Datebook: A key 20th century art dealer, a sci-fi master’s intriguing archive, and portraits of wealth
The woman who helped bring a group of four key painters to California. Poring over a science fiction writer’s notes and journals. Plus: Picturing wealth as well as workers at opposite ends of the global economy. Here are 10 exhibitions and events to check out in the coming week:
“Maven of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in California,” at the Norton Simon Museum. This exhibition examines the life of a key art dealer: Galka Scheyer, who embraced Modern work early in the 20th century and was partly responsible for bringing the artists known as the “Blue Four” to prominence in the United States. (They were Lyonel Feininger, Alexei Jawlensky, Paul Klee and Vasily Kandinsky.) Born in Germany in the late 19th century, she ultimately settled in California, where she lived in San Francisco and later in Hollywood (in a home designed by Richard Neutra), she found an audience in this state that was open to the work and its ideas. The exhibition contains work by the Blue Four, but also objects and other artworks that connect to Scheyer’s personal and professional life. Opens Friday and runs through Sept. 25. 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, nortonsimon.org.
“Octavia E. Butler: Telling My Stories,” at the Huntington. Butler, the pioneering Los Angeles science fiction writer (the first to receive a MacArthur Fellowship — the so-called “genius” grant) and a writer whose narratives seamlessly blended issues of race and gender with elements of the magical, is the subject of a new exhibition on her life and work. This show at the Huntington (where her archive is kept) gathers roughly 100 items, including notebooks, photographs, journals and first editions of some of her novels, including “Kindred,” one of her best, most riveting works. Opens Saturday and runs through Aug. 7. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, huntington.org.
Lauren Greenfield, “Generation Wealth,” at the Annenberg Space for Photography. Greenfield, a filmmaker and photographer, has long explored the issues of affluence and consumerism at the intersection of social status and celebrity culture. (She directed the engaging 2012 documentary, “The Queen of Versailles,” about the Siegel family, who were in the midst of building a massive home in Florida when the family’s empire was battered by the recession.) The exhibition features 195 color prints that depict the continual aspiration for more. Opens Saturday and runs through Aug. 13. 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, Los Angeles, annenbergphotospace.org.
Ron Jude and Milton Rogovin, “Commodities, Traders,” at Gallery Luisotti. This two-person show pairs two photographic series that look at the economic conditions of workers of very different stripes. Jude’s color photographs capture the short haircuts and formal business attire of anonymous financial district workers, while Rogovin’s images, shot in black and white, capture the lives and faces of miners around the world. The series may appear wildly different on the surface, but the people and the images are connected by our economic system. Opens Saturday and runs through May 13. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building A2, Santa Monica, galleryluisotti.com.
Moi Medina, “Right Left: Fair is Fair,” at Mandujano Cell. This small, Inglewood artist-run space has a very intriguing exhibition on view by historian Moi Medina. A wry two-screen video installation takes as its point of inspiration two stories of lost legs: The first focuses on a late 16th century episode in New Mexico, in which Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate ordered the surviving adult males of the Acoma pueblo to have their right legs removed in the wake of a battle; the second explores the life and travels of the wooden leg that once belonged to Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna — which, intriguingly enough, now resides at the Illinois State Military Museum. Through May 5. 171 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, mandujano-cell.com.
Manuel Ocampo & Irene Iré, “Monument to the Pathetic Sublime,” at Coagula Curatorial. Ocampo, a Filipino artist who will be representing his native country at the 2017 Venice Biennale, and Iré, a painter who hails from Spain, take on Goya’s 18th century print series, “Los Caprichos,” about the vanities and absurdities of Spanish society. The pair have created a series of works inspired by Goya that take the acid eye and black humor of the Spanish master and apply it to today’s society. Opens Saturday at 7 p.m. and runs through May 21. 974 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, coagulacuratorial.com.
“1992: An Examination of the Iconography from the ‘92 Los Angeles Rebellion,” at Residency. A group show features work by L.A. artists such as Charles Dickson, Patrick Martinez and Tanya Bernard, explores the iconography of the 1992 Los Angeles riots by artists who lived through and saw the effects of those events. Opens Saturday at 6 p.m. and runs through June 3. 310 E. Queen St., Inglewood, residencyart.com.
“Iconic Black Panther,” at Gregorio Escalante Gallery. This show brings together works by 50 artists, including Mark Steven Greenfield, Keith Walsh, Samella Lewis, Shepard Fairey and April Banks, inspired by the history and iconography of the Black Panther movement (an iconography inspired in part by the work of artist Emory Douglas). The exhibition is organized by the arts organization Sepia Collective, Zack de la Rocha / Razor Step in association with the arts nonprofit Road to Artdom, and Gregorio Escalante Gallery. Opens Saturday and runs through May 14. 978 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, gregorioescalante.com.
Zeal Harris, Lili Bernard and Loren Holland, “Sweet Sticky Things,” at Launch LA. The group show, whose title is inspired by a song from the 1970s funk band the Ohio Players, looks at issues of society, sexuality and black womanhood — in works that are variously inspired by folk art traditions, Afro-Caribbean folklore and myriad other artistic practices. Opens Saturday at 4 p.m. and runs through May 6. RSVP required for the opening. 170 S. La Brea Ave., Hancock Park, Los Angeles, launchla.org.
Graeme Mitchell, “Detached Pictures,” at Wilding Cran Gallery. The noted portrait photographer employs photography as a point of departure for a series of new paintings that show the ways in which photography (and its translation into other media) can leave a lot of questions hovering about what represents reality. Opens Saturday at 6 p.m. and runs through May 28. 939 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, wildingcran.com.
Last chance
“MONTARlaBestia,” at the Fisher Museum of Art. This intriguing show brings together artists, activists, an arts nonprofit and a group of underserved L.A. students for a unique collaboration that responds to the phenomenon of “La Bestia,” the train that carries millions of Central American immigrants on the route north to the United States. Artist Demián Flores, along with journalist and activist Mardonio Carballo and curator Marco Barrera Bassols, teamed up with students from the nonprofit Art Division for the show — during which time the students got to explore the Fisher’s permanent collection and attend special workshops. Betto Arcos has a good story on KPCC. Through Saturday. 823 W. Exposition Blvd., Exposition Park, Los Angeles, fisher.usc.edu.
Lisa Adams, “Petrichor,” at CB1 Gallery. The L.A. artist has a new show of small paintings inspired by petrichor, the smell of dry earth as it is pelted with rain. The works — all diminutive in scale, and integrating elements of the urban and the abstract — were begun during California’s period of drought and completed after the season’s first rains. Through Sunday. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, cb1gallery.com.
Nancy Baker Cahill, “Manifestos,” at Ochi Projects. A new series of small drawings by the Los Angeles-based artist shows puzzling objects in motion. Are they body parts? Are they organ-like appendages? Are they bits of organic matter? Whatever they are, they are mysterious and intriguing. Through Sunday. 3301 W. Washington Blvd., Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, ochiprojects.com.
“Los Four meets Los 40,” at La Bodega Gallery. The 1970s art collective Los Four, which included painters Frank Romero, Carlos Almaraz, Gilbert “Magu” Lujan, and Beto de la Rocha, broke barriers in its time for being the first group of Chicano artists to have an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (The group later added painter and muralist Judithe Hernandez.) This exhibition, organized by La Bodega, in collaboration with L.A. gallerist Gregorio Escalante, features work by 40 contemporary artists that honors their activism and work. This includes pieces by Abel Alejandre, CiCi Segura, Mario Ybarra Jr., Rafael Cardenas and Shizu Saldamando, among countless others. Through Tuesday. 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan, San Diego, labodegagallery.com and yewonline.com.
Ongoing Exhibitions
“The Birth of Motion Pictures: An Illustrated History of Silent Cinema, 1910–1929,” at the City of Brea Art Gallery. This exhibition is devoted to silent film — specifically, 60 original silent movie posters and a very rare “Silent Oscar” (one of only 15 ever awarded) from the private collection of Dwight Manley. Included in the show will be original posters for the Charlie Chaplin films “A Dog’s Life” (1918) and “The Kid” (1921), as well as a Spanish-language poster from the lost mystery flick “London After Midnight” (1927), which starred Lon Chaney as a vampiric inspector. Through April 14. One Civic Center Circle, Brea, breagallery.com.
“What I Loved: Selected Works From the ‘90s,” at Regen Projects. An economic recession. A war in the Middle East. And the L.A. Riots. The 1990s were a formative period for artists addressing issues of race, sexuality, gender, identity, the AIDS epidemic and globalization. This group exhibition — inspired by the title of Siri Hustvedt’s 2003 novel, “What I Loved” — brings together works by figures such as Matthew Barney, Glenn Ligon, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Catherine Opie, Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker and others in ways that capture the zeitgeist of that tumultuous, transformative period. Through April 14. 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, regenprojects.com.
Joshua Abarbanel, “It’s Only Natural,” at TAJ Art. A series of wall-mounted wood sculptures employ organic forms to create bright patterns — some inspired by the artist’s recent trip to the Seed Bank in Svalbard in the Arctic Circle. Through April 14. 1492 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, tajartinc.com.
Arne Quinze, “Jungle Cities,” at Denk Gallery. This is the debut show for the new Los Angeles gallery, which has kicked off its program with an exhibition by the Belgian sculptor known for his wild architectural installations. Quinze has created a new series of metal sculptures and wall hangings that play with the idea of disappearing nature. This includes a standing sculpture that evokes a wild creature and a work that resembles a log — full of growths and other bits of wild nature — but is actually a piece of cast bronze. Through April 15. 749 E. Temple St., downtown Los Angeles, denkgallery.com.
“John McLaughlin Paintings: Total Abstraction,” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. One of the most important artists of SoCal’s postwar period, McLaughlin is known for quiet, minimalist works that explore total abstraction: geometries and lines that explore ideas of shape and space, but not representation. This exhibition gathers 52 paintings and a selection of collages and drawings — representing the first major museum retrospective of the artist’s work. Times critic Christopher Knight says this is the show he has been waiting 40 years to see. Do not miss. Through April 16. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.
“Breaking News: Turning the Lens on Mass Media,” at the Getty Center. An exhibition that couldn’t be timelier: Curator Arpad Kovcs has put together a show that looks at the ways in which artists have turned bucolic magazine images and fragments of news programming into sharp political statements against events such as the Vietnam War and the so-called war on terror. The show features work by Martha Rosler, Alfredo Jaar, Catherine Opie and Robert Heinecken. Through April 20. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.
EJ Hill, “The Necessary Reconditioning of the Highly Deserving,” at Commonwealth & Council. A new series of sculptures and paintings represent the black body in places of elevation — an attempt to tell a story of blackness “with light and affirmation.” Also on view will be exhibitions by Neha Choksi and Kang Seung Lee. Through April 29. 306 W. 7th St., downtown Los Angeles, commonwealthandcouncil.com.
Joan-Ole Schiemann, “Can You Show Me the Way to Paradise Road?” at Mier. The Germany-based artist uses the aesthetics of cartoon animations to explore his movements around Los Angeles — albeit in abstraction. The works aren’t about creating a neatly structured grid or some other sort of literal visual map but, rather, laying out elements of the environment as they shift over the course of the city’s landscape: noises, odors, structures, and other elements, all rendered as surreal forms. Through April 29. 1107 Greenacre Ave., West Hollywood, miergallery.com.
Jake Kean Mayman, “The Earth Dies Screaming,” at Night Gallery. The Los Angeles painter, whose slightly dystopic color palette of acid-sherbet shades are often employed in pieces that take on aspects of landscape and the figure, as well as the nature of painting itself, has a show of new works that take on issues of fear in the American psyche and the ways in which information is manipulated and distorted. The title of the show? That was inspired by a 1964 sci-fi horror film about apocalypse. Timely. Through April 29. 227 E. 16th St., Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, nightgallery.ca.
“Desert X,” in locations around the Coachella Valley. This biennial crash features a variety of installations and land art pieces installed along the length of the Coachella Valley. (Expect some driving … or Lyfting or cycling.) On the rundown is a high-profile assortment of SoCal and international figures, including Doug Aitken, Tavares Strachan, Gabriel Kuri, Richard Prince, Lita Albuquerque and Claudia Comte — creating site-specific pieces that take advantage of their scenic desert environs. Through April 30. The exhibition is free and takes place in locations around the Coachella Valley, desertx.org.
Gronk and Luis Roberto Vasquez Borja, “Home/Escape,” at FM Fine Art Gallery. This show explores the artistic relationship between artist and mentor. Borja once served as an assistant to the L.A. painter and muralist Gronk (born Glugio Nicandro), and he is now establishing himself in his own right. This collaborative exhibition pairs their works together. Through April 30. 834 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood, fmfineartgallery.com.
Corey Arnold, “Aleutian Dreams,” at Richard Heller Gallery. For many years, Arnold worked on a commercial fishing boat out of the remote community of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, catching codfish and crab. He took his camera and captured cinematic images of his exhausted co-workers, tempestuous seas and animal life at its wildest. Through May 5. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., #B-5A, Santa Monica, richardhellergallery.com.
Mary Weatherford, “like the land loves the sea,” at David Kordanksy Gallery. The Los Angeles painter creates hypnotic abstract canvases that she often punctuates with slashes of curved and crooked neon that operate as a brilliant surface brush stroke. A stop-you-in-your-tracks exhibition that is also deeply atmospheric. Through May 6. 5130 Edgewood Place, Los Angeles, davidkordanskygallery.com.
Jimmie Durham, “At the Center of the World,” at the Hammer Museum. For the last 20 years, Durham, who was born in Arkansas, and who came of age as an artist in New York’s downtown scene in the 1980s, has chosen to show primarily outside the United States. (He is of Cherokee descent.) This makes his first North American retrospective all the more special. Gathering his works from the 1970s to the present, the show features wry assemblages and wall sculptures that combine natural and discarded elements, riffing on classical architecture, the nature of portraiture and colonization. While you’re there, don’t miss the exhibition featuring drawings by French artist Jean Dubuffet, a figure who turned the graffiti-like gesture into high art. Through May 7. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, Los Angeles, hammer.ucla.edu.
“Picasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time,” at the L.A. County Museum of Art. This exhibition compares the artistic trajectories of two of the 20th century’s most towering Modernists: Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera. This covers the period from the 1920s to the ’50s as they explored Cubism, classical forms and ancient cultures in innovative ways. The shows features 150 paintings, etchings and watercolors. Through May 7. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.
“Birds of America: Explorations of Audubon — The Paintings of Larry Rivers and Others,” at 101/Exhibit. The gallery, which represents the Larry Rivers Foundation, has organized a show around the paintings of birds executed by the artist — paintings inspired by illustrator John James Audubon’s seminal 19th century book, “Birds of America.” In conjunction with a number of these works, the gallery is also showing pieces by numerous other contemporary artists that dialogue with art in this way. Through May 13. 668 N. La Peer Drive, West Hollywood, 101exhibit.com.
Joe Goode, “Old Ideas With New Solutions,” at Kohn Gallery. The California painter, whose work explores nature, urban landscape and the nature of color in often abstract ways, has new pieces now on view at Kohn, including work from various ongoing series. This includes new “Milk Bottle” paintings, which explore representation and abstraction using the humble milk bottle as starting point, “Ocean Blue,” with their plays on color and the boundlessness of nature, “California Summer,” employing a sunburned California palette, and “TV Blues,” which takes abstractions inspired by nature and displays them in the rectangular shape of a television screen. Through May 13. 1227 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, kohngallery.com.
Mark Feldstein, “NYC, circa 1970,” at Louis Stern Fine Arts. Feldstein was an artist and professor who was key to establishing the photography program at Hunter College in New York City in the ’70s. As an artist, he was known for hitting the streets of the Bowery, camera in tow, capturing people and the myriad details of architecture in artful ways. Through May 13. 9002 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, louissternfinearts.com.
“Masculine — Feminine,” at the Beall Center for Art + Technology. A group show that gathers the works of 12 artists, including Cassils, Micol Hebron, Julie Heffernan and Danial Nord, explores issues of gender and sexuality — sometimes playing with the malleability of these identifiers, at other times eliminating them completely. Through May 13. UC Irvine, 712 Arts Plaza, Irvine, beallcenter.uci.edu.
Jason Rhoades, “Installations, 1994-2006,” at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. The Los Angeles artist — known for sprawling, ribald installations made with everything from neon to cardboard to peas — often touched on issues of religion, sex and commerce in his work. This show, his first comprehensive survey in Los Angeles, brings together six of his most significant installations, including a tribute to sculptor Constantin Brancusi and a massive, sexually charged piece that features 240 neon words that describe female genitalia — a temple-like set-up where the viewer is invited to be wildly seduced. Through May 21. 901 E. Third St., downtown Los Angeles, hauserwirthschimmel.com.
Dreamland: A Frank Romero Retrospective, at the Museum of Latin American Art. The first museum retrospective of the storied Los Angeles painter brings together more than 200 works from throughout his career — pieces that frequently contend with various aspects of the urban experience, in particular that of L.A. The show covers all periods of his more than five-decade-long career, including his early works, pieces from his time with the collective Los Four in the 1970s and ’80s, his large-scale paintings and murals, as well as his more recent work in neon and ceramics. Through May 21. 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach, molaa.org.
“Aaron G. Green and California Organic Architecture,” at the Palos Verdes Art Center. Green was an architect inspired by the complex patterns and rugged textures found in nature, and this exhibition, curated by architectural historian Alan Hess, gathers rare photographs, along with original architectural renderings and other materials, to show a school of modernism that turned away from the glass box in favor of more organic forms. Through May 28. 5504 West Crestridge Road, Palos Verdes, aarongreen.org and pvartcenter.org.
“Women of Abstract Expressionism” at the Palm Springs Museum of Art. The Abstract Expressionist movement has been widely regarded as a boys club, one bursting with the macho antics of painters such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. But the movement included a healthy number of women, and this groundbreaking exhibition gathers works by some of the key female artists of the era, including Helen Frankenthaler, Jay DeFeo, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Lee Krasner and Joan Mitchell. In other words, it’s a fresh look at a history we think we know so well. Through May 28. 72-567 Highway 111, Palm Desert, psmuseum.org.
“Non Fiction,” at the Underground Museum. An emotionally charged exhibition curated by the late Noah Davis in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles brings together works that explore issues of race and violence. This includes important works from MOCA’s permanent collection by artists such as Robert Gober, Kara Walker, Henry Taylor and David Hammons. Through May. 3508 W. Washington Blvd., Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, theunderground-museum.org.
Shagha Ariannia, “Who Sings the Nation-State?” at the Vincent Price Art Museum. The artist, who was born in Tehran, looks at issues of citizenship, national identity and immigration through the lens of her own childhood in a video piece that also features related drawings and paintings. Through June 10. 1301 Cesar Chavez Ave., East Los Angeles, vincentpriceartmuseum.org.
“Paperworks: Selections from the Permanent Collection, at the California African American Museum. Drawing from the museum’s collection of works on paper, which covers a period that dates two centuries — from 1800 to 2000, this group exhibition gathers collages, drawings, paintings and other works by important figures such as Romare Bearden, Betye Saar, John Biggers, Marion Sampler and Sam Francis. Through June 11. 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, caamuseum.org.
“Power: Work by African American Women from the 19th Century to Now,” at Sprüth Magers. A survey exhibition organized by independent curator Todd Levin provides an overview of work by 37 African American women artists from over the last two centuries. The show, which is named for the 1970 gospel song by Sister Gertrude Morgan, runs the gamut of art-making traditions — including folk, painting, collage, assemblage and other forms — and touches on race, gender, class and the cultural and physical landscape. Through June 10. 5900 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, spruethmagers.com.
“Moholy-Nagy: Future Present,” at the L.A. County Museum of Art. This sprawling exhibition examines the career of the influential Bauhaus artist and teacher, known for stripping art down to fundamentals of color and shape. Moholy-Nagy was a polymath who worked in painting, printmaking, photography and industrial design and the show gathers more than 250 works of his in all formats. Moreover, it will also feature his installation “Room of the Present,” a concept for an exhibition space that was never realized in his lifetime. Through June 18. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.
“In Focus: Jane and Louise Wilson’s Sealander,” at the Getty Museum. For roughly three decades, twin sisters Jane and Louise Wilson have created large-scale photographs inspired by important events in European history — in the process, capturing the nuclear site at Chernobyl and the former headquarters of the East German secret police. In this series, they turn their attention to the brutal concrete bunkers deposited by Adolf Hitler along the French coast during World War II. Through July 2. 1200 Getty Center Dr., Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.
Kerry James Marshall, “Mastry,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art. A 35-year retrospective, featuring nearly 80 works, examines the career of a painter who is known for depicting the black figure in ways that are mordant, lordly and defiant — as well as painterly in the most sublime ways. Born in Birmingham, Ala., but raised in L.A. during the civil rights and black power movements, Marshall paints historical events, the city (including bits of Los Angeles), domestic scenes and portraits in ways that counter the invisibility of the black figure in Western art. His people — rendered in the inkiest shades of black — command notice and authority. Consider this show a must-see. Through July 3. MOCA Grand Avenue, 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles, moca.org.
“Inner Eye: Vision and Transcendence in African Arts,” at LACMA. A display of African art gathers objects that touch on important life transitions: initiation pieces, iconic masks and the reliquary guardians that guide people into the afterlife. The works on view, which include metalwork, sculpture and textiles, date from the 13th to 19th centuries, and cover various African regions, including Mali, Nigeria, Liberia and Congo, among others. Through July 9. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.
Hammer Projects: Andrea Bowers, at the Hammer Museum. Bowers, an artist known for her activism, regularly broaches the subject in her work. This new installation was inspired by the artist’s involvement in the protests at Standing Rock — charting the connections between the international banking system and the construction of oil pipelines. She ties these to food and water issues at the Los Angeles level. Through July 16. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, Los Angeles, hammer.ucla.edu.
“Chinese Ceramics from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,” at the Vincent Price Art Museum.” Part of a new series of partnerships that will take LACMA works to other organizations around L.A., this show represents an overview of Chinese ceramics from the museum’s permanent collection that take the viewer from c. 2500 BC to the 19th century — as well as the museum’s own long history as a collector of Chinese ceramics. Through July 22. East Los Angeles College, 1301 Cesar Chavez Ave., Monterey Park, vincentpriceartmuseum.org and lacma.org.
Carl Andre, “Sculpture as Place: 1958-2010,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art. This retrospective, which was first shown at Dia:Beacon in 2014, surveys the work of a sculptor known for creating minimalist installations out of raw building materials such as bricks, metal squares and wood blocks. The retrospective brings together pieces from throughout the artist’s five-decade career, including sculpture, photography, ephemera and his rare “Dada Forgeries,” a series of ready-made pieces that he has produced sporadically over the course of his life. Also opening at MOCA Geffen is a new film installation by award-winning filmmaker and artist Arthur Jafa, which traces questions of black identity employing found footage. Through July 24. 152 N. Central Ave., downtown Los Angeles, moca.org.
“Concrete Poetry: Words and Sounds in Graphic Space,” at the Getty Research Institute. This is an exhibition where words are about words, but also form. Starting in the mid 1950s, the movement known as concrete poetry sought to explore the space between poetry and visual art, creating works that were visual (words in shapes and 3-D form) but also played with the sound and cadence of language. This show features more than 100 works from the lead poets of the era, including Scotsman Ian Hamilton Finlay, the Brazilian Augusto de Campos and U.S. poets Mary Ellen Solt and Emmett Williams, among others. Through July 30. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.
“Instructions to All Persons: Reflections on Executive Order 9066,” at the Japanese American National Museum. At a time when executive orders are transforming U.S. society, it’s a good moment in which to study one of the most notorious ones: President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Order 9066, which allowed for the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans living along the West Coast during World War II. This exhibition brings together historical ephemera from this dark period in U.S. history, as well as works of art and performance that reflect on the issue of internment. Beginning on March 24, the museum will present “Moving Day,” a nightly public art piece in which exclusion orders will be projected on the side of the building at night. Through Aug. 13. 100 N. Central Ave., downtown Los Angeles, janm.org.
“No Justice, No Peace: LA 1992,” at the California African American Museum. A historical exhibition looks at the myriad social and political forces that led to the 1992 riots in the wake of the Rodney King verdict — including a troubled history of police relations in minority communities, a history of housing segregation and the drug war, among other factors. Included in the show are hundreds of images and historic documents, as well as a zoot suit and a ’90s era police cruiser. Through Aug. 27. 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, caamuseum.org.
“Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959-1971,” at the L.A. County Museum of Art. Previously on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., this exhibition tracks the legacy of one of the most important postwar galleries in the United States — a space that, for a time, operated in Los Angeles. Its proprietor, Virginia Dwan wasn’t simply a run-of-the-mill gallerist, she was a patron, supporting artists with stipends and studios. She staged one of the earliest pop art exhibitions and she was an important supporter of minimalism. Plus, she was key in helping artists execute the most outrageous works — including important land art pieces such as Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty.” Talk about thinking big. Through Sept. 10. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, www.lacma.org.
“Islamic Art Now: Part 2” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Contemporary works from LACMA’s permanent collection by 20 artists who live in or have roots in the Middle East look at questions of society, gender and identity. Runs indefinitely. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.
“Becoming America: Highlights from the Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection,” at the Huntington Library. The Huntington has just redone its American art galleries and now features a new expansion by architects at Frederick Fisher and Partners that adds eight rooms for display. Up first is an exhibition devoted to the Fielding Collection, featuring more than 200 works of 18th and early 19th century American art, including paintings, furnishings and decorative art. Runs indefinitely. 151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, huntington.org.
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