Public Display

Features

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ON THE COVER: Andy Freeberg, Michaelangelo's Moses and the Dying Slave, Pushkin Museum , 2008, (detail), courtesy of the artist See page 32.

ABOVE : Desert X 2023 performance view, Héctor Zamora, Chimera , photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy the artist and Desert X.

RIGHT: Jessica Taylor Bellamy in her studio, Dec. 22, 2022.

NEXT PAGE, Top: Exhibition walkthrough of "Deborah Roberts: I'm," at Art + Practice, July 14, 2022, photo by Leah Case.

Table of Contents continued

Dear Reader,

“Art about art is elitist,” my boyfriend in grad school used to tell me. But if that was the case we wouldn’t have Ab-Ex, Minimalism and maybe even Conceptualism. I got it though: The art world with its various trends and movements could seem precious and pretentious. Even so, I did love painting for painting’s sake. Some would say I excelled in the non-representational art form. There’s nothing like a great abstract painting. I’d kill to own a Brice Marden.

But what about all the injustice and malaise we see today; can we really just make art that is only about art? As artists, isn’t it our duty to be addressing larger concerns? Our “Public Display” theme in this issue includes artists who consider their community and the world around them—recognizing the importance of engaging with their surroundings, they want to give something back.

Departments

Some art venues fall into the category of nonprofit organizations, which, thankfully, get the help of residents who serve on their boards and grants allotted from municipal funds. One such place is the community-building organization in Leimert Park, conceptualized by South LA’s own Mark Bradford, Art + Practice. Alexia Lewis catches up with the A+P team who run programs for teens and award several scholarships, among many other altruistic endeavors. Regular online columnist Lauren Guilford interviews Jessica Taylor Bellamy, whose work deals with LA’s unique eco-phenomenology. And our cover artist is San Francisco–based Andy Freeberg, featured and written about by regular contributor William Moreno. Freeberg delves into the commercial aspect of the art world and exposes the machinations of that milieu—unsurprisingly it isn’t very different from any other free-enterprise world.

I’ve often felt that Artillery plays a role in serving our LA arts community; at least we try like hell to. And LA gives back in buckets, especially our loyal supporters. With that in mind, I’d like to announce an important addition to our staff: our new publisher, Alex Garner. She hails from New York City where she worked at Artforum for several years, and MoMA—a little New York in our mag couldn’t hurt anyone, right? Alex knows the ins and outs of the art world and recognizes its complexities—how small it can be, yet expansive at the same time. The LA arts community is where Artillery’s heart really is and Alex is aware of the significance of our city as an art-world center, equal to New York. (Just look at all the New York galleries moving here!)

Exciting new things are in store for Artillery with Alex on board. She already has an online art column in our weekly newsletter, The Publisher’s Eye. I couldn’t be happier to begin our collaboration, putting our heads together to better serve the LA art scene. We know how important that is, and how important Artillery is to LA.

It’s hard to believe that in the 16 years I’ve run this publication (with the help of our loyal contributors and employees), things just keep getting better. Owning an art publication may seem provincial, even elitist, but I can’t help but think there’s some good that comes out of it. Art for art’s sake, anyone? We’ll take our chances.

Featured Contributors

Alexia Lewis is an LA-based visual and performance artist, DJ and arts advocate. Her interests lie in using her platform to create space for radical honesty, for fellow artists, for economic justice for Black women and girls.

Staff

Tulsa Kinney Editor

Alex Garner Publisher

Editorial

Bill Smith - creative director

Emma Christ - associate editor

John Tottenham - copy editor/poetry editor

John Seeley - copy editor/proof

Dave Shulman - graphic design

Contributing Editors

Ezrha Jean Black, Laura London, Tucker Neel, John David O’Brien

Lauren Guilford is a curator, writer and art historian based in Los Angeles. She holds a BA in Art History from UC Santa Barbara and a MA from USC, where she wrote her thesis on the history of alternative art spaces in Los Angeles. She has written for Frieze and Speciwomen

William Moreno is currently principle of William Moreno Contemporary, an art advisory and consulting firm that provides advice that meets each collector’s particular aspirations. He is also a curator, writer, executive coach and consultant for the arts, focused on issues of sustainability and management practices.

Catherine Yang is a freelance art writer and law student based in Los Angeles. She previously worked in arts administration and communication for galleries, museums and auction houses. Find her on Instagram @cath_yang for more.

Columnists

Skot Armstrong, Anthony Ausgang, Scarlet Cheng, Stephen J. Goldberg, Lauren Guilford, Seth Hawkins, Lara Jo Regan, Zak Smith

Contributors

Emily Babette, Lane Barden, Natasha Boyd, Betty Ann Brown, Susan Butcher & Carol Wood, Kate Caruso, Max King Cap, Bianca Collins, Shana Nys Dambrot, Genie Davis, David DiMichele, Alexia Lewis, Richard Allen May III, Christopher Michno, Barbara Morris, John David O’Brien, Carrie Paterson, Leanna Robinson, Julie Schulte, Eli Ståhl, Allison Strauss, Donasia Tillery, Colin Westerbeck, Eve Wood, Catherine Yang, Jody Zellen

NEW YORK: Annabel Keenan, Sarah Sargent

Administration

Mitch Handsone - new media director

Emma Christ - social media coordinator

Advertising

Alex Garner - sales director publisher@artillerymag.com; 214.797.9795

Anna Bagirov - print sales anna@artillerymag.com; 408.531.5643

Mitch Handsone - web sales mitch@artillerymag.com; 323.515.2840

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Hammering is Done

The Hammer Museum has been transformed, and it’s happened so gradually over the past two decades that we barely noticed it. Sometimes one section would be closed off, sometimes another, and every so often a new section would be unveiled. There’s the bridge that crosses the central courtyard, the revived restaurant, the spiffy gift shop and last year the dedicated space for works on paper, which is a jewel box of a gallery—literally, a box within a box to look at smaller works in an intimate space. Right now it’s featuring a wonderful retrospective of Bridget Riley’s drawings.

On March 26, the Hammer opened its completely renovated home, with several new exhibitions thrown in. “We altered every square inch of this museum,” says Director Ann Philbin. Kudos to Philbin, who had the vision to remake this building and this museum, bringing an obscure university museum into citywide and nationwide prominence. She’s also had the determination to raise the money—and to see it all through.

The building has never felt more of a whole, and the beautifully spun web of red twine that engulfs the entrance is a sweeping welcome which was made by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota, with the help from UCLA students. Altogether, 40,000 square feet of new space has been added, and the museum now spans the entire block along Wilshire Boulevard, with Michael Maltzan acting as the lead architect throughout.

There’s so much to say, but let’s take a look at the two corners on Wilshire. They’ve moved their main entrance to the corner of Westwood and Wilshire, although you have to approach it from the side, up a ramp from Wilshire and towards the corner. Meanwhile that corner has now become a small, raised platform to wait for your friends or take a moment to pause. It’s a great way to transition into the museum, and in a chat with Maltzan, I learned that they had that move in mind.

The other corner now has a small outdoor patio, currently occupied by Sanford Biggers’ gigantic and rather mysterious bronze sculpture, Oracle, based on an ancient statue of Zeus, but this one with an African American head. Inside is a new media installation, Particulates, a spectacular laser-light work by Rita McBride.

Desert X

It’s been a particularly good year for Desert X in the Coachella Valley, with a new sensibility added by guest curator Diana Campbell. Campbell is the founding artistic director of the Samdani Art Foundation in Bangladesh and the chief curator of the Dhaka Art Summit. She grew up in Southern California and used to vacation with her family in the Coachella Valley, though now she is based in Bangladesh. While I don’t believe you have to be from the area to appreciate it, it’s no accident that two of my favorite installations this time around were also by artists who have spent time in the desert: Lauren Bon and Gerald Clarke, two of the 12 artists featured in this fourth edition of Desert X. Bon’s piece, The Smallest Sea with the Largest Heart, takes place in an abandoned motel on the north end of Palm Springs, where it can only be seen in the evening when night falls. A steel-mesh sculpture modeled after the heart of the blue whale slowly rises out of the murky waters in a swimming pool lit by a single underwater light. The water has been trucked from the polluted Salton Sea—Bon suggests whales used to be in these parts. Someone is hand-cranking a pulley to lift the sculpture out, then they slowly let it drift downwards, as the crackling of static gets louder and louder.

Not far away, in a stretch of land by a community center, Gerald Clarke has created a gameboard you can walk on, Immersion, with a maze pattern based on basketry of the Cahuilla community of Indians. In this one you advance by correctly answering questions about Native Americans. The goal, he says, is to get to the center of the maze-like layout. “I hired two scholars of Native American history and culture to create the questions,” he says, “and then I went over them.”

Happy 50th Self Help Graphics

A big CONGRATULATIONS to one of LA’s most venerable art institutions— Self Help Graphics & Art has hit its 50th anniversary and celebrates the return of its biennial, Paper Fashion Gala and Runway Show. It takes place at Frankie LA in Boyle Heights and will showcase 13 designs of wearable paper fashion inspired by prints from the SHG archive. Sales will support SHG’s various projects such as exhibitions, community programming and providing space, tools, training and resources to local artists.

Comings and Goings

They’re still coming! Yet more new galleries keep popping up. Only recently did I finally visit the three Nino Mier galleries on Santa Monica Boulevard—smallish spaces showing paintings and ceramics. It’s an interesting strategy, to grab small available storefronts and treat them as you would different spaces in a big gallery. They are very close together, so you can walk from one to another.

Earlier this year Sean Kelly Gallery opened up its first outside-of–New York branch on North Highland. It seems the trend to take old buildings and renovate, sometimes even add to them, making sure you have an outdoor space for parking and for receptions, as needed. Lisson, which just opened in midApril, was able to celebrate with such a space—the parking lot was used for a very lively reception with bar and grill. Their show of Carmen Herrera is a standout—the longtime adherent to geometric abstraction died last year at 106.

Next up are openings of new spaces by James Fuentes, Marian Goodman and David Zwirner. The latter has put off their LA opening so many times, I’ve stopped trying to chase down that news—but they’re opening with a show by Njideka Akunyili Crosby. Her painting at the Hammer’s current group show is one of the most memorable, and she has a mini show at the Huntington.

Last but definitely not least, I have to add that one of the best solo shows up is at our own homegrown L.A. Louver— Gajin Fujita’s “True Colors.” He’s a master of meticulously crafted and beautiful paintings which mash up Japanese woodblock and LA street-art aesthetics. There are samurais and geishas swimming amidst graffiti tagging, and also a very moving portrait of his sweetly smiling mother, with a small elephant in the background, as she slips into old age.