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# ArtRx LA
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artrx-la-86/
- Published: 2016-03-15T19:59:20.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:29:41.000Z
- Description: LOS ANGELES — This week, a double-venue Robert Mapplethorpe retrospective opens, curator Selene Preciado discusses the role of the female pachuca in José Montoya's work, REDCAT hosts a two-day symposium on Immigration and Art, and more.
- Author: Matt Stromberg
- Tags: Art, Events, Weekly Art Rx LA, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:17 (2016, 2017, part 1)

![Richard Kern, still from "Submit to Me" (1985) (via facebook)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/03/kern.jpg)

Richard Kern, still from ‘Submit to Me’ (1985) (via Facebook)

LOS ANGELES — This week, a double-venue Robert Mapplethorpe retrospective opens, curator Selene Preciado discusses the role of the female *pachuca* in José Montoya’s work, REDCAT hosts a two-day symposium on Immigration and Art, and more.

![](http://hyperallergic.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/hyperbullet.png)

##  Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Medium

When: Opens Tuesday, March 15 (Getty Center); Sunday, March 20 (LACMA)  
Where: The Getty Center (1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles)

In a prolific career cut short by AIDS, Robert Mapplethorpe captured high society portraits, delicate photographs of flowers, and graphic S&M images, yet all his works are united by the relentless pursuit of photographic perfection. *The Perfect Medium* is a historic two-venue collaboration between [The Getty Center](http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/mapplethorpe/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and the [Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)](http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/robert-mapplethorpe-perfect-medium?ref=hyperallergic.com) that covers the entire range of Mapplethorpe’s diverse output, including early, seldom-seen mixed-media works. Accompanying exhibitions serve to situate his work within the context of [body-centered art of the 1980s](http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/physical-sex-and-body-1980s?ref=hyperallergic.com), as well as the expansive [photography collection of Samuel Wagstaff](http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/wagstaff/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Mapplethorpe’s lover and patron.

![Robert Mapplethorpe," Self-portrait of Robert Mapplethorpe with trip cable in hand" (1974), Gelatin silver print, Sheet (each): 3 11/16 x 4 9/16 in. (© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, via getty.edu)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/03/mapplethorpe.jpg)

Robert Mapplethorpe,”Self-portrait of Robert Mapplethorpe with trip cable in hand” (1974), gelatin silver print, sheet (each): 3 11/16 x 4 9/16 in. (© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, via getty.edu)

![](http://hyperallergic.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/hyperbullet.png)

##  Ben Caldwell Film Screenings

When: Wednesday, March 16, 7–9pm  
Where: Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (4800 Hollywood Boulevard, East Hollywood, California)

In conjunction with *SKIN*, an exhibition exploring race, identity, and politics, the [Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery](http://www.lamag.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) presents a [screening of two films by Ben Caldwell](https://www.facebook.com/events/1692224650994463/). Alongside Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, and Haile Gerima, Caldwell was part of the [L.A. Rebellion](https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/la-rebellion/story-la-rebellion?ref=hyperallergic.com), a group of African-American filmmakers who graduated from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) beginning in the mid-1960s. Made as his first project at UCLA, *Medea* (1973) is collage film that combines live action with still images of Africans and African-Americans, set to a reading of Amiri Baraka’s poem “Part of the Doctrine.” Caldwell’s 1979 film *I&I* incorporates elements of dramatic narrative, experimental cinema, and documentary to explore the community-centered concept of I&I, where there are no divisions between people.

![Ben Caldwell, "I&I" (1979) (via cinema.ucla.edu)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/03/iandi1.jpg)

Ben Caldwell, ‘I&I’ (1979) (via cinema.ucla.edu)

![](http://hyperallergic.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/hyperbullet.png)

##  Underground USA: Richard Kern Night

When: Wednesday, March 16, 8pm  
Where: The Cinefamily (611 North Fairfax Avenue, Fairfax District, Los Angeles)

Before becoming well-known for his contemporary erotic photography, Richard Kern was central figure in the[Cinema of Transgression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema%5Fof%5FTransgression?ref=hyperallergic.com) of the 1980s. Starring fellow downtown New York artists and musicians like Lydia Lunch, Nick Zedd, David Wojnarowicz, Karen Finley, and Kembra Pfahler, Kern’s Super-8 short films were lo-fi, subversively punk, and darkly comic. As [Anthology Film Archives notes](http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film%5Fscreenings/calendar?view=list&month=09&year=2011&ref=hyperallergic.com#showing-37815), “Kern’s films remain shocking, sexy, disturbed, debauched, violent, and really quite wonderful.” As part of its [Underground USA](http://www.cinefamily.org/films/underground-usa-indie-cinema-of-the-80s/?ref=hyperallergic.com) festival, Cinefamily presents a [program of Kern’s short films](http://www.cinefamily.org/films/underground-usa-indie-cinema-of-the-80s/?ref=hyperallergic.com#underground-usa-indie-cinema-of-the-80s-richard-kern-night-w-kern-in-person-photo-installation), alongside an exhibition of his early photography, followed by a Q&A with Kern and Apology magazine editor Jesse Pearson.

![Louis Hock, "The Nightscope Series" (2006), Inkjet (via redcat.org)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/03/immigration.jpg)

Louis Hock, “The Nightscope Series” (2006), inkjet (via redcat.org)

![](http://hyperallergic.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/hyperbullet.png)

##  Immigration: Art/Critique/Process

When: Thursday, March 17–Friday, March 18  
Where: REDCAT (631 West 2nd Street, Downtown, Los Angeles)

As the art world becomes increasingly globalized, issues of identity, migration, and territory have taken on special significance. [Immigration: Art/Critique/Process](http://immigration-art-critique-process.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) is a two-day symposium that aims to explore how these topics intersect with art, culture, and technology, through a program of discussions, films, and performances. Presenters include Claire Colebrook, Nonny de la Peña, Michael Ned Holte, Ruth Estévez, Pilar Tompkins Rivas, Yoshua Okón, and many others.

![](http://hyperallergic.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/hyperbullet.png)

## Culture Fix: Selene Preciado on the Pachuca and José Montoya

![Drawing by Jose Montoya (via facebook)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/03/montoya.jpg)

Drawing by José Montoya (via Facebook)

When: Friday, March 18, noon–1pm  
Where: Fowler Museum (UCLA North Campus, Westwood, Los Angeles)

[*José Montoya’s Abundant Harvest*](http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/exhibitions/montoya?ref=hyperallergic.com) is an exhaustive survey of over 2,000 works by this Chicano artist, poet, and activist who captured the struggles and vitality of Latino life in the fields and barrios of California. A recurring motif in his work was the sharply dressed, zoot-suited pachuco. “This was their way of saying, ‘We are not lazy dirty Mexicans. It takes work to look this classy,'” [he recalled in a video clip](http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/exhibitions/montoya?ref=hyperallergic.com). In conjunction with this exhibition, curator [Selene Preciado will discuss the role of the female *pachuca*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachuco?ref=hyperallergic.com) in his work as a symbol of cultural rebellion.

![Julian Schnabel, "The Edge of Victory" (1987), Gesso, gaffer tape, sweat and blood on boxing ring floor, 136 x 192 inches (© Julian Schnabel Studio, via blumandpoe.com)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/03/schnabel.jpg)

Julian Schnabel, “The Edge of Victory” (1987), gesso, gaffer tape, sweat and blood on boxing ring floor, 136 x 192 inches (© Julian Schnabel Studio, via blumandpoe.com)

![](http://hyperallergic.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/hyperbullet.png)

## Julian Schnabel: Infinity on Trial

When: Opens Friday, March 18, 6–8pm  
Where: Blum & Poe (2727 South La Cienega Boulevard, Culver City, California)

Emerging in the late 1970s with large-scale paintings on cracked ceramics, [Julian Schnabel](http://hyperallergic.com/123931/julian-schnabels-formula-for-greatness/)rapidly established himself as a seminal member of the ’80s Neo-Expressionist movement. His works are big, bold, brash, and visceral — everything that the previous decade’s conceptual and minimalist strategies were not. [*Infinity on Trial*](http://www.blumandpoe.com/exhibitions/julian-schnabel?ref=hyperallergic.com#press1), Schnabel’s first solo show with Blum & Poe, is a tight overview of his oeuvre, presenting 12 paintings and 40 drawing spanning four decades. The exhibition aims to elucidate Schnabel’s historical significance and argues for his continuing relevance to a younger generation of painters.