“Early Snow – Rhinecliff Hotel”, 2017, oil on canvas
“Durham, August 14, 2017”, 2017, oil on canvas
American painter Celeste Dupuy-Spencer passed away last week at the age of 46. The images above are from her 2017 exhibition Wild and Blue at Marlborough gallery in NYC. She had also been part of the Whitney Biennial earlier that same year.
The first painting is of the Rhinecliff Hotel, a bar she frequented while growing up in Rhinebeck, NY. The second, Durham, August 14, 2017, is of the metal confederate statue that protesters tore down that year. That painting was also included in her section of Made in L.A. 2018, Hammer Museum‘s biennial exhibition of artists from the Los Angeles area. Her later work was often very political, including several paintings that are dense with imagery.
In this 2018 Bomb magazine interview, Dupuy-Spencer discusses some of her past struggles and provides insights into her practice.
Her first solo exhibition in five years, Burning in the Eyes of the Maker, will open at Deitch in Los Angeles this Saturday, 4/18/26.
Thurmon Green is performing free at MOCA Grand Avenue to continue the series of Listening Sessions presented as part of Lauren Halsey: we still here, there
Send Medicine are having a record release concert at Moroccan Lounge with Tashaki Miyaki and Ramonda Hammer also playing
Avid Dancer are opening for Rainstorm Brother at the Bootleg Theater
Friday
Sleepless, The Music Center’s late night event (11:30pm-3am), returns with pop up dance performances, a virtual reality experience, a molecular gastronomy lab, DJ sets, art installations, musical performances and more ($20 advance/ $30 at the door)
Roger Guenveur Smith’s Frederick Douglass Now is a free solo movement and performance taking place as part of Grand Performances and featuring Lulu Washington and percussionist Marcus Miller
Billy Changer, Healing Gems, Pancho & The Wizards and The Gnars are playing at The Smell
VOWWS are playing at Resident with Second Still, Creux Lies and Shitgiver
Saturday
Bee Bee Sea are playing Dirty Water Records night at Zebulon with The Darts, The Atom Age And Mean Motor Scooter
Artist John Houck will be at the Hammer Museum to discuss the work of Christina Quarles, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, and Nancy Lupo that is included in the exhibition Made in L.A. 2018, of which he is also a part
Arcana Books is having a book signing and conversation with artist Simone Shubuck (and there will be cake!)
The Broad’sSummer Happenings series continues with an evening inspired by Joseph Beuys and the Fluxus movement, with performances by Matmos, EYE, Pharmakon, FlucT, Total Freedom, and Nelson Patton with Lonnie Holley ($30)
For the last of Resident’s free summer concert series, FEELS will be performing
Ain’t I A Womxn?A Genders Promenade is Freewaves’ free event taking place in LA State Historic Park featuring 20 independent artists and 10 art collectives that aims to explore intersectional identities with performance art, spoken word, sonic art, media projections and zines
X-Tra is having a Summer Issue Launch and Sketchy Garden Party at Hauser & Wirth (drawing and pens will be provided along with refreshments-all free)
Airiel, Tennis System, and Topographies are playing at the Echoplex
At ICA LA for the opening of Maryam Jafri’s exhibition I Drank the Kool-Aid but I Didn’t Inhale, ICA Curator Jamillah James and Maryam Jafri will discuss “her process using research and interdisciplinary approaches to make work of conceptual inquiry on such perennial subjects as consumer culture, representation, economics, and politics” (free but RSVP)
Street and graffiti artist Eric ” KING CRE8″ Walker is giving a free workshop in drawing fonts and elements used in graffiti and street art at The California African American Museum in conjunction with the exhibition Charting the Terrain (free but register)
The Hidden Depths and The Hurricanes are opening for Santoros at the Bootleg Theater
