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“Strange Resemblance” by John Divola
Where: Château Shatto
When: Through May 17
Why It’s Worth a Look: For those craving a peek behind Hollywood’s glittering facade, the conceptual artist and photographer John Divola’s debut at Château Shatto offers just that—and then some. MGM, 1979, captures crumbling New York sets on a Culver City backlot; Continuity, 1995, reveals the seams of old studio productions through found continuity photos; and X-Files, 2002, delivers haunting images from the set of the cult TV show.
Know Before You Go: Expect faux skylines, stray boom mics, and cinematic ghosts. It’s a love letter to Hollywood’s illusion, exposing the scaffolding behind the spectacle. And it's a great accompaniment for anyone enjoying The Studio on Apple TV+.
“PUNK’S NOT DEAD PT II” by Nadya Tolokonnikova
Where: Honor Fraser
When: Through May 31
Why It’s Worth a Look: Pussy Riot cofounder Nadya Tolokonnikova transforms protest into permanence in this blistering, politically charged solo show. With religious icons laced with profanity, pharmaceuticals cast as idols, and riot shields repurposed as relics, “PUNK’S NOT DEAD PT II” confronts the machinery of control—state, church, capital—and insists on the sanctity of personal rebellion.
Know Before You Go: Rooted in the Russian avant-garde—think Malevich with brass knuckles—Tolokonnikova’s art doesn’t just critique institutions, it dares to outlast them. Come ready for sacred symbols, scarred bodies, and a punk gospel of resistance.
“The Anansean World of Robert Colescott”
Where: Blum Los Angeles
When: Through May 17
Why It’s Worth a Look: Curated by artist Umar Rashid (aka Frohawk Two Feathers), this expansive exhibition reframes the late Robert Colescott’s biting, satirical work through the lens of legendary tricksters in folklore and pop culture, from Ananse to Loki. Rashid casts Colescott as a cultural disruptor who skewered race, power, and American delusion with caustic wit and painterly bravado.
Know Before You Go: Rashid invites viewers into Colescott’s chaotic, rule-breaking universe, where ancient myth collides with 20th-century America—making this essential viewing for LA locals craving art that cuts deep.
“Cataclysm: The 1972 Diane Arbus Retrospective Revisited”
Where: David Zwirner
When: Through June 21
Why It’s Worth a Look: When photographer Diane Arbus’s posthumous retrospective opened at MoMA in 1972, the impact was nothing short of seismic. Visitors lined up “as though they were in line for communion,” recalled curator John Szarkowski. "Cataclysm" restages that legendary exhibition—with the original checklist of 113 photographs that elevated documentary photography to fine art and showed what it looked like to truly see another human being.
Know Before You Go: This is Arbus’s first major LA survey in over 20 years and has been co-organized with Fraenkel Gallery. The show was originally restaged at Zwirner's New York gallery in 2022.
“Rearview Mirror” by Paul McCartney
Where: Gagosian
When: Through June 21
Why It’s Worth a Look: At the height of Beatlemania, Paul McCartney wasn’t just in the eye of the storm—he was quietly documenting it. “Rearview Mirror” features 36 photographs from his personal archive, many never before seen, capturing unfiltered moments from the Beatles’ meteoric rise. Taken between 1963 and 1964, these images are both intimate and historic: hotel windows swarmed by fans, quiet self-portraits, and surreal glimpses of a world spinning out of control.
Know Before You Go: In an age of hyper-curated celebrity, these photographs offer a rare inversion—fame seen from the inside out. Archival footage and ephemera round out this time capsule of four boys becoming pop culture icons.
“Solastalgia” by Jessie Homer French and Minga Opazo
Where: Various Small Fires
When: Through May 10
Why It’s Worth a Look: Named for the existential ache caused by environmental loss, “Solastalgia” brings together two Ojai-based artists confronting ecological grief in different ways. Jessie Homer French paints wildfires and oil-ravaged coastlines with a stillness that feels sacred, rendering collapse not as spectacle but as lived reality. In contrast, Minga Opazo’s mycelium-grown sculptures and salvaged textile weavings metabolize waste into new forms, proposing that renewal is possible—if we’re willing to rethink our relationship to material and decay.
Know Before You Go: French maps the mournful West; Opazo transforms trash into living ecosystems. Together, they offer a space for both reflection and repair—grieving the damage, but insisting on the possibility of evolution.
“PSYCHOMANIA” by Alex Becerra
Where: Wilding Cran Gallery
When: Through May 17
Why It’s Worth a Look: In “PSYCHOMANIA,” LA painter Alex Becerra transforms his memories of the Yucatán Peninsula into a lush, chaotic jungle of pigment. Across three massive canvases, he builds thick impasto surfaces in riotous color—painting with fingers, knives, and squeezed tubes of oil. Neon-outlined bathers dissolve into tangled foliage; ecstatic greens and acidic oranges pulse through dense terrain. These works channel the jungle not just as landscape, but as emotional state.
Know Before You Go: Rooted in German Neo-Expressionism but infused with SoCal grit, Becerra’s process is as physical as it is intuitive. Linger with his work to find echoes of folklore, ecstatic creation, and the raw psyche laid bare.
“The Crick” by Jim Mangan
Where: Sea View
When: Through May 24
Why It’s Worth a Look: Set on the fringe of the American West, “The Crick” captures a world both harsh and beautiful—a former Fundamentalist Mormon Church (FLDS) stronghold called Short Creek now inhabited by a new generation carving out life on their own terms. Over six years, photographer Jim Mangan embedded himself in this deeply private community, gaining the trust of young men usually wary of outsiders. The resulting images are striking portraits of survivalists on horseback, riding through Utah’s vermillion foothills in hand-sewn buckskins and living off the land as a quiet rejection of their polygamist past.
Know Before You Go: When Mangan first tried to enter Short Creek in 2016, he was chased out of town by trucks with tinted windows. He returned two years later, after the FLDS had lost its non-profit status, and the project began to take shape.
“R.A..D…I..O.” by Brenna Youngblood
Where: Roberts Projects
When: Through May 10
Why It’s Worth a Look: In “R.A..D…I..O.,” Brenna Youngblood breaks down American material culture and rebuilds it from the scraps. Mass-market kitsch, street detritus, and found photos collide in vibrant, mixed-media paintings that splice abstraction with consumer critique.
Know Before You Go: More than paintings, these works are rewired signals from a culture overloaded with constant noise. Rooted in LA and inspired by the West Coast's storied lineage of radical assemblage, Youngblood brings a sharp, contemporary edge to Californian expressionism.
"Hiro, Hundley, Tadáskía"
Where: Regen Projects
When: Through May 10
Why It’s Worth a Look: How does performance live on in static form? That question anchors this three-artist exhibition featuring Naotaka Hiro, Elliott Hundley, and Tadáskía. Each approaches the prompt through a different lens: Hiro uses his own body as brush and boundary; Hundley constructs theatrical tableaux out of elaborate photo shoots of his friends and family; and Tadáskía channels improvisation into drawing, textile, and disguised portraiture.
Know Before You Go: Though wildly different in material and tone, the work of all three artists probes how performance can be remembered or reenacted. The work on view spans photographs, suspended and free-standing sculpture, drawings on canvas, paintings, and video.
“Sisters” by Spencer Sweeney
Where: The Journal Gallery
When: Through May 10
Why It’s Worth a Look: Known for his emotionally raw portraits and improvisational, paint-heavy process, Spencer Sweeney turns his gaze toward the feminine in “Sisters”—a series of expressive female portraits (some old, some new). Rendered in thick strokes and bold colors, the works channel an almost Picasso-esque energy: contorted faces, defiant gazes, and dreamlike palettes that oscillate between abstraction and representation.
Know Before You Go: Sweeney’s process is instinctive and deeply psychological. Whether through surreal color fields or stark black outlines, these portraits don’t just depict—they perform.
"Magnus Peterson Horner"
Where: Gaylord Fine Arts
When: Through May 10
Why It’s Worth a Look: In his first LA exhibition, New York-based artist Magnus Peterson Horner brings a quietly uncanny sensibility to portraiture. Using unexpected materials—photo developer, mesh canvas, even oil on cheese—Horner blurs the line between classical figuration and strange artifact. Works like Portrait of a Young Boy and Bust of a Woman evoke the intimacy of found photographs, rendered with ghostly washes of gouache and photo developer.
Know Before You Go: Horner treats surfaces like skin—fragile, layered, and memory-stained. These portraits feel less painted than exhumed, hovering somewhere between past life and present gaze.
"Carolina Caycedo, Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, Suki Seokyeong Kang"
Where: Commonwealth and Council
When: Through May 10
Why It’s Worth a Look: Three distinct material practices collide in this powerful group show. Carolina Caycedo’s hanging nets—like Melissa Priestess of the Bees—radiate devotional energy, blending natural fibers and ancestral forms. Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio casts urban residue into rubber monuments, embedding worn clothes and utility pole textures into works like La altura de los niños. Suki Seokyeong Kang’s woven mats and modular steel structures layer Korean craft traditions with a sense of quiet choreography.
Know Before You Go: Each artist turns material into memory. From rubber to raffia to rush mat, the show pulses with care, tension, and time. The show is particularly poignant in light of Kang's recent passing.
