The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, has released the names of the thirty-nine artists and collectives participating in the sixth iteration of its Made in LA biennial, to take place October 1–December 31. Titled “Acts of Living,” the exhibition is being organized by independent curators Diana Nawi and Pablo José Ramírez, with curatorial fellow Ashton Cooper.
The exhibition takes its name from an idea put forth by the late artist Noah Purifoy, that “one does not have to be a visual artist to utilize creative potential. Creativity can be an act of living, a way of life, and a formula for doing the right thing.” The quote is inscribed on a plaque at South LA’s Watts Towers Arts Center, adjacent to the Simon Rodia–constructed sculptures that gave the center its name. Nawi in a statement characterized the Watts Towers as “an example for the way in which creative work can be intimately tied to one’s everyday life and to individual practice, hold space for community, and ultimately resonate far beyond itself.”
The exhibiting artists, all living and working in southern California, range in age from twenty-five (Vincent Enrique Hernandez) to eighty-three (Jesse Homer French); one, ceramicist Luis Bermudez (1953–2021), is represented posthumously. Chicanx artists, including Victor Estrada, Guadalupe Rosales, and Joey Terrill, and collectives, including AMBOS: Art Made Between Opposite Sides, will appear in force.
“Made in L.A. 2023 takes its cues from the ethos of Los Angeles, a place where a multiplicity of cultures coexist and where, as an artist said to us, ‘one is always a visitor,’” said Ramírez in a statement. “The artists and collectives we included in this biennial represent a wide range of art being made in the city but also a diversity of stakes of making art.”
A complete list of participants is below.
Marcel Alcalá b. 1990, Santa Ana, California
Michael Alvarez, b. 1983, Los Angeles
AMBOS: Art Made Between Opposite Sides, est. 2016, Tijuana, Mexico/San Diego
Jackie Amézquita, b. 1985, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Teresa Baker (Mandan/Hidatsa), b. 1985, Watford City, North Dakota
Luis Bermudez, b. 1953, d. 2021, Los Angeles
Sula Bermúdez-Silverman, b. 1993, New York
Jibz Cameron, b. 1975, California
Melissa Cody (Navajo/Diné), b. 1983, No Water Mesa, Arizona
Emmanuel Louisnord Desir, b. 1997, New York
Victor Estrada, b. 1956, Burbank, California
Nancy Evans, b. 1949, Los Angeles
Pippa Garner, b. 1943, Evanston, Illinois
Ishi Glinsky (Tohono O’odham), b. 1982, Tucson
Vincent Enrique Hernandez, b. 1998, Los Angeles
Dan Herschlein, b. 1989, Bayville, New York
Jessie Homer French, b. 1940, New York
Akinsanya Kambon, b. 1946, Sacramento, California
Kyle Kilty, b. 1976, South Lake Tahoe, California
Young Joon Kwak, b. 1984, New York
Kang Seung Lee, b. 1978, Seoul
Tidawhitney Lek, b. 1992, Long Beach, California
Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA), est. 2013
Maria Maea, b. 1988, Long Beach, California
Erica Mahinay, b. 1986, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Mas Exitos, est. 2010
Dominique Moody, b. 1956, Augsburg, Germany
Paige Jiyoung Moon, b. 1984, Seoul
Esteban Ramón Pérez, b. 1989, Los Angeles
Page Person, b. 1972, Atlanta
Roksana Pirouzmand, b. 1990, Yazd, Iran
Ryan Preciado, b. 1989, El Monte, California
Devin Reynolds, b. 1991, Venice Beach, California
Miller Robinson (Karuk/Yurok), b. 1992, Lodi, California
Guadalupe Rosales, b. 1980, Redwood City, California
Christopher Suarez, b. 1994, Long Beach, California
Joey Terrill, b. 1955, Los Angeles
Chiffon Thomas, b. 1991, Chicago
Teresa Tolliver, b. 1945, Los Angeles
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