Mangled rubber and backwoods BMX in ‘Bike Curious?’

NATHAN SAWAYA’S ‘BRICKYCLE’
You need not know what a fixed-gear bicycle is to understand “Bike Curious?,” which is to say that whatever you ride (cruiser, mountain, nothing), so long as you can still remember what it felt like when the training wheels came off, you’ll probably love this show. [...]

‘Controversy’ takes familiar subjects in new directions

ARTURO SANDOVAL’S ‘STRAIGHT JACKET’
What is “Controversy”? What’s controversial? Depends. Ray Vasquez, mild-mannered gallery manager, etc., etc., thought telling someone else might be too, well—you know. And because someone else was happy to decide, that was it.
“We just left that to the hands of the artists,” Vasquez says while leading [...]

‘Spiritual & Religious Practices’ lets you see God as artists do

LAURA HERNANDEZ’S ‘EL HOMRE ELEMENTO AGUA’
For a show examining assorted deities and belief systems, as envisioned by artists from Argentina to Cuba, “Spiritual & Religious Practices” at the Museum of Latin American Art is as much about art as it is about God. That’s a [...]

Picture This Gallery finds images of Frida Kahlo we haven’t seen

M. ANGEL ACORDAGOITIA’S ‘FRIDA’
The star power of its namesake places high expectations on Picture This Gallery’s annual “Frida Kahlo Art Exhibit.” Mainly there’s the necessity that nothing here should resemble any other representation of Frida you’ve ever seen—on lighters, refrigerator magnets or purses; or in [...]

‘California Scenarios’ expands your state of mind

JEREMY BLAKE’S ‘WINCHESTER REDUX’
Equal parts cool Popsicle, sweaty car ride and inner journey, the Orange County Museum of Art’s “California Scenarios” at its Orange Lounge is a nearly ideal summer show. Informational and thought-provoking without trying too hard, it’s a refracted look at destinations—and states of mind—around the state.
From [...]

Jim Hornung makes dinosaurs the way they should have been

There’s always an installation in the front room at 2nd City Council Gallery, and it’s usually overshadowed by whatever’s on view in the rest of the room. Not this time. Encinitas artist Jim Hornung’s “Archeo-Art” is the wow show this small room needs.
With a coat of [...]

‘Beauties & Beasts’ makes its meanings transparent

‘NO ME QUIERE’ by MIRIAM MARTINEZ
“Beauties & Beasts” at Picture This Gallery is a small show physically, but its anime-eyed pin-ups, doe-eyed bulls and lusty women can’t be subdued. Nor can the lard. Many of the “Beauties” here come from Shannon Jones—and Jones hails from Northern California’s Manteca, which [...]

Laguna Art Museum surveys the pop world according to ‘Juxtapoz’

AJ FOSKI’S ‘GOODBYE HORSES’
It’s okay to feel a huge swell of patriotic pride rise in your chest as you walk through “In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz Factor,” Laguna Art Museum’s new show surveying the immeasurable impact Juxtapoz magazine has had on the world [...]

Author Dan Fante almost lightens up about LA
Anyone who understands LA literature even a little bit knows that this region produces angry writers. From Raymond Chandler to Charles Bukowski, our authors have burned with a self-possessed rage that is unparalleled.
Perhaps the angriest, though, is Dan Fante (yes, the son of writer John Fante). Through novels [...]

Sad news from friends Jenny and Charlie: Robert Clark, operator of recently closed East Village gallery 23Project, whose holdings included a Basquiat sketchbook, Stockhausen music boxes and works by aktionist Hermann Nitsch, passed away on Saturday, June 21. A service will be held at La Muse—where he could often be found—on Monday.