For the dog days of August, we’ve got several shows that turn away from grand artistic gestures toward the intimate, personal, and everyday. Lisson showcases Spencer Finch’s torn-envelope interventions, bits of painted and collaged wonder. Textiles as Monument at the Fowler Museum features three artists who use soft materials to memorialize those excluded from mainstream historical recognition. A show honoring the longstanding, recently demolished Echo Park restaurant Taix tries to capture its eccentric charm as a home for neighborhood regulars and Gen-Z bohemians alike. And a show at Roberts Projects focused on the garment, jewelry, and costume design of the late assemblage art pioneer Betye Saar shines a light on this important but overlooked aspect of her oeuvre [...]
After Mexican painter Alfredo Ramos Martínez moved to Los Angeles in 1929 , landscape became a touchstone that connected him to his homeland. Cordillera Mexicana translating to “Mexican Mountain Range” showcases floral still lifes, landscapes, and other scenes that trace links between Southern California and rural Mexico. As the show ’ s title suggests, mountains were symbolically significant for Ramos Martínez. Painting beside LA ’ s Santa Monica Mountains, he depicted the range ringing Mexico City and the Cerro de la Silla of his childhood in Monterrey , suggesting a geological affinity that transcends human-made borders.