Shows & Exhibitions Can an Exhibition Be a Portrait? The Hammer Museum Paints a Complicated Picture of Joan Didion With Its New Show Running until February 19, 2023, the exhibition features works by 50 artists including Vija Celmins, Betye Saar, and Andy Warhol, By Catherine Wagley, Oct 26, 2022
Museums The Orange County Museum Opens Its New Home, With a Focus on Celebrating Women Past and Present The Orange County Museum's new home is a bright, window-filled structure designed by architecture firm Morphosis. By Catherine Wagley, Oct 19, 2022
People Diana Zlotnick Was the L.A. Art Scene’s Original Booster. So Why Are Her Contributions in Danger of Being Lost to History? The newsletter author and keen-eyed collector left behind an alternative history of the Los Angeles art world. By Catherine Wagley, Jun 6, 2022
Museums Let There Be Light (and Space): Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego Reopens After $105 Million Selldorf Renovation The overhaul allows the museum to finally show off its collection, rich in 1960s-era works and women artists. By Catherine Wagley, Apr 21, 2022
Art World A New Generation of Idealists Is Learning From the Artist Pension Trust’s Mistakes. Can They Deliver on Its Promise? In the final installment of our two-part series, we examine the legacy of APT. By Catherine Wagley, Jan 12, 2022
Art World The Artist Pension Trust Had a Utopian Dream to Give Artists a Shared Retirement Fund. It’s Devolved Into Legal Threats and Despair In the first of a two-part series on the rise and fall of the Artist Pension Trust, we examine the origins of the plan. By Catherine Wagley, Jan 11, 2022
Reviews This Year’s Made in L.A. Biennial Highlighted Art That Was Actually Made in a Lot of Other Places—and That’s a Good Thing The show is spread across town at two venues, the Hammer and the Huntington. By Catherine Wagley, May 20, 2021
Art World More Than Ever, Art Workers Are Calling Out Their Employers and Others—Anonymously—on Social Media. Can It Make Real-World Change? This year has been defined by the rise in outspoken commentary on social media about powerful people and arts employers. What happens now? By Catherine Wagley, Dec 21, 2020
Analysis LACMA’s $750 Million Renovation Was Once Hailed as a Powerful Vision of What a 21st-Century Museum Could Be. Now, It’s a Lightning Rod How the debate over LACMA's expansion became one about what a museum should be, who decides—and who should pay for it. By Catherine Wagley, Apr 1, 2020
Politics Museum Unions Aren’t Just Demanding Higher Pay. They’re Also Fundamentally Questioning the Way Their Institutions Work "We are asking for a change on all fronts," one organizer at MOCA Los Angeles says. By Catherine Wagley, Mar 2, 2020
People ‘I Could Integrate Both Worlds’: How Black Lives Matter Cofounder Patrisse Cullors Uses Dance to Bridge Art and Activism At Frieze Los Angeles last week, the artist had to cater to new audiences. By Catherine Wagley, Feb 19, 2020
Politics Why the New Museum’s Bronx ‘Ideas’ Festival Was Such a Fiasco—and What It Teaches Museums About Their Role in Gentrification The collapse raises the question of whether it is possible for institutions to engage with communities in a "non-extractive" way. By Catherine Wagley, Nov 27, 2019
Analysis Museum Workers Across the Country Are Unionizing. Here’s What’s Driving a Movement That’s Been Years in the Making The reasons tell us a lot about the state of the arts today. By Catherine Wagley, Nov 25, 2019
Reviews Julie Mehretu’s New LACMA Survey Reveals an Artist at the Peak of Her Power—But Also One Unusually Eager to Share the Credit The artist remaps strategies of power both on and off the canvas. By Catherine Wagley, Nov 11, 2019
Politics Desert X Organizers Have Ignited a Firestorm of Controversy by Launching a Saudi Arabian Edition of the Biennial Three board members have left the organization following the move. By Catherine Wagley, Oct 9, 2019
