Where: TOM House (1421 Laveta Terrace, Echo Park, Los Angeles)
Compared with the BDSM-filled gay manga of Japanese artist Gengoroh Tagame, Tom of Finland’s homoeroticism seems downright quaint. Tagame’s graphic, often violent, depictions of hyper-masculinity have made him the most prominent gay erotic artist in Japan. He is also the editor of a two-volume history of gay erotic Japanese art from 1950 to the present. The Tom of Finland Foundation hosts this discussion between Tagame and artist Richard Hawkins, whose correspondence dates back to the mid-’90s, when Tagame’s work was added to the Tom of Finland archive.
Different Every Time
When: Thursday, May 14, 7pm
Where: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) Grand (250 S. Grand Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles)
The late Elaine Sturtevant made a career out of copying other artists. More than simple forgeries however, her appropriations speak to the complex nature of authenticity, originality, and contemporary image distribution. In conjunction with her retrospective Double Trouble, MOCA presents this program of five films that deal with repetition in very different ways. Featured works include Hollis Frampton’s Works and Days (1969), an appropriated film the artist found in a junk shop chronicling the making of a vegetable garden, and Mariah Garnett’s Encounters I May Or May Not Have Had With Peter Berlin (2012), in which Garnett adopts the persona of the ’70s gay sex icon.
Jamie McMurry: Above Snakes
When: Opens Thursday, May 14, 7—10pm
Where: Human Resources (410 Cottage Home Street, Chinatown, Los Angeles)
For his upcoming show at Human Resources, Above Snakes, LA-based artist Jamie McMurry will be exhibiting documentation of three performances: “Color Theory,” featuring paint splattered suits; “Object Witness” made up of collections of objects taken from death scenes; and “Intelligent Design,” for which McMurry attempted to teach himself how to play “light my fire” over the course of several days. There will also be a live performance, “Double Wide,” at 8pm. No word on what this will entail, but if previous performances are any indication, it is sure to be an intense and raw engagement with trauma.
Nao Bustamante: Soldadera
When: Opens Saturday, May 16, 4—6pm
Where: Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College (1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Building S1, Monterey Park, California)
Nao Bustamante’s first West Coast Museum show Soldadera, is a re-imagining of the Mexican Revolution to consider the oft-overlooked narratives of female soldiers. This includes a video installation as well as the re-purposing of archival materials.
Slanguage Studio: Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost
When: Reception – Saturday, May 16, 6—8pm
Where: 18th Street Arts Center (1639 18th Street, Santa Monica, California)
Led by artists Mario Ybarra, Jr. and Karla Diaz, Slanguage Studio has been combining interactive exhibitions with arts education and public engagement since its founding in 2002. As part of their residency at 18th Street Arts Center, they will be transforming the Artist Lab with “a techno-futuristic science-fiction extravaganza rooted in their ongoing investigations of race, identity, and culture.” This multi-media installation will take the form of drawings, sculpture, film, and public discussions, as well as performances based on cinematic sci-fi and horror tropes.
