Made in LA Reveals Artists for 2023 Edition

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-built 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 in making art.”

A complete list of participants is below.

Marcel Alcala b. 1990, Santa Ana, California

Michael Alvarez, b. 1983, Los Angeles

AMBOS: Art Made Between Opposite Sides, est. 2016, Tijuana, Mexico/San Diego

jackie Amezquita, b. 1985, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

Teresa Baker (Mandan/Hidatsa), b. 1985, Watford City, North Dakota

luis Bermudez, b. 1953, d. 2021, Los Angeles

sula Bermudez-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

peppa 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 Ramon Perez, 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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