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"Moonbliss Riverdream" by Kim DeJesus
When: Through March 8
Where: Vielmetter
Why It’s Worth a Look: Drawing on Color Field and Action painting, Los Angeles-based artist Kim DeJesus's first show with Vielmetter features a selection of recent abstractions crafted using acrylics, oil, and mixed media on canvas.
Know Before You Go: Not one to be limited by the brush, much of DeJesus's work is made through staining, pouring, and blurring. The pieces evoke the vast expanses of outer space, urging viewers to consider their own perception of time, place, and consciousness.
"What Remains Behind" by Helmut Lang
When: February 19 - May 4
Where: MAK Center for Art and Architecture
Why It’s Worth a Look: "Neither entirely figurative nor entirely abstract, [Helmut Lang's pieces] bring a fundamentally reductivist approach to material that is deeply impregnated with the burden of history," writes curator Neville Wakefield of the artist's mangled sculptures. The pieces, minimalist in design but enormous in presence, fill the space of Schindler House. Lang has noted a preference for objects "with a past ... and with scars and memories of a former purpose." Here, he transforms shellac, steel, and other industrial materials into imposing freestanding forms.
Know Before You Go: Schindler House, the West Hollywood site of the exhibition, offers a spare, history-rich setting for Lang's creations. The first slab-cast modernist house, it was originally designed by fellow Austrian Rudolph Schindler in 1922.
"Modèle Vivant"
When: Through February 22
Where: Jack Siebert Projects, private Beverly Hills Residence
Why It’s Worth a Look: Curator Jack Siebert is staging his third LA exhibition in a 1960 mid-century home, originally commissioned by Walt Disney. Nathanaëlle Herbelin’s Modèle Vivant, 2021, serves as the show's namesake, as it offers a rotation of pieces that investigate the living model.
Know Before You Go: Participating artists include Rita Ackermann, Isabelle Albuquerque, Buck Ellison, Alex Katz, Vanessa Raw, Joan Semmel, and Chloe Wise.
"Magic Echoes: Brazil Diasporas' Vibrant Encounters with Ancestrality"
When: February 21 - March 22
Where: M+B
Why It’s Worth a Look: Brazil is a large country, and its cultural landscape is similarly vast. In "Magic Echoes," M+B aims to capture a slice of that diversity with an exhibition of pieces by 12 Brazilian creatives.
Know Before You Go: This group includes Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato, Arorá, Chen Kong Fang, Chico da Silva, Gustavo Caboco, Hiram Latorre, Lia D Castro, Lu Ferreira, Lucas Almeida, Luciano Maia, Mateus Moreira, and Thiago Molon.
"Wet Reckless" by Issy Wood
When: Through May 17
Where: Michael Werner Gallery
Why It’s Worth a Look: American-born, British "smudgy pointillism" painter Issy Wood describes her work as a quest for “capital S Seduction, everything shiny, everything pretty, everything beautifully photographed.” Here, she presents a new selection of pieces featuring cars, guns, and other meaning-laden objects.
Know Before You Go: Wood's exhibition takes its cheeky title from a lesser drunk-driving charge in the state of California.
"One Hundred Percent"
When: Through February 22
Where: 619 N Western Avenue
Why It’s Worth a Look: Curated by Aram Moshayedi in only three weeks, "One Hundred Percent" displays work by over 80 visual artists and creatives directly affected by the LA wildfires. The show title is a nod to the exhibition structure where "one hundred percent" of proceeds go to the artists. Moshayedi’s team works "on a volunteer basis, taking nothing and charging nothing," wrote Via Art Fund, where Moshayedi was a curatorial fellow.
Know Before You Go: The show will include pieces by Kelly Akashi, Kathryn Andrews, Paul McCarthy, Diana Thater, and others. “It’s a convergence of people who have been affected either directly or indirectly by the fires and will hopefully offer an opportunity for some kind of release," Moshayedi told Via.
"Finding Figures" by Daniel Crews-Chubb
When: Through March 8
Where: Roberts Projects
Why It’s Worth a Look: Although this is Daniel Crews-Chubb’s fourth solo exhibition with Roberts Projects, "Finding Figures" is the first time he will solely exhibit his works on paper. And, while he is most traditionally a figurative artist, this presentation sees him slide further into abstraction.
Know Before You Go: Crews-Chubb has maintained a sense of movement and depth in his abstract works by adhering to an unorthodox process: The artist begins by layering materials on the floor and waiting for a glimmer of a figure to emerge before moving the entire work onto the wall.
"Kelly Akashi"
When: Through March 8
Where: Lisson Gallery
Why It’s Worth a Look: Kelly Akashi, based in Los Angeles, was at work on this new show when the wildfires broke out last month. Following the loss of her home and studio to the flames, she got back to work recontextualizing the series on view, offering new pieces made of glass, earth, stone, lace, and bronze—including several items recovered from the site of her former studio.
Know Before You Go: The pieces recovered, along with the new works, are hung around the gallery and installed in a manufactured landscape of stone and marble sculptures mounted on steel pedestals, creating a singular, immersive environment.
"The Perfect Tense" by Sam McKinniss
When: Through February 23
Where: David Kordansky Gallery
Why It’s Worth a Look: For his first solo exhibition with David Kordansky, Sam McKinniss continues in his tradition of transforming pre-existing images online into startlingly intimate paintings. In his work, our preconceived notions are the primary material.
Know Before You Go: Subjects of the pieces include reference points ranging from Julia Roberts, to Olympic divers, to the viral St. Louis gun-toting incident.
"Spirit Level" by Tau Lewis
When: Through March 29
Where: David Zwirner
Why It’s Worth a Look: This solo exhibition features five monumental sculptures and a quilt that first debuted at Tau Lewis’s 2024 solo show at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. The pieces were created during a significant period of loss and grief for the artist, with each stately—yet serene—figure reflecting the depth of these emotions.
Know Before You Go: For these pieces, Lewis looked to the cultural touchpoints of the Caribbean Sea, techno and dub music, literature, and religious and spiritual studies for inspiration.
"Noir" by Alex Israel
When: Through March 22
Where: Gagosian
Why It’s Worth a Look: In this series of newly painted streetscapes, LA-based and -born artist Alex Israel is redefining the noir "genre." What began as sketches and photos were turned into rich landscapes layered with purples, pinks, and warm yellow streetlamps.
Know Before You Go: "If Israel’s pictures are seductive, they should be," writes Sam Wasson, in an accompanying catalogue. "Femmes wouldn’t be fatales if they weren’t. The paintings’ rich, pulpy candy colors and nostalgic lure, their slick, sensual surfaces that say come hither . . . these are not the girls next door."
"Jacqueline Humphries"
When: February 19 - April 5
Where: Matthew Marks Gallery
Why It’s Worth a Look: This solo exhibition—featuring 12 new paintings by the veteran artist—is not only Humphries’s first at Matthew Marks, but also her first in Los Angeles in over three decades.
Know Before You Go: In addition to Humphries’s large-scale paintings, the exhibition also features a slate of works made in collaboration with screenwriter and film director Paul Schrader, inspired by his original hand-written film outlines.
"mole, mold, molt " by Sula Bermudez-Silverman
When: Through March 29
Where: Hannah Hoffman
Why It’s Worth a Look: Hand-blown glass, donkey bridles, and steel are just a few of the materials that make an appearance in Sula Bermudez-Silverman's new exhibition at Hannah Hoffman. The multimedia artist’s sculptural work plays with a heavily researched use of materials, often bursting to escape their own confines (bridle or otherwise).
Know Before You Go: In a slideshow of inspirations, the artist included gnarly wrought iron, antique marble sculptures, and gilded design items, among other disparate touchpoints.
"Tell the Poets" by Sarah Cain
When: Through April 19
Where: Honor Fraser
Why It’s Worth a Look: Through vibrant, large-scale paintings, Sarah Cain transforms architectural spaces into immersive experiences. In this new body of work, the artist uses currency symbols as a reflection on our collective recovery in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, alongside other new series.
Know Before You Go: Curator Jamillah James wrote of the artist, "At their very core, Cain’s abstract paintings are radical and disorienting in the best possible way. Her attack and command of both physical and pictorial space is incisive yet wildly generous, leaving the viewer with no singular place to stand or look."
"Winging it " by Nina Chanel Abney
When: Through April 26
Where: Jeffrey Deitch
Why It’s Worth a Look: Known for her intuitive use of vibrant hues, Nina Chanel Abney here interrogates the divide between the sacred and the secular, cleverly nodding to our predilections toward “winging it” as we navigate a chaotic world.
Know Before You Go: Abney weaves religious iconography and modern-day touchstones like TikTok mantras into this display of new large-scale paintings, works on paper, sculptures, and her first immersive installation featuring neons.
"Plant Works" by Anders Ruhwald
When: Through March 29
Where: Morán Morán
Why It’s Worth a Look: The Danish-American’s third exhibition with Morán Morán consists of seven sculptures made in Ruhwald's Chicago studio over the last 18 months. The pieces serve as vessels for arrangements of orchids, scrubs, flowers, and succulents. In the exhibition, the florals were developed with artist and designer Darren Romanelli, who made the arrangements alongside longtime collaborator Toyo Florist.
Know Before You Go: The central series on view, "Petitot’s Dream," draws inspiration from 18th-century French architect Ennemond Alexandre Petitot's own etching series, "Suite des Vases," where he married figures with flora.
"Cryptic Aperture" by Mark Yang
When: February 18 - March 22
Where: Various Small Fires
Why It’s Worth a Look: In "Cryptic Aperture," the artist’s intricate paintings are served up in pairs, a new process Mark Yang has been employing. His compositions are made two-at-a-time, here referencing Picasso's Woman Dressing Her Hair. Another series, an entire suite of smaller paintings, is inspired by Bellini’s many takes on the Madonna and Child.
Know Before You Go: The titular Cryptic Aperture features two clusters of forms seemingly breaking from the canvas. The desire for the artist was to move beyond the figure as a singular body.
"Valerie Keane"
When: Through March 30
Where: Gaylord Fine Arts
Why It’s Worth a Look: Valerie Keane produces work that only gets more complex the closer you get. Those in LA have a chance to get intimate with the artist's intricate wall-hanging works on view at Gaylord Fine Arts, where Keane is showing a series of futuristic pieces fabricated with paper, metalized film, and aluminum framing.
Know Before You Go: Open since 2021, the gallery is located within a unit in the Gaylord Apartments building and serves as a noted hotspot for LA’s emerging artists.
"Tuning the Dial" by Woody De Othello
When: February 19 - April 5
Where: Karma
Why It’s Worth a Look: This multisensory experience features bronze and ceramic sculptures accompanied by ambient soundscapes. The exhibition has three distinct spaces: a sculpture room, a floating platform of ceramics, and a sand-covered floor across which there is a salon-style hang of new works.
Know Before You Go: This is Oakland-based Woody De Othello's debut solo in Los Angeles.
"A Gentle Kiss to the Anterior Fontanelle " by Jay Payton
When: Through March 29
Where: Sea View
Why It’s Worth a Look: Jay Payton’s multimedia works and paintings are thickly layered, with forms that appear to stretch and bend across the canvas. This Los Angeles debut offers a new suite of pieces exploring the evolution of organisms and, by extension, human life.
Know Before You Go: The artist notes that a fontanelle is "a membrane-covered opening in bone or between bones, specifically any of the spaces closed by membranous structures between the uncompleted angles of the parietal bones and the neighboring bones of a fetal or young skull."
