Hammer Museum director Ann Philbin said, “Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living emphasizes that art is inseparable from everyday life and community, informed by a wide range of cultural histories. Diana and Pablo have selected 39 artists and collectives whose inspiring work we are thrilled to present in nearly every gallery and space in our newly renovated museum.”
Curator Pablo José Ramírez shared, “Made in L.A. 2023 takes its cues from the ethos of Los Angeles, a place where a multiplicity of cultures coexist and where, as an artist said to us, ‘one is always a visitor.’ The artists and collectives we included in this biennial represent a wide range of art being made in the city but also a diversity of stakes of making art.” Struck not only by the range of media and ideas they encountered, Nawi and Ramírez noted the way in which the conversations they had revealed the breadth of reasons people cited for creating work, who they create work for, and what the impact of that work might be within their larger communities. These practices embrace the value of craft, materiality, performance, and collectivity. The biennial situates art as an expanded field of culture that is entangled with everyday life; community networks; queer affect; and indigenous and diasporic histories.
Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living takes its title from a quote by the renowned Los Angeles artist Noah Purifoy which is inscribed on a plaque at the Watts Towers: “One does not have to be a visual artist to utilize creative potential. Creativity can be an act of living, a way of life, and a formula for doing the right thing.” The history of Watts Towers—built by Simon Rodia over the course of 33 years and then preserved by the local South L.A. community, including Purifoy, to become a hub for arts education—embodies this ethos and offers a salient metaphor for this biennial. Curator Diana Nawi explained, “The Watts Towers are an example for the way in which creative work can be intimately tied to one’s everyday life and to individual practice, hold space for community, and ultimately resonate far beyond itself.”
After making nearly 200 studio visits, as well as visiting numerous gallery and museum exhibitions during their research, the curators selected 39 artists, collectives, and organizations to represent a cross-section of Los Angeles. Made in L.A. 2023 features new works from the majority of artists in the exhibition including Marcel Alcalá, Sula Bermúdez-Silverman, Jibz Cameron, Ishi Glinsky, Young Joon Kwak, Tidawhitney Lek, Maria Maea, Roksana Pirouzmand, Ryan Preciado, Guadalupe Rosales, and Chiffon Thomas. These artists work across mediums, encompassing sculpture, assemblage, paintings, drawing, ceramics, performance, and installation. The exhibition will also include significant presentations by artists who have been working for more than four decades, including Victor Estrada, Nancy Evans, Akinsanya Kambon, Jessie Homer French, and Teresa Tolliver. These will be shown alongside historical work from Luis Bermudez, Pippa Garner, and Joey Terrill. AMBOS: Art Made Between Opposite Sides, Mas Exitos, and Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA) will present projects derived from practices based on community engagement and archival materials. Both Dominique Moody and Vincent Enrique Hernandez will adapt ongoing projects that take place in the public sphere for the exhibition. The museum galleries will be organized in sections that reflect shared themes and formal interests. These groupings, each of which highlights the work of artists with long-standing practices, proposes an expansive network of imagined artistic inheritances and legacies.
Participants
• Marcel Alcalá b. 1990, Santa Ana, California
• Michael Alvarez b. 1983, Los Angeles, California
• AMBOS: Art Made Between Opposite Sides est. 2016, Tijuana, Mexico/San Diego, California
• Jackie Amézquita b. 1985, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
• Teresa Baker (Mandan/Hidatsa) b. 1985, Watford City, North Dakota
• Luis Bermudez b. 1953, d. 2021, Los Angeles, California
• Sula Bermúdez-Silverman b. 1993, New York, New York
• Jibz Cameron b. 1975, California
• Melissa Cody (Navajo/Diné) b. 1983, No Water Mesa, Arizona
• Emmanuel Louisnord Desir b. 1997, New York, New York
• Victor Estrada b. 1956, Burbank, California
• Nancy Evans b. 1949, Los Angeles, California
• Pippa Garner b. 1943, Evanston, Illinois
• Ishi Glinsky (Tohono O’odham) b. 1982, Tucson, Arizona
• Vincent Enrique Hernandez b. 1998, Los Angeles, California
• Dan Herschlein b. 1989, Bayville, New York
• Jessie Homer French b. 1940, New York, New York
• Akinsanya Kambon b. 1946, Sacramento, California
• Kyle Kilty b. 1976, South Lake Tahoe, California
• Young Joon Kwak b. 1984, New York, New York
• Kang Seung Lee b. 1978, Seoul, South Korea
• Tidawhitney Lek b. 1992, Long Beach, California
• Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA) est. 2013
• Maria Maea b. 1988, Long Beach, California
• Erica Mahinay b. 1986, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Mas Exitos est. 2010
• Dominique Moody b. 1956, Augsburg, Germany
• Paige Jiyoung Moon b. 1984, Seoul, South Korea
• Esteban Ramón Pérez b. 1989, Los Angeles, California
• Page Person b. 1972, Atlanta, Georgia
• Roksana Pirouzmand b. 1990, Yazd, Iran
• Ryan Preciado b. 1989, El Monte, California
• Devin Reynolds b. 1991, Venice Beach, California
• Miller Robinson (Karuk/Yurok) b. 1992, Lodi, California
• Guadalupe Rosales b. 1980, Redwood City, California
• Christopher Suarez b. 1994, Long Beach, California
• Joey Terrill b. 1955, Los Angeles, California
• Chiffon Thomas b. 1991, Chicago, Illinois
• Teresa Tolliver b. 1945, Los Angeles, California
