Shows to See: Mexico City to LA
Our picks of shows worth seeing this month
In the beloved calendar year of the art world, there are few moments that exist without an art fair playing in the background. After Art Basel Miami in December, we are treated to a momentary pause where it starts to feel like we can remain in hiding from another high volume / high intensity art viewing experience that is a fair. Then FOG roles around in late Jan and the fair cycle once again takes off full steam ahead. If you are opting into this month’s offerings — first in Mexico City (Zona Maco, Material, Salon Acme) followed in a few weeks by LA (Frieze, Felix, and a new interesting concept Post-Fair) — we got the exhibitions for you to see outside of the fair walls.
Mexico City
Lyn Liu at Casa Siza, presented by Kasmin
Dr. Atl 103, Sta María la Ribera
On view until March 28
TL;DR I considered booking my flight to Mexico simply to catch this one show. Ever since first seeing her work when she was in Columbia’s MFA program, I’ve been enamored with Liu’s surreal subject matter and distinct palette of reds and browns (and the occasional color pop). As a Surrealism fanatic, any time I witness a contemporary artist continuing this history in a compelling way (not an easy feat), I join their team. This particular body of work from Liu features an array of absorbing images and its setting at Casa Siza (an architecturally significant home owned by Bosco Sodi) seems to tie everything together in a delightful little bow.
MASA + Luhring Augustine group show at MASA
Joaquin A Pérez 6
On View until March 29
TL;DR When two standout gallery programs come together, the outcome is doubly exciting. Luhring Augustine, a New York-based gallery, and MASA, a Mexico City staple that feels more like an ever-evolving art project than a gallery in the traditional sense, are an ideal pairing to experience memorable art. For the second collaboration of these two programs, we are treated to an exhibition that features a trio of pairings of artists - one from each gallery program - making for interesting conversation and connection points amongst artists that might otherwise never share a space.
Salah Elmur at Mariane Ibrahim
Río Pánuco 36, Col. Renacimiento
On view until May 3
TL;DR Any show in Mariane Ibrahim’s Mexico City space is worth going to see, if only to experience the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Parisian salon inspired architectural beauty that is the gallery and how the mounted exhibitions bring such visual stimulation one step further. Salah Elmur’s show is a special one though, ripe with historical significance and an ability to transport you into different worlds. In dark and ironic juxtaposition to the visibility Salah’s work is receiving is that he once was jailed in his native Sudan for a cartoon that was too critical of the government.
Los Angeles
Kyle Dunn at Vielmetter
1700 S Santa Fe Ave #101
On view until March 29
TL;DR I consider Kyle one of the best living painters. Back in my gallerina era, I was lucky to lend a hand to mounting Kyle’s first NYC solo. Since then, I’ve watched closely as he has honed in on his painterly skills and technique to levels that leave me gasping every time I see a new work. I especially love how in a Kyle painting, there’s always something a bit off to the scene in front of you (thinking specifically of a painting where a dog balances an ash tray on its raised bum). This is both Kyle’s solo debut in LA and his first exhibition with Vielmetter. If in LA, I implore you to see.
Tau Lewis at David Zwirner
616 N Western Avenue
Opening February 13
TL;DR A really neat thing about galleries is that they are free. No ticket, no price upon entry is required. And a really neat thing about Tau’s upcoming gallery exhibition is that it is a museum show (first debuted at the ICA Boston), a venue where you are charged a fee to view art, and is now traveling to one of David Zwirner’s Los Angeles spaces where you can experience a museum level show in a gallery space FREE OF CHARGE! Feels to me like this alone is the only selling point you should need. The works are sculptural in their essence, comprised of an assemblage of materials and sources that reflect the artist’s background and interests. Haunting and impossible to forget once you have seen.
Claire Tabouret at Night Gallery
2276 E 16th Street
Opening February 15
TL;DR Just going to start you off with this article on why this exhibition is an important one to catch. Notre Dame ever heard of her? Claire has been a fixture in the contemporary art scene for the better part of the last decade and yet, I never tire of seeing her work. Consistently interesting, consistently well made, and consistently pushing her practice. The exhibition’s title Moonlight Shadow, perfectly reflects the dream like quality that each of Tabouret’s paintings possess. With mounting accolades and now the Notre Dame commission, Claire’s career really feels like watching art history in real time, something that I’m personally signing myself up for.