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Visual Arts

An image can have powerful consequences. Explore how artists are using the visual arts to empower and elevate a point of view.

An illustration of different Western images in pop culture.
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A puppet from the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. | Courtesy of Missy Steele
Once the Bob Baker team realized that they were going to be closed for more than a few weeks, they switched gears. They concentrated their efforts on spreading their special kind of joy amid uncertainty.
Male Harp Player of the Early Spedos Type, 2700–2300 B.C., Cycladic. Marble, 14 ⅛ x 11 1/16 in| The J. Paul Getty Museum, 85.AA.103 and a recreation via Facebook | Irena Ochódzka with canister vacuum
Museums had been enticing audiences through their doors with great exhibitions and programming, but the pandemic put a stop to that. Here are some ways they’re continuing their mission while in quarantine.
The side of the frontline workers in Barrios' chess set. | Courtesy of Lyndon Barrois Sr.
Lyndon Barrois Sr.’s chess pieces depict a battle between frontline workers and first responders against the politics of the pandemic — and they’re all made of gum wrapper.
A piece from Juri Koll's "The Handshake Series," which he started when the lockdown began. |  Courtesy of Juri Koll
Artist/gallerist/curator Juri Koll reaches out to artists and their supporters, encouraging them to break through the psychological confines of the current pandemic.
Matthew Brandt “Vatnajökull CMY5” and “Vatnajökull MYC8,” 2018–20. Heated chromogenic print, with acrylic varnish and Aqua-Resin support | Photo: Ed Mumford, Courtesy the artist and M+B, Los Angeles
Writer Carol Cheh speaks with a handful of galleries to ask how they are faring as galleries are allowed to reopen. Her conversations reveal a fascinating range of perspectives and prospects.
Detail of Scott Hove's 'The Beauty War' | Courtesy of Scott Hove
Three months after Scott Hove’s ‘The Beauty War’ was first scheduled to open, the exhibition now open to the mask-wearing public at Cakeland LA.
CARE NOT CAGES" written in in the sky, contributed by Patrisse Cullors, over the L.A. County Jail as seen from Griffith Park | Chris Mastro, In Plain Sight
“In Plain Sight" conscripted 80 artists and organizations to make visible the vast and invisible network of detention centers by writing messages in the sky.
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Sholeh Wolpé responds to Jean-Michel Basquiat's Gold Griot with "Yellow to Blue"
Installation view, “Chris Engman: Looking,” Luis De Jesus Los Angeles. Photo by Michael Underwood.
In response to the closure of their physical spaces, L.A. art galleries have embraced online exhibitions to an unprecedented degree. This transition has changed the way they present artworks and unexpectedly, how they relate to one another.
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Artist Kandis Williams is widely recognized for her critical approach to myth, libidinal and social coded behavior, and the affectual provocations of structural violence entangled with race, aesthetics, and ethics. Her practice spans collage, writing, per
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Rosson Crow shares her recent foray into smaller-scale paintings of still-life.
 ICE Not Welcome poster | Audrey Chan, ACLU SoCal
Amid the pandemic, ACLU SoCal's first resident artist has been responding creatively in support of civil rights.
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