Hugo Crosthwaite has spent much of his adult life working on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border, observing and documenting the extraordinary ebb and flow of humanity that makes this region one of the most existentially dynamic places on the North American continent. In Tijuas!, Crosthwaite will present selections from several bodies of work that continue his exploration of this ever-evolving culture, among them the Tijuana Bibles, a new series of animated videos and books, recent graphite-and-ink on canvas and panel paintings, new Tijuanerias ink drawings, and Death March, a phenomenal and monumental work that preceded his celebrated performative murals. This will be the first time this work will be presented since it was commissioned in 2010 for Morbid Curiosity: The Richard Harris Collection at the Chicago Cultural Center.
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (12/12-12/15/19)-
Thursday
Goon are playing at The Hi Hat with Girl Friday, Sarah Tudzin, and Justus Proffit
Allah-Las are playing at The Mayan Theater with Mapache and Tim Hill
Poet and playwright Sholeh Wolpé will be speaking at The Broad as part of their series The Logic of Poetry and Dreams (free but reserve ticket)
Bennett Simpson will give an exhibition walkthrough of The Foundation of the Museum: MOCA’s Collection at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA location (free)
Z Berg & Friends (Ryan Ross, Bruce Hornsby, Johnathan Rice, Avalon Lurks, KERA, and Brad Oberhofer) will be performing a Friday The 13th Christmas Show at Pico Union Project
Automatic are playing at Zebulon with Peanut Butter Wolf and Mo Dottie
The Hi-Fi Honey Drops are playing for Union Station’s free Cocoa Concert this week
Robyn Hitchock & Friends are performing at Largo at the Coronet
Goldie is performing at 1720 to celebrate 25 Years of Metalheadz
Saturday
Artist Hugo Crosthwaite will be speaking at Luis de Jesus Los Angeles at 2pm in conjunction with his solo exhibition at the gallery
Bergamot Station is having a Winter Open House and 25th Anniversary Celebration from 11-6pm with artist talks, live music, and a chance to check out the current shows in the galleries
Shop Artisinal’s Holiday Makers Market is taking place in the Playhouse Lot in Pasadena and includes snow and Santa selfies, kids crafts. and more, as part of its free programming
Flat Worms, L.A. Drones, Nice and Fimes are playing at Permanent Records Roadhouse to benefit Youth Emerging Stronger (formerly LA Youth Network)
Fox Academy are playing at El Cid with Ruby Haunt and Johnny Goth
New York Night Train w/ Jonathan Toubin is happening at Zebulon
Saturday and Sunday
Rolling Loud is two days of hip hop at Banc of California Stadium Grounds with performers that include Chance the Rapper, Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug on Saturday and Future, A$AP Rocky, Meek Mill, YG, Da Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Yachty, Doja Cat, and many more on Sunday
Sunday
The Aero Theatre has a double feature of Motherless Brooklyn and Primal Fear with a discussion between films with actor-director Edward Norton and producer Hawk Koch
Until 12/25 Grand Park’sWinter Glow has multiple night time public art installations set up for the holiday season (free from sunset to 10pm)
Motel Radio are playing at the Moroccan Lounge with Beauty Queen opening
French Vanilla are playing at The Echo with Heaven Pegasus opening
The Game of Patience features new figurative paintings by artist Laura Krifka that depict female and male subjects in intimate moments within carefully constructed interiors. Krifka deftly paints her bare-skinned protagonists reading, drawing, daydreaming, watching, and waiting. The peep of a phallus and the highlight of a thigh gap allude to the pleasure of stillness, supplemented by the visual tension meticulously sculpted throughout the domestic spaces. A notable development in Krifka’s content is the genesis of idiosyncratic wallpapers that appear to direct the viewer’s gaze rather than lay flat. These imagined patterns create parallel planes of space, shift color and shape inexplicably, and build psychological tension, functioning like maps for the dream logic of each painting.
At the heart of Krifka’s practice are post-modern and contemporary critiques of canonical Painting. Krifka treats the false dichotomies of subject and object, male and female, observer and observed as comedic jumping off points before bending or breaking the rules and moving on to more nuanced and poetic concerns. Sensually charged in the pinks, purples, pea-greens, and ochers of afternoon reveries, all the protagonists are depicted in vulnerable situations, and Krifka wanders through paintings with surprising detail and care, in search of consent and a deeper understanding of the nature of desire.
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (10/10-10/14/19)-
Thursday
Artist Sadie Barnette and her father Rodney Barnette will be celebrating their shared birthday at ICA LA, with an art talk, DJ, and a performance by Global Street Dance Masquerade- taking place along with her newest project The New Eagle Creek Saloon, a tribute to her father’s bar, Eagle Creek Saloon, the first black-owned gay bar in San Francisco
Downtown LA’s Art Walk returns for its monthly event with lots of galleries in the area staying open late
Mega Bog, L.A. Takedown and Spookey Ruben are performing free at Zebulon with Dent May DJ’ing
Friday
ArtNight Pasadena returns for its biannual event with a free evening of live music, performances, and free admission to museums and galleries in Pasadena. There will also be free shuttles to take you around to the various locations.
Hassan Hajjaj: My Rockstars Experimental- Live has the Moroccan phototographer, designer and filmmaker, creating sets and clothes from his portraits and videos- this time for the stage of The Ford and including live performances by musicians Afrikan Boy, Bumi, Simo Lagnawi, Marques Toliver, Gail Ann Dorsey and Omar Offendum at The Ford. My Rockstars Experimental, Volume I was shown at LACMA in 2013.
Dan Luke and the Raid are opening for The Parlor Mob at the Bootleg Theater
Saturday
Bleached are playing at the Lodge Room with Dude York and Lunch Lady
Psychic Twin is having a free single release party show at Gold Diggers with Drum & Lace opening
Culver City Arts District is hosting its annual Art Walk and Roll, a free festival with live music, food trucks, and more, plus a chance to see all the art shows happening in the area.
If you are in Culver City, head to Luis de Jesus Los Angeles to hear artist Laura Krifka discuss her paintings currently on view at the gallery
2019 Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation has three different programs starting at 3pm at REDCAT
Arto Lindsay is playing at Zebulon featuring Rodrigo Amarante, along with Ofir Ganon playing solo/duo with Chris Bear (Grizzly Bear)
Mereba is performing at the Ford Theatre with We Are King
Sunday
At Fowler Museum on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings, to accompany its exhibition Through Positive Eyes, seven HIV-positive Angelenos known as the Los Angeles Through Positive Eyes Collective will share their photographs and personal narratives (today beginning at 1pm)
The Dead End Kids Club is having its 1st Fall Ball at The Echo with performances by Z Berg, Ryan Ross, Palm Springsteen and Dan Keyes
Highland Park is having its first Oktoberfest at The Hi Hat with music by West Coast Prost, Oktoberfest inspired food and of course, German Bier
Andrew Combs is playing at the Bootleg Theater with Harrison Whitford and Austin Manuel
Monday
Temples are playing at the Echoplex with Trupa Trupa
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (6/20-6/23/19)-
Thursday
Summer Cannibals are playing at The Satellite with Broken Baby and Blushh
James Supercave is playing at the Bootleg Theater with Bay Ledges and MACK opening
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA is hosting Return from Exile II- an evening of readings of poems by jazz vocalist and songwriter Abbey Lincoln; poet, vocalist, and dancer Jeanne Lee; and Harlem Renaissance poet Helene Johnson. Organized by poet and writer Harmony Holiday, the second program in the series “highlights how women play an indispensable role in the tradition of archives and collective improvisation in the African diaspora”.
Hollywood Night Market at Yamashiro is a lovely way to have some food and drinks while enjoying beautiful views of the city- free shuttles leave from the Mosaic parking lot
Bloomingdale’s Beverly Center and ONE Archives Foundation are hosting an evening celebrating the launch of WE ARE EVERYWHERE, by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown, the creators of the popular Instagram account @lgbt_history. There will be a book talk, signing and Q&A with the authors hosted by activist Ashlee Marie Preston.
Editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue and Project Runway judge Elaine Welteroth will be at the California African American Museum to discuss her memoir More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)
Thursday through Sunday
The LA Design Festival features talks, installations, exhibitions, and more- all celebrating design throughout the city
Ian Sweet and James Swanberg are opening for Grapetooth at the Echoplex
duendita is opening for Jamila Woods at the El Rey Theatre
The Aero Theatre is having a whole weekend of Coen Brothers double features. Tonight it’s No Country For Old Men and Blood Simple with an introduction by author Adam Nayman, who will also sign his new book, The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together, in the lobby at 6:30 PM.
Saturday
Heart Attack Man are playing at The Echo with Sincere Engineer and Rome Hero Foxes
Zebulon is hosting a free screening of Alain Resnais’ film Je T’aime, Je T’aime and later there is a free party to celebrate TT (of Warpaint)’s birthday with music by Spring Summer, Wolf Woodcock, and VS Colour
yOya are playing at Moroccan Lounge with Austin Weber, J.E. Sunde, and Scott Bartenhagen
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (4/24-4/27/19)-
Thursday
For MOCA’s 40th Anniversary they are hosting a series of exhibitions organized by LA based artists and MOCA curators with work drawn from their permanent collection. Tonight multimedia artist Elliott Hundley will lead a walkthrough of his exhibition Open House: Elliott Hundley at the Grand Avenue location (free tonight and every Thursday evening)
Slick Rick will be at Amoeba Records in Hollywood to celebrate and sign copies of The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick for its 30th Anniversary
Friday through Sunday
For the first time Photoville, the free annual photo festival with galleries built from repurposed shipping containers, is heading to Los Angeles. It will be taking place at the Annenberg Space for Photography this weekend and next with programming that includes nighttime projections, talks, workshops, family activities and a beer garden. At the same time the exhibition CONTACT HIGH: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, which showcases the work of hip hop photographers, will open at Annenberg Space for Photography with special hours to coincide with the festival.
Arcana Books is hosting a launch party from 4-6pm for issue 2 of Creative Director Alexander McWhirter’s thematic annual art and fashion journal, Public.
Compltr is playing at All Star Lanes with Sheer, Trends, and June Swoon
Saturday and Sunday
Grand Park is hosting the free two day festival, Grand Park’s Our L.A. Voices- a Pop-up Arts+Culture Fest, featuring short film, dance, music, spoken word and theatre performances, and visual art, created by L.A. artists. There will also be a marketplace with artwork for sale.
Jackalope are bringing their free local artisan Spring Fair to Old Pasadena’s Central Park
Sunday
Celebrate the Thai New Year all day at the Songkran Festival in Thai Town which includes a parade, beauty pageant, live music, dance performances, food, and more
Emily Wells is playing the Bootleg Theater with KERA opening
Zebulon has a free screening of Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man
Telekinesis are playing at the Moroccan Lounge with SONTALK and The Pretty Flowers
Big Red Machine (Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and Aaron Dessner of The National) are performing at the Hollywood Palladium
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (4/27-4/30/17)-
Thursday
NE-HI are playing with Moaning and Weird Love at the Bootleg Theater
Hammer Museum is having an Open Projector Night- anyone is welcome to submit a film under 10 minutes, with comedian emcees the Sklar Brothers (free)
Gaz Coombes from Supergrass is playing a solo show at The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
Jeff Mcllwain is performing his ambient electronic music as Lusine with Geotic opening at The Echo
Friday
At Bob Baker Marionette Theater this week is Subject: Los Angeles in the Streets, the second of 4 events with archival films, guest presenters, music and puppets- this iteration examines forms of public assembly and artistic intervention in the city
Tonight is the second night of the Magnetic Fields two night concert for their new album 50 Song Memoir (yesterday was 1-25, tonight it is songs 26-50) at UCLA’s Royce Hall
Miracle Legion, formed in 1983, are performing their first show in 20 years at the Echoplex with Noveller opening
The Buttertones are headlining a night of bands at the Hi Hat
Saturday
Brewery Artwalk returns to the complex with artist residents opening their doors to visitors (also Sunday)
Lia Halloran will be discussing her work with writer Jennifer Ouellette, as well as giving a walk through of her exhibition at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles (free)
The Queen of Bounce, Big Freedia, is performing at the Regent Theater
Santa Monica Art Studios is hosting Off the Clock 2017, a one night only reception and exhibition of photography (free)
The Godfather Part II is being shown at the historic Los Angeles Theater with DJs, live music, bars on all five floors, and a photo studio to go with the 1950s theme ($25)
The title “Ground” resonates with the descriptive photography of western landscapes. In the painting context, the ground is the active place on which painting occurs. Hyde uses a home brewed paint for these works, consisting of pigment dispersed in acrylic mediums, and in most cases that pigment is a form of ground earth. In turn, Hyde’s photographs follow a “light-room” process developed in the computer, distorting and adjusting it and challenging the notion of any factual naturalism.
Resisting genres and traversing mediums, Hyde investigates the abstract gesture in relationship to photography. His opposition to the “realism” of digital photography, placed against the colors of abstracted shapes, snaps photography into place, making it a site, a location, and naturalizing it as a pictorial fact while reframing the question of the truthfulness of photography.
The drawings in Hugo Crosthwaite’s exhibition at Luis de Jesus Los Angeles for Tijuana Radiant Shine have an interesting mix of comic elements combined with melancholic ones, while those that make up Shattered Mural are more somber as they focus on the toll of the horrible violence in Mexico.
Taking inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, “The Hymn”, Tijuana Radiant Shine is composed of a puzzle-like installation of fourteen mixed media drawings on panel. The works are visual poems that depict the hopeful possibilities for a better future and the dichotomy of the reality that exists in this border city’s daily life.
Shattered Mural is a floor installation of forty-three sculptural wall fragments that reference the recent abduction and murder of the 43 college students in the Mexican State of Guerrero. This tragic event has become a national, and perhaps international, symbol for victims of institutional corruption and repressive regimes around the world. Unlike the Tijuana Radiant Shine panels, the sculpture fragments of Shattered Mural were created by deconstructing a mural into forty-three shards that when put back together would contribute to the whole.
Also make sure to look at the backs of the mural pieces which have different colors and patterns. This show closes 6/20/15.
