This post was updated July 26 at 8:25 p.m.
As the weather gets nicer, there’s no better time than the present to explore the city.
When looking for the perfect summer activity, Los Angeles museums are the place to go. With multiple collections on display, art lovers can choose to travel to the past or discover local artists through this season’s exhibits.
Keep reading to learn about the exhibitions the Daily Bruin does not want to miss.
“Noah Davis” (Hammer Museum)
“Noah Davis” highlights the creative excellence of a historic LA legend.
Since arriving to Westwood on June 8, after its debut at DAS MINSK in Potsdam, Germany, the Hammer Museum’s latest exhibition charts the multitude of works by late artist Noah Davis. As an LA-based artist, Davis (1983-2015) leaves his mark through this installation – a significant homecoming for the artist’s legacy and his first institutional survey. Davis produced around 400 artworks over eight years before his death from cancer. Admission is free to see a thematic display of over 50 of his various works, which will remain at the Hammer until Aug. 31.
Davis, celebrated for his curatorial and community-building work as co-founder of the Underground Museum, implemented a fluid painting style, as is seen throughout the art included in “Noah Davis.” His techniques were sometimes unorthodox, implementing rich colors and dreamlike renditions of reality, as portrayed in “The Missing Link 4” (2013), “Isis” (2009) and “1975 (8)” (2013). The exhibition also features his various thematic explorations – family and romance, racism in American media, everyday life, current affairs and ancient Egyptian mythos – as well as his eclectic artistic material use, including flea market photos.
Exhibiting both the joy and the melancholy of lived experience, “Noah Davis” is an exceptional installation of artistic greatness.
– Eleanor Meyers
[Related: UCLA artist Luis Ramirez crafts cultural works centering on Oaxacan heritage]
“Artemisia’s Strong Women: Rescuing a Masterpiece” (Getty Center)
Artemisia Gentileschi celebrates women by depicting them as powerful and assertive.
As one of the most well-known and sought-after female painters from 17th-century Italy, Gentileschi illustrated donne forti – which translates to “strong women” – from classical and biblical stories. The Getty is showcasing five of Gentileschi’s paintings from June 10 to Sept. 14. One of these paintings was found in the rubble of a 2020 explosion in the port of Beirut. This previously unrevealed painting, which was damaged in the explosion, was repaired by the Getty.
Two free public lectures accompanied the exhibition. The first was a discussion on June 14 with Giulia Sissa, a distinguished professor in the Departments of Classics and Political Science at UCLA, who spoke about women in antiquity. The second conversation happened July 19 with curator Davide Gasparotto, and focused on Gentileschi’s successful career in Naples, Italy. The artist established a notable workshop – a remarkable feat during her time, since she did not have an influential or wealthy husband.
Attendees of the exhibit will be astonished by both Gentileschi’s paintings and her career.
– Amy Wong
[Related: Christian Lee photographs marginalized stories with focus on authenticity]
“MOCA Focus: Takako Yamaguchi” (MOCA)
For fine art aficionados, summer is a great time to look toward the sea.
The Museum of Contemporary Art’s new exhibit “MOCA Focus: Takako Yamaguchi” transports visitors to the lush seascapes of the titular artist’s work in oil and bronze leaf. The gallery – which is on view from June 29 through January – marks the first LA exhibition of Yamaguchi’s pieces. The LA-based artist’s first monograph is shown in conjunction with the display as part of the Nimoy Emerging Artist Publication Series.
Born in Japan in 1952, Yamaguchi has merged styles ranging from Renaissance art and Japanese Nihonga to Mexican muralism and Art Nouveau since relocating to the United States in the 1970s. This practice of pulling from various sources of inspiration has allowed Yamaguchi to demonstrate the similarities between different traditions while celebrating Japanese motifs and subverting expectations of femininity. With zigzags and spirals in each painting, Yamaguchi portrays scenes of mountains, rain and waves in her own distinct way.
To support a fellow Angeleno whose artwork captures a contemplative point of view, museumgoers would be well-served by checking out “MOCA Focus: Takako Yamaguchi.”
– Reid Sperisen
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