Artist Kenny Scharf has painted around 260 cars for his Karbombz! project. In 2020 he even led a parade of them in Hollywood and West Hollywood.
This one was spotted on the streets of Los Angeles in 2015.
Sep 242022
Sep 182022
Unity, was created by Hank Willis Thomas in 2019 as part of the Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program. The 22.5 foot sculpture is a replica of NBA player Joel Embiid’s right arm.
From the artist on the work (via Downtown Brooklyn)-
“The sculpture is an homage to and celebration of the unique and multi-faceted character of the borough of Brooklyn. The spirit of Brooklyn has always been about upward mobility and connection to roots. The large-scale sculpture of a bronze arm pointing toward the sky is intended to convey to a wide audience a myriad of ideas about individual and collective identity, ambition, and perseverance”.
Thomas will be speaking with UCLA professor and author Robin D.G. Kelley today (9/18/22) at 2pm The Broad Museum about his art practice, his activism, and his piece in the museum’s current exhibition, This is Not America’s Flag.
The program will be live-streamed on The Broad’s website and their Facebook page.
Jul 282022
Going back to 2015 for this mural by Wildlife and S.C. Mero, who still create work in the area. Also check out Mero’s other page, where she highlights neighborhood (DTLA) events, people and art- including work by Wildlife.
Jul 012022
Magenta Swimming in Yellow, 2015-7, by Rona Pondick from her solo exhibition at Zevitas Marcus. The sculpture was created using pigmented resin and acrylic.
From the Zevitas Marcus press release–
In 2013, Pondick began an intensive period of experimentation with materials that were new to her practice: resins and acrylics. Over a period of five years, she developed complex methods of working with these materials and came to understand their sculptural potential. This exhibition is the first time this body of work has been seen on the West Coast.
Since her career began in 1984, Rona’s work has consistently referenced the body, in both a metaphorical and literal sense. Her sculptural practice has been no less defined by her ceaseless exploration of new materials and methods. Stainless-steel was Rona’s primary medium for the better part of a decade beginning in 1998. Her newest works are made from resins, acrylics and modeling compound.While thematically related to Rona’s earlier work, these new sculptures are notable for their extraordinary use of color and the way in which the artist’s hand is ever present, elements which heighten the sense of fragility and humanity that have always been achingly present in her work.
Also worth checking out- this ODDA magazine interview with the Pondrick from this year (2022) and her Instagram.
Jun 252022
This work is currently on view at The Broad in Los Angeles.
Information from the museum’s website about this artwork-
Barbara Kruger addresses media and politics in their native tongue: tabloid, sensational, authoritative, and direct. Kruger’s words and images merge the commercial and art worlds; their critical resonance eviscerates cultural hierarchies — everyone and everything is for sale. The year 1989 was marked by numerous demonstrations protesting a new wave of antiabortion laws chipping away at the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. Untitled (Your body is a battleground) was produced by Kruger for the Women’s March on Washington in support of reproductive freedom. The woman’s face, disembodied, split in positive and negative exposures, and obscured by text, marks a stark divide. This image is simultaneously art and protest. Though its origin is tied to a specific moment, the power of the work lies in the timelessness of its declaration.
Feb 172022
A Surreal Presence for Every Possible State, 2018 by Kenturah Davis from her 2019 exhibition, Blur in the Interest of Precision at Matthew Brown Los Angeles. The four panel work was created using oil paint applied with rubber stamp letters and graphite grid on embossed Mohachi paper.
From the press release-
Blur in the Interest of Precision is a search for parallel conditions between the poetics of our visual experience and the strangeness of our relationship to language. We often use language to carve out distinctions between one thing and another. Davis’ objective—to complicate ideas about meaning, representation and perception—have found refuge in blur and doubling. The new drawings are rendered with arrangements of text, but the words are virtually illegible. Many of the portraits pursue ideas the artist is working through via the writings of Fred Moten and Toni Morrison’s essay, Sites of Memory.
Davis’ work oscillates between various facets of portraiture and design. Using text as a point of departure, the artist explores the fundamental role that language has in shaping how we understand ourselves and the world around us. This manifests in a variety of forms including drawings, photographs and performances.
Recently Davis was commissioned by LA Metro to create work for the future Inglewood Station, slated to open in November of 2022. The work, Sonder, depicts community members photographed at gatherings at the artist’s Inglewood art studio and made into large porcelain enamel steel panels.
From Metro’s site–
The photographs were hand painted with stamps incorporating letters that form the words defining the term “sonder.”
Davis was drawn to the term which alludes to the realization that every person has a unique and significant story. She hopes that the portraits inspire connections between strangers, even if only for a passing moment while waiting for the train.
(images below via LA Metro’s site)
For more images, information about the station, and a video of the artist discussing the work, check out Metro’s website.
Dec 042021
Self Portrait with Ray, 2017 by Linda Stark, part of Hammer Museum’s Made In L.A. 2018 Biennial in Los Angeles.
Sep 162021
Untitled (Man with Briefcase), 2019, from Lenz Geerk’s 2019 exhibition Mixed Blessings at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles.
Sep 062021
From Here, 2019
The Passengers, 2019
Paintings by Lisa Golightly, from her 2019 exhibition at George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles.
Aug 062021
Calvin Marcus’ Los Angeles Painting, 2018, was part of the 2019 Whitney Biennial. The next one is postponed until Spring 2022.
Marcus’ current work can be seen in Beverly Hills at Clearing until 9/3.