DCA Arts and Cultural Calendar
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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.
February 2019
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.
Life Model: Charles White and his Students
Presented at the original Otis Art Institute campus where Charles White was the first African American faculty member, this exhibition illuminates the artist’s impact as a teacher. The show features artwork in diverse media and modes of expression, alongside sketchbooks, photographs, and archival footage that illuminate his pedagogy. The gallery is open to the public every Saturday afternoon from 1–4 pm
March 2019
Plumb Line: Charles White and the Contemporary
A prolific painter, printmaker, muralist, draftsman, and photographer whose career spanned more than half a century, Charles White’s artistic portrayals of black subjects, life, and history were extensive and far-reaching. Plumb Line features contemporary artists whose work in the realm of black individual and collective life resonates with White’s profound and continuing influence. Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
The Liberator: Chronicling Black Los Angeles, 1900–1914
The Liberator: Chronicling Black Los Angeles, 1900–1914 sheds light on the expansion of the city’s African American community, its challenges in a post-Reconstruction era, and its hopes and accomplishments, as captured in the newspaper’s pages. More than a century since The Liberator’s final issue, this exhibition includes rare ephemera, photographs, and artifacts that offer a unique study of the narrative of black Los Angeles. Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983
Soul of a Nation celebrates the work of Black artists made over two decades beginning in 1963, at the height of the civil rights movement. The exhibition devotes individual galleries either to groups of artists working in a particular city — with three galleries dedicated to artists living and working in Los Angeles – or to a different kind of art production. The exhibition showcases communities engaged in robust artistic dialogues, while also revealing disagreements about what it meant to…
April 2019
Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives
Explore the roles that art plays in creating meaning and defining a purpose for people across the globe. Art is not only a reflection of culture but can actively shape thought and experience. The objects on display have all intervened in the lives of those who made or used them-whether to educate, solve problems, assert leadership, assist in remembering, or provision loved ones in the afterlife. Wednesdays 12:00 noon – 8:00 p.m. Thursdays – Sundays 12:00 noon – 5:00…
York Chang: The Signal and The Noise
York Chang makes conceptually driven work which considers the relationship between images and text, and how collective action is influenced by spectacle and new forms of propaganda. In this project, he employs mixed media strategies as interventions into information systems, appropriating newspapers, graphic displays, found images, and sculpture to create an immersive environment in the exhibition space. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, & Saturdays 12:00 noon – 4:00 p.m., Thursdays 12:00 noon – 7:00 p.m.
Dressed with Distinction: Garments from Ottoman Syria
This exhibit from Ottoman Syria explores the region’s textile production during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when Syria was an international hub for the trade and production of handwoven cloth. With a focus on the social and seasonal contexts in which garments were worn by men, women, and children, the exhibition’s presentation of these distinguished textiles enables audiences to engage with Syrian culture and weaving techniques from a bygone era. Wednesdays 12:00 noon – 8:00 p.m. Thursdays…
Hammer Projects: Yunhee Min
Min adapts the vibrant abstract imagery of her paintings on canvas to the steps of the Hammer’s lobby staircase, in the first Project to be oriented on the floor rather than the walls. Her examination of the impact of the Light and Space movement on generations of artists in Los Angeles is evident in her newest washy, layered, and brightly colored paintings. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Fridays 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Saturdays & Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.…