Top 10 Must-See Shows in Los Angeles This May
Exploring Identity, Memory, and Power Through Contemporary Art: Highlights from Southern California Exhibitions
Southern California is currently home to a vibrant array of art exhibitions that delve into powerful themes of identity, migration, memory, and cultural resistance. Spanning a variety of artistic mediums and disciplines — from photography and ceramics to mixed media installations and performative video — these exhibitions showcase how contemporary artists are using personal and collective histories to challenge dominant narratives and reframe cultural understandings. Below, we explore some of the most compelling shows on view.
Widline Cadet: How Far is Soon?
Nazarian / Curcio, Hollywood, Los Angeles | Through May 10
In “How Far is Soon?,” Haitian-American artist Widline Cadet explores themes of familial memory, black diaspora, and the haunting nature of migration. Through an interdisciplinary approach that includes photography, video, ceramics, and sound, Cadet weaves together images of her family’s immigration journey and the emotional gaps that time and distance have carved. Aloe plants blooming with unrelated flowers serve as visual metaphors for the disjointed yet continuous evolution of identity.
Denzil Hurley & Brian Sharp: Organized by Jonas Wood
Sebastian Gladstone Gallery, East Hollywood | Through May 24
This mentoring-focused dual exhibition places the minimalist, contemplative abstractions of the late Denzil Hurley in conversation with those of his former student Brian Sharp. Hurley’s geometric works resonate with quiet intensity, while Sharp’s draw influence from everyday design and pattern, underscoring the dialogue that emerges in artistic mentorship. Curated by Jonas Wood — also a student of Hurley — the show underscores art’s intergenerational evolution.
Akinsanya Kambon
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills | Through May 31
Former Black Panther and Vietnam veteran Akinsanya Kambon brings searing political critique and cultural memory to his ceramic works. His vessels and plaques portray figures from African mythologies, testimonies of the transatlantic slave trade, and resistance movements, echoing his life experiences and Pan-African spirituality. This marks Kambon’s debut show with Marc Selwyn and precedes an upcoming documentary about his life titled The Hero Avenges.
The Orange Curtain: Edwin Arzeta, Jackie Castillo, Marcel Alcalá
VSF OC, Tustin, California | Through May 31
This debut exhibition at VSF’s Orange County gallery tackles the monolithic stereotypes often associated with the region. Artists Arzeta, Castillo, and Alcalá bring unique perspectives rooted in the area’s diverse communities. Castillo’s sculptural works comment on urbanization, Arzeta offers delicate floral drawings with rebellious edge, and Alcalá’s vivid canvases celebrate queer and Latinx identities.
Carolee Schneemann
Lisson Gallery, Hollywood | Through June 7
A seminal figure in feminist and performance art, the late Carolee Schneemann is honored in her first solo LA exhibition. With work from the 1980s, including the installation “Video Rocks,” and her politically charged Lebanon Series, Schneemann confronts issues from civil war to gendered embodiment using a tactile, interdisciplinary methodology. Her works remain radically relevant, fusing personal and geopolitical consciousness.
Cataclysm: The 1972 Diane Arbus Retrospective Revisited
David Zwirner, East Hollywood | Through June 21
In a recreation of the Museum of Modern Art’s groundbreaking 1972 retrospective, this show revisits Diane Arbus’s probing black-and-white photographs of outsiders and everyday Americans. From “Triplets in Their Bedroom, N.J.” to her eerily intimate portraits, Arbus’s images reveal the unsettling undercurrent of mid-century life, now resonating with renewed urgency in a fractured contemporary society.
Opulent Mobility
Brand Library & Art Center, Glendale | Through June 21
Curated by A. Laura Brody and Anthony Tusler, Opulent Mobility challenges traditional representations of disability in art. Featuring work by disabled artists and allies, the exhibition includes video, fiber art, and photography, including Jaklin Romine’s series documenting exclusion from art spaces due to inaccessibility. The show rescripts the narrative of disability from one of limitation to one of agency and visibility.
One Last Thing Again
Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College | Through June 29
This retrospective reflects on THE THING Quarterly, an experimental subscription-based art object publication that ran from 2007 to 2017. Each issue, conceived as a functional object by a different artist, becomes a standalone art piece — from Gabriel Orozco’s boomerangs to Amanda Ross-Ho’s spider-catching glasses. The exhibit celebrates ephemerality, creativity, and collaborative art-making.
Amalia Mesa-Bains: Archaeology of Memory
The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Riverside | Through August 31
Amalia Mesa-Bains, a foundational figure in Chicana art, receives