ArtRx LA
LOS ANGELES — This week, a photographer provides a glimpse into the world of Southern hip-hop, a godfather of the Detroit art scene has a show at artist Henry Taylor's studio, the Women's Center for Creative Work hosts a screening of experimental film by Polish female artists, and more.
LOS ANGELES — This week, a photographer provides a glimpse into the world of Southern hip-hop, a godfather of the Detroit art scene has a show at artist Henry Taylor’s studio, the Women’s Center for Creative Work hosts a screening of experimental film by Polish female artists, and more.
Against the Grain
When: Friday, May 20, 7–9pm
Where: Women’s Center for Creative Work (2425 Glover Place, Elysian Valley, Los Angeles)
Against the Grain presents a survey of experimental films from Polish female artists from the 1970s to today. This spans periods of early Polish feminism, conceptualism, structuralism, and work produced after the country’s transition from Communism. Featured artists include KwieKulik, Natalia LL, and Ewa Partum as well as contemporary filmmakers, Zuzanna Janin, Katarzyna Kozyra, and Agnieszka Polska. An informal discussion with Aniko Imre, Eve Oishi, and artist Kim Schoen will follow the screening.
The Pleasure Principle
When: Opens Friday, May 20, 7–9pm
Where: Farago (224 W 8th Street, Downtown, Los Angeles)
Curated by Courtney Malick, The Pleasure Principle brings together a group of artists who explore marketing, advertising, desire, and the new economy. Featuring Lucy Chinen, Matt Doyle & Yuehao Jiang, Yoshua Okon, Ada Sokol, Ryan Trecartin, and Whitney Vangrin, the exhibition makes use of Farago’s storefront location to blur the line between white cube and window display, also utilizing curbside newspaper boxes to distribute an accompanying text on neuromarketing by Ada Sokol.
Latina/o 4X4 Series
When: Friday, May 20 & Saturday, May 21, 8:30pm
Where: Highways Performance Space @18th St. Arts Center (1651 18th St., Santa Monica, California)
Highways Performance Space will be kicking-off its month-long LGBTQ performance festival Behold! with Latina/o 4×4. This series presents the work of four queer Latina/o artists or groups, whose overlapping racial and sexual identities are often underrepresented. Featured performers include Claudia Rodriguez, Irvin Gonzalez & Alfonso Cervera, Primera Generación Dance Project and Leopold Nunan. Tickets are $20/$15 members.
Black is Beautiful: Empowerment Through the Lens of Kwame Brathwaite, 1962–1975
When: Opens Saturday, May 21, 6–8pm
Where: Cherry & Martin (2732 S. La Cienega Boulevard, Culver City, California)
Photographer Kwame Braithwaite’s images of proud, strong, confident African-Americans give visual form to the civil rights era slogan “Black is Beautiful.” His vision of a vibrant black community defined by activism, cultural awareness, African dress, and natural hairstyles sits at the nexus of fashion, politics, and pop culture. Featuring photographs from 1962–1975, Black is Beautiful is surprisingly Braithwaite’s first solo exhibition on the West Coast. More than simply reflecting the world around him, Braithwaite grasped the power of the photographic image to change it.
Ivar Wigan: The Gods
When: Opens Saturday, May 21, 6–9pm
Where: Little Big Man (1427 E. 4th Street, Unit 2., Boyle Heights, Los Angeles)
Taking its title from the name for a veteran hustler who has survived the streets or prison, The Gods is an unflinching and intimate look at the culture of Southern hip-hop based primarily in Miami, Atlanta, and New Orleans. Eschewing a simplistic focus on bombast and bling, Scottish photographer Ivan Wigan instead has sought to capture a nuanced portrait of these marginalized urban communities.
Olayami Dabls: Flags Erotic Rights
When: Opens Saturday, May 21, 5–10pm
Where: Henry Taylor’s (810 East 3rd Street, #41, Downtown, Los Angeles)
Flags Erotic Rights is the first Los Angeles exhibition of work by Olayami Dabls, a godfather of the Detroit art scene. Dabls has been an artist, curator, and historian for over 30 years, founding the African Bead Museum in 2000. Curated by Corazon del Sol and Yael Lipschutz, the show will feature paintings dealing with subjects ranging from civil rights to African sexuality, as well as a selection of African beads. On Sunday at 2pm, there will also be a discussion with Dabls, artist Henry Taylor, and architect Lorcan O’Herlihy, who will be renovating the museum.
