Catherine Opie, “Andy Warhol to Elizabeth (Self-Portrait Artist)” from the 700 Nimes Road Portfolio (2010-2011), pigment print, 16 ½ x 22 in., (Courtesy of the artist, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, and Lehmann Maupin, New York & Hong Kong, via moca.org)
LOS ANGELES — This week, the Los Angeles Poverty Department mounts a retrospective at the Armory in Pasadena, Omar Pimienta offers free citizenship at the Museum of Latin American Art, the longest running photo fair on the West Coast celebrates its 25th anniversary, and more.
Yuval Pudik: Kanada
When: Opens Thursday, January 21, 7–10pm
Where: Cash Machine (3207 Glendale Blvd, Atwater Village, Los Angeles)
Yuval Pudik’s sculptural installation “Kanada” is a powerful examination of sexuality, identity, and history. Named after the series of warehouses that stood at the entrance of the Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp, the work features over 2,000 books covered in gay porn and sealed in pink paint. It is both a painful reference to the piles of belongings left behind by those who perished there, as well as a celebration of perseverance in the face of oppression. The exhibit also extends to the billboard at 3143 Glendale Boulevard.
Yuval Pudik, “KANADA” (2016) (image courtesy GAVLAK Gallery/Cashmachine)
I Know You Are But What Am I?
When: Thursday, January 21, 7pm
Where: The Ray Stark Family Theatre (University of Southern California (USC), School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) 108, University Park, Los Angeles)
Those of us who grew up in the ’80s have a special fondness for the whimsical weirdness that was Pee-wee’s Playhouse. Paul Rubens’s wacky alter ego Pee-wee Herman may have been the show’s raison d’être, but the house itself was the real star, filled with an assortment of bizarre characters and anthropomorphic furniture like Chairy the talking chair, Jambi the Genie, and Pterri the pterodactyl. Rubens enlisted a talented group of artists to create this fantastical world, and this Thursday some of the artists behind Pee-wee’s Playhouse — animator Ric Heitzman, cartoonist Gary Panter, and painter Wayne White — will discuss their experiences bringing this vision to life. The event is currently at capacity, but RSVP to be added to the waitlist.
Pee-Wee’s Playhouse (via Facebook)
Photo LA
When: Thursday, January 21 – Sunday, January 24
Where: The REEF/LA Mart (1933 Broadway, Downtown, Los Angeles)
The longest-running photography exposition west of the Mississippi, Photo LA returns to the LA Mart this weekend to celebrate its 25th anniversary. As we discovered last year, the fair may not have the exclusivity and celebrity cache of fairs like Art Basel or Paris Photo LA, but it does have a diverse selection of photography galleries from around the world, exhibiting work by artists both established and unknown (one of our favorites last year was the Blind Photographers Guild). The fair opens on Thursday evening with a gala in honor of James Welling who has been pushing the boundaries of the medium for decades, and will open to the public on Friday at 11am.
James Welling, “7690” (2015), Inkjet print on rag paper, 42 x 63 inches (Courtesy of the artist and Regen Projects, via photola.com)
Do you want the cosmetic version or the real deal? Los Angeles Poverty Department, 1985–2016
When: Opens Saturday, January 23, 6–8pm
Where: Armory Center for the Arts (145 N. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, California)
Populated by thousands of homeless people, Los Angeles’s Skid Row has recently become ground zero for Downtown LA’s gentrification debate as development threatens to dislocate many who call the area home. Long before this current tension began, however, the Los Angeles Poverty Department was advocating for the area’s residents with a combination of art and activism. The upcoming retrospective Do you want the cosmetic version or the real deal? collects thirty years of documentation from the organization’s archives. It will also feature a new installation and performance piece, What Fuels Development?, which addresses the current challenges facing Skid Row. Performances will take place on March 25 and 26 and April 1, 2, and 3.
Los Angeles Poverty Department (via armoryarts.org)
Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road
When: Opens Saturday, January 23, 11am–6pm
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Pacific Design Center (PDC) (8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California)
Los Angeles-based photographer Catherine Opie is a social documentarian in the vein of August Sander and William Eggleston, whose work transcends its function as historical record to become art. Well-known for poetically capturing various — often marginalized — subcultures, her upcoming show at the MOCA PDC focuses instead on the life of one single individual. Opie spent six months photographing the home of Elizabeth Taylor, and 700 Nimes Road paints a portrait of the late film icon through images of her possessions, wardrobe, and residence. This is just the first of two concurrent museum exhibitions for Opie, who will have a show of portraits opening at the Hammer Museum on January 30.
Omar Pimienta, “Free Citizenship & Mobile Consulate” (via molaa.org)
Free Citizenship & Mobile Consulate
When: Sunday, January 24, 1–4pm
Where: Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) (628 Alamitos Ave, Long Beach, California)
In our currently fraught geopolitical climate, the concept of citizenship is often associated with exclusion, deportation, and borders under siege. In opposition to this divisive mindset, artist Omar Pimienta offers citizenship in “Colonia Libertad” to all who apply. His Free Citizenship and Mobile Consulate performance will be coming to the Museum of Latin American Art this Sunday, where he will grant a border-hopping “Pasaporte Libre” in exchange for an expired passport, which will then become part of the project archive.