reviews
DUELLING REVIEWS: DYNATON
JULIA WEIST at New Theater Hollywood
As a kid, spaghetti westerns made me sweat. Not the violence, the dubbing—that quality where a mouth moves at one rhythm and the voice lands just slightly off it, as if the sound had come loose from the body and traveled through some other room to reach me. I hadn’t...
THE HATS OF HEDDA HOPPER Counterpoint Records and Books
Hollywood has always needed a narrator, because the creation of real-life mythology relies on being understood and, more importantly, being believed. The unscripted stories of backstage life were exclusive precisely because there appeared to be no obvious writer or...
ALONE, ALONE, ALL, ALL ALONE at Ehrlich Steinberg
Everyone seemed to agree that "Alone, alone, all, all alone was topical. The word hovered around the opening at Ehrlich Steinberg with the peculiar force of consensus: loneliness, online life, avatars, algorithms, the thinning distinction between connection and its...
RODRIGO RAMIREZ at Murmurs
When is a human no longer a human? When is the body no longer a body? These questions have been turned over by all manner of modern philosophers, from abortion activists to judges handling necrophilia cases to science fiction filmmakers. Now Mexican-American artist...
SPENCER FINCH at Lisson Gallery
The soft, subtly enhanced lighting and sheer airiness of the main part of the gallery were the first indications that viewers were in for something slightly different in this exhibition — the artist’s first in Los Angeles (and first with this gallery). I had no idea...
DUELING REVIEWS: DAVID GEFFEN GALLERIES Two takes on the David Geffen Galleries at LACMA
Following what felt like an eternity of delays—budget-related, structural and otherwise—LACMA opened its new Peter Zumthor-designed David Geffen Galleries this spring, finally unveiling its long-awaited proposal to reinvent the encyclopedic museum.
GARY BASEMAN at Johnie's Coffee Shop Restaurant
Gary Baseman hosted a pop-up show in the long-shuttered Johnie’s Coffeeshop, kitty-corner from the Wilshire/Fairfax stop. Which is fun, because Baseman is big into kitty cats. “Off the Menu” shows a collection of drawings Baseman has done on menus of restaurants across Los Angeles.
EREWHON AT LACMA
Every year for decades, legions of tourists have flocked to the same SoCal landmarks: Hollywood Boulevard, the Griffith Observatory, Disneyland (or Universal, if you swing that way). For a certain subcategory of traveler straddling the line between hippie and yuppie, however, another attraction has recently been added to the mix: none other than grocery paradise Erewhon.
JORDAN WOLFSON for Prada Spring / Summer 2026
I have always felt uncomfortable around birds. I often trace my repulsion to a family viewing of Hitchcock’s The Birds during my tender years, when anything could feel like a personal reference. In that sense, I may be biased—but when a PR pitched me a preview of Prada’s new Spring/Summer 2026 campaign, I knew immediately I didn’t like it.
JOHN GIORNO at Marciano Art Foundation
John Giorno seems like a fun guy to have been around. Lively, ready for hijinks. I mean, anyone who’d turn his slumbering nakedness over to Andy Warhol’s camera for six hours must be pretty game.
NANCY HOLT at MAK Center
Who could ask for anything more exquisite and tasteful than Nancy Holt’s rhythmic and spare documentary artworks, installed in R.M. Schindler’s Kings Road house, a place that LA loves to love so much? The land art goddess fits right in among its sun-dappled redwood joists and tilt-up concrete walls.
KELLY AKASHI & PHIL PETERS for Los Angeles Nomadic Division
Over Memorial Day weekend, I trekked up to Altadena to visit “Field Set,” a two-day exhibition of works by sculptor Kelly Akashi and sound artist Phil Peters. I was hesitant about visiting Altadena. The sheer emptiness of the area is oppressive and as a longtime fan, but never a resident of Altadena, I was worried my presence was more interloper than exhibition visitor. The exhibition was located on the remains of Akashi’s home.
Catherine Opie “Holding Blue” at Regen Projects
Metaphorically, “blue” has two connotations: that which is raw and explicit, and that which is melancholy. While much of Catherine Opie’s work contends with the former, “Holding Blue” deals with the sober subject of climate change.
Ellie Krakow at Foyer LA
Ellie Krakow’s “Comfort Corners” views chronic illness through a Ballardian lens, using sculpture to merge hospital beds and monitors with distorted limbs, rears, and organs.
KEN KAGAMI at Misako & Rosen at Post-Fair
In the March/April issue of Artillery, I argued that the subversion of cutesy cartoon aesthetics is almost always compelling, since the notion of a visual language with the power to connote primal emotions through ancient, universal strokes remains resonant despite...
BUT WHAT DOES A RANDOM TEENAGER THINK? “Away from Desk” at Wilshire Online
I’m a 14-year-old boy who hates art. I recently went to Wilshire Online to see “Away from Desk.” Here are my opinions on it. The show included: an audio device playing melancholy choral tones, a stripper and a pole, a first aid kit hung diagonally on a wall, simple...
MAGDALENA SUAREZ FRIMKESS at David Zwirner
You recognize it before you know what to do with it. A cartoon, a flower, a line that feels like it’s been there before. Kitsch comes to mind, maybe, but it doesn’t quite stick. Or it sticks and then loosens. The image doesn’t hold you where you expect. It keeps...
