13ThingsLA: February 5

Presence is Requested for your art calendar

Travis Louie at KP Projects

New exhibitions and events (several of which engage with the LA Fires by coincidence or as response) at KP Projects, RAM Gallery, MOCA Store, Sidecar at Night Gallery, Band of Vices, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Anat Ebgi Gallery, Launch LA, The Music Center, Chromasonic, Alto Beta at Ruth Gallery, ArtCenter, and Laemmle Theaters. Be on the lookout for the second half of PST: Art season; and to get ready for next week’s citywide art fair madness, if you’re not a paid subscriber yet, this would be a good week to upgrade. It’s going to be a lot, like a LOT, but we are here to help navigate.

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Feature

Travis Louie, Miss Lucretia and her Leviathan, 18 x 24 in, acrylic on board (Courtesy of KP Projects)

Travis Louie: Conversations with Cryptids and Sea Monsters opens Saturday, February 8, 6-9pm at KP Projects. Travis Louie’s obsession-worthy grey-scale paintings channel vintage photographs and Victorian-era science fiction, with a little Maurice Sendak-style fantasy, and a luminous take on the collective pop culture subconscious as regards beloved legends like Nessie, Bigfoot, and a giant squid long thought extinct that recently washed ashore. His flirtation with well-coiffed photographic visual cues collides with the feral (and probably fictional) characters and figures depicted. A deft blend of whimsy and warning, flush with the enthusiasm belonging to a genuine fan of the historical fantasy genre, is well served by Louie’s sophisticated, nuanced, crisp yet dreamlike style. On view through March 8 in Hollywood; kpprojectsgallery.net. —SND

Travis Louie, The Sparkler Explains (Courtesy of KP Projects)

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