Photo by glacialpool: Teresa Baker “Track ” detail
Hammer Museum Biennial 2023, Curated by glacialpool
Made in LA: Acts of Living displays the art of 39 artists who practice the Noah Purifoy quotation “Creativity can be an act of living, a way of life, and a formula for doing the right thing.” The exhibit imbues visitors to recognize creativity in the mundane and to appreciate diverse creative endeavors.
Leather, artificial grass, pigments, dirt, ceramic, metal, wonder, sarcasm, reality, fantasy beget visitors—aka participants—to consider and explore different turfs. Artists pose opportunities to see with “eyes wide open,” a practice of seeing “anew.” Exercising perceptual muscles to see anew can help develop characteristics for diversity and respect.
The artists of Made in LA use a vast array of mediums! Choosing which artifacts to feature here is Sisyphean, as most of the exhibit gave me supreme satisfaction. The open galleries of the Hammer Museum at UCLA made viewing easy. Inspiration flowed whether looking up close or across a gallery.
Jackie Amézquita
My curation opens with Jackie Amézquita. She works with elements including soil, fiber, and copper. Amézquita sources her materials from “significant historical migration sites” and “draws from indigenous mythologies” according to her bio. “El Suelo Que Nos Alimenta 2023,” exhibited in this Hammer biennial, is comprised of soil from the 144 neighborhoods in the Los Angeles region. Mixing each neighborhood soil with masa, salt, rain, limestone, and copper 12” x 12” or so tiles are formed. While the tiles are fresh, wet, and soft, she incises an image representative of the neighborhood.
Gesalt of “El Suelo Que Nos Alimenta 2023” (The Soil That Feeds Us) offers subtle, diverse shades of brown that makes this colossal grid exude character while texture draws you in for up close views.
Up close, each tile has a unique drawing. I don’t recall tiles being labeled. The drawings are distinct. If you live in that neighborhood, I’m sure you’d recognize its myth.
Between the natural drying cracks this neighborhood seems to have a Buddha or Invisible Man image with broom. Wonder which myth it is?
Teresa Baker
Entering the show you face the large, bold, colorful compositions from Teresa Baker. Using a mixed medium method of artificial turf and natural materials including string, Baker creates forms that float and flow.
There’s a pleasing relationship between abstractness and reality that tickles the senses.
Stacked string makes flowing streams in “Expanse” by Teresa Baker (mixed media, 108” x 71”)
Baker resides in Los Angeles yet retains a clarity that only a plain’s long horizon can give.
“Track” by Teresa Baker has ordered twig bridges that create connectedness. (mixed media, 109” x 71”)
I found myself returning to these large pieces to bask in their openness and hues. Influenced by her Mandan Hidatsa Native American heritage, Baker’s iconism embraces ever so lightly traditional forms and moves the imagery in new, forward-thinking ways.
Paige Jiyoung Moon
The reality of everyday living captured in the acrylic paintings by Paige Jiyoung Moon intrigue with their “life clutter.” Similar to gazing upon Persian or Indian miniatures, Moons compositions are filled with illusions and stories. Moon creates strong unity amongst all the life clutter with color and form. And it works! Yes, you can get lost in all the detail. Set back, however, and sense a calm only Moon’s color palette and crisp lines can give.
In “Carlos and Mia at 7:45 a.m.” ellipses work their quietude magic. (acrylic on panel, 16”x20”)
Repetition of an Ellsworth Kelly-like ellipse can be seen in the slippers, plant in upper left corner, baby’s collar, and phones. I am partial to ellipses because planets and moons travel elliptical orbits, an ellipse is a circle viewed in perspective projection, and a wealth of other mathematical phenomena.
In “Mom in the Kitchen” there is order in Moon’s cluttered work. (acrylic on wood panel 11”x14”)
Unity among the clock’s time, greens being washed in sink, and steam blowing from a stovetop pressure cooker all reinforce supper preparation time. Containers of pepper paste painted a deep red along with onions and red boxes unify the composition. Moon hangs bold art in her painted roomscapes! Mondrian-like wall art graces the kitchen wall.
In “Print Shop” by Paige Jiyoung Moon, center stage is Josef Albers’ squares. The squares and colorful striped bag counterpoint nicely. (oil on wood, 8”x10”)
The Homage to the Square highlight is a surprising find and a buttress for an upcoming color study.
Kyle Kilty
Large canvases covered by intense hues, combined in an impressionistic way, and classic motifs capture an essence of Kyle Kilty’s paintings. PLUS, there are stories hidden among all the squiggles and detail, albeit simply hinted by painting titles and series names.
In the stunning “Arranging” wispy arches define a world filled with organic nonviolent marks. (acrylic, oil, and gold leaf on canvas, 96” x 72”)
It is only upon closer examination that you see two people facing with ambiguous expressions touching on surprise, doubt, and maybe even fear.
“The Sun” appears as a crown with dislocated pearls and presents a plethora of interpretations. Ellipses string around the crown like planetary paths of a solar system but also a well packaged parcel containing what? The contrast among orange, black, and white hues is striking.
In “The Sun” by Kelly each gem-like sphere symbolizes planetary diversity by unique color splashes that attest color theory.(acrylic, oil, & pastel on canvas 72” x 84”)
“It Could Get the Railroad” from the “Open Pit” Series offers shape, color and story springboards. Deep in the rock glass shape, a darkness exudes an energy some might call coal or oil. A triangular grid makes a tenuous suprastructure to replace removed energy—and also carry a heavy train on which we all take journeys. Conflicts of life seem to surface as Kilty creates.
“It Could Get the Railroad” by Kyle Kitty (acrylic, oil, graphite on canvas 72″ x 84″)
Beverly Ostrowiecki
Reflecting on my experiences at the Hammer Biennial, I sketched, aka “pencil wandered,” and arrived at imagery for becoming more ecologically aware.
“Hesiodic Cyclopes Protect Nature” by Beverly Ostrowiecki presents a roboticized cyclopes cradling a lotus while a moon man drips infinity. The cyclopes’ hand and back ward off enclosing flood and evil. (graphite on paper, 4” x 6”).
“Nature Stands By” by Beverly Ostrowiecki has a rectangle of nature surrounded by looming skylines of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles. Lunar moth, lizard, turtle, and weather clouds stand by to reclaim—and heal–the earth. (graphite on paper, 4” x 6”
Ellipse Sutra... by glacialpool The ellipse quietude A gift that traverses and holds "Linger," ellipse said "Take one's time." Sweeping arc to the other side of attachment, desire, wanting Shelter in a void Where even wanting takes a rest.
Learn More
The Hammer Museum exhibition “Made in LA 2023: Acts of Living” is open to December 31, 2023. The Hammer biennial, started in 2010, is devoted exclusively to artists in Los Angeles. It has become a must see show that showcases diversity and energy of Los Angeles as an emerging art capital.
Hammer Museum at UCLA, https://hammer.ucla.edu/
Noah Purifoy, Cofounder of Watts Towers Arts Center, Founder Outdoor Desert Art Museum, California Arts Council, artist and social activist, https://www.noahpurifoy.com
Jackie Améezquita, https://jackieamezquita.com/
Teresa Baker, https://teresabaker.com/About
Paige Jiyoung Moon, https://www.artsy.net/artist/paige-jiyoung-moon
Kelly Kilty, https://kylekilty.com/
Beverly Ostrowiecki, https://glacialpool.com/about
Twilight by Beverly Ostrowiecki, 30 x 30 cm, watercolor and ink on paper
glacialpool 
