Great Art Exhibitions To Catch In California Now

Staged to coincide with the Obama portraits’ tour of America (don’t miss Amy Sherald’s mesmeric depiction of former First Lady Michelle Obama, and Kehinde Wiley’s dazzling portrait of Barack), Black American Portraits at LACMA unites painting, collage, photography and video from the 19th century to the present day. Celebrating and centering on Black American subjects and artists, exhibition highlights include a regal-like portrayal of artist Mickalene Thomas (by Wiley); Thomas’s bejeweled masterpiece of her partner Raquel Chevremont; multi-media work of everyday life by Njideka Akunyili Crosby; a self-portrait by younger star Jordan Casteel – basking in a pink glow, lounging in her living room; plus a life-size, technicolored quilt by Bisa Butler, honoring the late Chadwick Boseman.

Also on view at LACMA, don’t miss work by Harlem Renaissance trailblazers: a sculpted bust by Augusta Savage and an elegant, full-length portrait by Laura Wheeler Waring. My advice? Download the curators’ Spotify playlist to accompany you when walking around this gem of an exhibition – tracks range from Aretha Franklin to Minnie Riperton. You’ll feel transported even further into this exuberant and glittering world. Until Sunday, April 17, 2022

Head downtown to LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art and check out its permanent collection, which includes photographs by Deana Lawson, Paz Errázuriz and LaToya Ruby Frazier, sculptural work by Ruth Asawa, and two unmissable exhibitions: Jennifer Packer: Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleep and Pipilotti Rist: Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor.

Packer, who wowed London audiences last summer with her sublime Serpentine Galleries exhibition, paints powerful portrayals from life of people close to her. Full of quiet intensities and a profound sense of intimacy, Packer’s sitters emerge from a pool of auric or luminescent pigment, glistening in their environments and erupting with emotion.

At MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary gallery, you can step inside a subterranean universe by Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist. Dominated by hypnotic, technicolored, multi-screen installations; blasting euphoric soundtracks and glittering pixel forests, be fully immersed in Rist’s world – complete with libraries, a house and beds – plus her large-scale lo-fi films that provide a brilliant commentary on the state of society. Jennifer Packer: Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleep, until Monday, February 21, 2022. Pipilotti Rist: Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor, until Monday, June 6, 2022

While you’re in LA, take a trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Here, you can explore outdoor, site-specific sculptures by Rachel Whiteread and Andrea Zittel. Nearby is Palm Springs Art Museum, which is currently host to an exhibition of late works by Helen Frankenthaler.

Also in the Downtown area, The Broad is a must-visit, with a monumental set of artworks collected by the late Eli Broad. Upstairs, you’ll find fleshy, painterly canvases by British masters Cecily Brown and Jenny Saville, plus an array of works by Lichtenstein, Warhol and more; downstairs, there are colossal map-like scapes by Julie Mehretu, and large-scale photographic works by Cindy Sherman and Shirin Neshat.

But it’s not just about SoCal: drive up (my choice, via Big Sur) to San Francisco to experience even more great art, starting with the Legion of Honor, a Neoclassical portico home to a collection of Old Master and Modernist treasures. In the downstairs galleries, you can find a sublime exhibition of pastels. Stunningly assembled, this show begins with Rococo pioneer, Rosalba Carriera, and stretches through to the Impressionists – Degas, Cassatt, Morisot. A fascinating exploration of the versatility of pastels, from its use creating luminescent textures, intricate portrayals of lace, to the sheer movement of line. Color In Line, until Sunday, February 13, 2022

Here are just a few recommendations for eating and staying during your time in LA: The Line Hotel, Koreatown – for a boutique stay in the center of everything; The Beverly Hills Hotel – to experience the ultimate in Old Hollywood glamour; and Ardor restaurant – for vegetable-forward California cuisine at The Edition, Los Angeles.

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