The Hammer Museum’s excellent, ongoing series of biennial exhibitions ups the ante each year with its spotlight on emerging and under-recognized L.A. artists, and the sixth edition is no exception.
Titled “Acts of Living,” this year’s show focuses on how art is inseperable from everyday life and includes a mix of new commissions and historical works from 39 up-and-coming and prolific artists. Under the curation of Diana Nawi and Pablo José Ramírez, there’s a playful but poignant perspective on display from many of the artists being showcased here. Using squares of soil sourced from 144 L.A. neighborhoods, Jackie Amézquita drew landmarks and diasporic communities from each area. Christopher Suarez created a ceramic replica of Long Beach and the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive made an immitation break room that lets you look through art archives. Guadalupe Rosales has combined Mesoamerican altars with contemporary rave culture, while Roksana Pirouzmand sorts through flying family photos in a small room with a window on one side that resembles her house and her grandmother’s house in Iran on the other.
Unlike the 2020 edition (which didn’t debut until 2021), this one won’t share its hosting duties with the Huntington. That’s no surprise, though, considering that the Hammer now boasts a larger, fully-realized venue.