Los Angeles Art

Yu Kobayashi at Sea View, Los Angeles

I had the great fortune to meet impish painter Yu Kobayashi when my buddy Dan John Anderson brought her and her work from rural Japan to Joshua Tree for a crazy exhibition outdoors at A-Z West. Fast-forward and suddenly every LACMA curator is talking about Yu Kobayashi, and her show, which just opened at Sea View, is the best one in town. Do not miss!

I Keep Wondering by Roland Reiss (1976)

A beautiful and displayably sized work from late, great Los Angeles artist Roland Reiss. Reiss started as an abstract painter, made a hard shift to contained tableaux vivants and then spent the 90s on painting flowers. This beauty is from the mid seventies but shows as fresh and relevant as ever.

The Great Wall of Los Angeles

I learned about this LA landmark at a screening at Frank News recently. Artist Judith Baca started this mural, focused on the hidden history of Los Angeles and its working people, in 1974 and expanded and restored it just a few years ago. I will be checking it out soon and I highly recommend listening to the NPR piece about it first.

Wilshire Online Los Angeles

An art show/experience that felt like this disorienting/hyperreal memory of the moment right before the world collapsed into the internet. Being there gave me some kind of a rush of almost deja-vu (nostalgia is too ‘fond’ to use here)

Kent O’Connor @ Matthew Brown

Big fan of the lowkey mastery of LA painter Kent O’Connor, who shows with Matthew Brown. I inquired about work recently and there are a few very reasonable pieces available. Laconic-neurotic, like an Angeleno Lucien Freud with a Yale MFA.

Made in L.A. 2025 at the Hammer

Morgan the Face

If you live in LA, you have seen Morgan the Face. My favorite street artist left me wondering who the hell this face was for the first six years of my living in LA. I eventually caved and did a deep dive to learn the answer was simple: it’s Morgan the Face.

Sea View Gallery

Milton Avery at Karma, Los Angeles

A real treat for LA: Milton Avery figures at Karma.

paintings by @dogperfume

support local LA artists

Marta

If you’re in L.A go see the work of Isabel Rower at Marta, on view through April 4th. For this new body of work, Rower casts her gaze on historical design from Ancient Rome to 19th century European decorative arts. Her interpretations blow me away.

Hauser and Worth

a great downtown gallery with an amazing restaurant and a garden with chickens!

William L. Hawkins at Maison d’Art, Los Angeles

Bookmarking here to hold myself accountable to go see this show by self-taught artist William L. Hawkins at Maison d’Art in LA before it comes down May 30: “Born in Kentucky in 1895, Hawkins grew up at the turn of the twentieth century on his family’s expansive farm. He began drawing by copying illustrations from horse- auction announcements and calendars. Hawkins relocated to Columbus, Ohio, in 1916. In 1918, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a Private in the 317th Corps of Engineers, an all-Black regiment, during World War I. Upon demobilization, he returned to Columbus, where he continued to draw while working intermittently in the construction industry. Hawkins sold his work for modest sums while he navigated the social and technological upheaval in his city and observed seismic change in the United States. Painting took prominence in Hawkins’ life in the mid-1970s, and soon after, his depictions of architectural facades earned him recognition in his home state. A selection of Hawkins’ breakthrough subject matter, made in the mid-1980s, is presented in this exhibition.”

Anastasiia Korsakova Oil Painting

Artbound

Regen Projects

another la gallery fun to walk after deitch and john

Secret Forest L.A.

Mood booster. Spend some time listening to music w plants and don’t forget to leave a trinket in the trinket tree outside

Judson Studios Stained Glass Tour

u will not regret taking a Tuesday morning off for this

What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem at the VARIETY ARTS THEATER

What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem at the Variety Theater by The Julia Stoschek Foundation

kohn gallery

another good walking hollywood gallery

Marciano Art Foundation

Unordinary Days, Celebration as Resistance

OPENING SATURDAY:  11am Unordinary Days,Celebration as Resistance This exhibition at the Corita Art Center in LA, highlights the spirit of revolution, celebration, community, and experimentation of the 1960s that made Mary’s Day on the Immaculate Heart College campus a beacon of hope, asking what it means to celebrate in times of crisis and what joy and collective imagination make possible.

The York Manor Market

Spending Mother’s Day with mom helping to sell her wonderful art. If you’re near Highland park, come by!

The Great Wall of Los Anagles Judy Bacca

The Great Wall of Los Angeles by Judy Baca is basically a giant history book painted on a wall, but way cooler than anything you’d find in a classroom. Baca, a Los Angeles native and CSUN alumna (go Matadors!), created the mural to tell California history through the voices of people who are often left out, including Indigenous communities, immigrants, women, workers, and communities of color. You should see it because it is colorful, massive, meaningful, and full of stories that make L.A. history feel alive. It reminds us that history is not just dates and famous people, it is also everyday people, struggles, culture, and community.