DCA Arts and Cultural Calendar
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August 2018
Cheech & Chong: Still Rollin
The exhibit explores what made the world fall in love with East LA native Richard “Cheech” Marin and Canadian Tommy Chong while chronicling the development and success of their first feature-length film, Up in Smoke. Items on display will include the original marked-up script from Up in Smoke, the master tape for the soundtrack album, and comedy sketches. Mondays – Fridays 10:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Saturdays & Sundays 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Adults – $12.95, College Students…
September 2018
California Bound: Slavery on the New Frontier, 1848–1865
This exhibit examines California’s underrecognized involvement with slavery in the 19th century. With powerful photographs, historical documents, and other ephemera, California Bound: Slavery on the New Frontier, 1848–1865 illuminates the state’s struggles over enslavement in an era that encompassed two wars and the establishment of California, first as a territory and then a state. Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
October 2018
John Henry: American Folk Hero
The John Henry Series is a collection of 12 oil paintings that are part of the Palmer C. Hayden Collection. This exhibit includes all 12 paintings in the series plus three related paintings that help to “frame” the story of the Ballad of John Henry that Palmer Hayden narrates through the series. Thursday – Sunday, 12:00 noon -5:00 p.m.
January 2019
Gary Simmons: Fade to Black
Artist Gary Simmons references film, architecture, and American popular culture in paintings and drawings that address race, class, and memory. Much of Simmons’s work centers on his signature erasure techniques. Hours: Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
MOCA Mural: Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Akunyili Crosby is the second artist to create an outdoor mural designed specifically to wrap the exterior of MOCA Grand Avenue, a new initiative that invites views both by pedestrians and through the windows of moving cars on Grand Avenue. Her work transforms the museum itself into a canvas for explorations of scale, texture, pattern, intimacy, and a multiplicity of perspectives. Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays, 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Saturdays & Sundays, 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.,…
New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs by Pableaux Johnson
Louisiana native Pableaux Johnson has been photographing Second Lines—or Sunday brass band parades—in New Orleans for over a decade. This exhibition presents more than 40 color portraits of members of African American Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs (SAPCs). Wednesdays 12:00 noon – 8:00 p.m., Thursdays – Sundays 12:00 noon – 5:00 p.m.
February 2019
African American Heritage Month Celebration
African American Heritage Month is a citywide commemoration of African American heritage and history in Los Angeles. The celebration will acknowledge Southern California’s African American contributions in the areas of education, religion, the arts, culture, and the humanities. Events include dance and music concerts and gallery exhibitions.
Adia Millett: Breaking Patterns
Adia Millett cycles her imagery through a variety of media, including collage, assemblage, photography, textiles, and painting, creating multilayered representations of deconstructed structures and imaginary interiors that stand in for the human experience and provide a dwelling place for a black aesthetic. Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Men of Change
This exhibit presents the nation’s story through profiles of twenty-four revolutionary African American men, including Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ryan Coogler, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Carter G. Woodson. Each biography is paired with a selection of work by a noted contemporary artist, accentuating the subjects’ individual legacies while examining broader themes of masculinity, heroism, black identity, and more. Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
David Alekhuogie: Gravity
The exhibition will feature a series of newly-commissioned works that use gravity as a metaphor for human struggle. This includes a series of backboard paintings, produced by the artist’s repeated attempts to jump and hit the canvas with his hand. The strenuous mark-making of this gesture, one that emulates the physical movements of a basketball player, undercuts the apparent precision of minimalist painting. Hours: Thursdays – Sundays 12:00 Noon – 5:00 p.m.