Best Of Visual Art 2023

In 2023, I saw a lot of great Art in brilliantly curated art exhibitions at both galleries and in museums. As is my custom, let me begin by highlighting artists, artworks, and works about art that I didn’t get a chance to write about last year but which stayed with me.

First, a shout out to Sophie Chahinian, who I got to know this year, at The Artist Profile Archive, which she founded, and for which she produces (and has produced) a large number of short-form documentaries about artists in their studios speaking about their work. Chahinian who is a Los Angeles native, has degrees in Philosophy and a Masters in Contemporary Art – she is smart, intense, passionate about her work and the issues she cares about, and charming whether over a cup of coffee or at a party she is hosting. Bookmark her website and start by watching interviews with Lita Albuquerque, Ed Moses, and Charles Gaines among many others including Robert Longo, Eric Fischl, April Gornick, Carol Peligian, and Alexandra Grant.

This was a year in which AI made its presence felt in the art world. We are clearly at the beginning of a new frontier in artistic creation, in which new works, good, bad, underappreciated or not understood, will flourish — some more commercial than artistic, others more intellectually interesting than artistically successful. But it is a wave that is coming. There was an evening in Downtown LA where generative artworks were displayed on building walls, much of it mind-blowing – including mesmerizing work by Refik Anadol, David Van Eyssen, and others who we will be hearing about in the years to come.

Another visually experimental artist whose work blew me away was Hank Willis Thomas, whose lenticular artworks were exhibited at PACE LA. I saw the show just before it closed but the works, in which one shines a flashlight to expose images hidden there – was no gimmick but something revelatory.

Also, while in Dallas, I made a visit to The Museum of Biblical Art, which was an unexpected pleasure on so many fronts. It is an eccentric collection that includes a wide range of religious art, both Christian and Jewish-themed, including galleries devoted to Jewish art, art about the Holocaust, and a collection (on loan) of early maps of the Holy Land. Dr. Scott Peck, the executive director and curator does a great job there. Definitely worth a visit.

Among the shows I enjoyed this year was the Louise Nevelson show at PACE LA which reminded me of the importance of her work and her relevance to today; the awe-inspiring Anselm Kiefer show of works inspired by the book of Exodus that Gagosian put on at the Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles; Hauser & Wirth NY’s Mark Bradford show You Don’t Have to Tell Me Twice with new works as epic as they are personal, Thomas J Price’s contemporary meets classical sculptures at Hauser & Wirth DTLA; and a trio of amazing shows at Hauser & Wirth West Hollywood: George Condo, Jenny Holzer and Allison Katz. There was also a Bonnard show at Aquavella in New York, that reminded me of how powerful beauty can be.

In terms of curation, several shows stand out: Groundswell: Women of Land Art in Dallas showed how conceptual and ephemeral work could be displayed and contextualized as well as the importance and current relevance of the work of women in the land art movement; Made In LA at the Hammer may be, to my mind, its best iteration yet with an emphasis on figurative and made art, with each room building one upon another. It is worth noting that Annie Philbin who over the last 25 years built the Hammer into a mecca for contemporary Art is stepping away, and Connie Butler, the Hammer’s longtime curator has gone to PS 1 in New York. Their intelligence and taste is a loss for LA but I am excited for what follows.

Other memorable and well-curated shows in 2023 included HERSTORY, the Judy Chicago retrospective at the New Museum – again making the case for the importance of women artists whose work began in the 1970s and for whom recognition has been slow in coming; The Flower Show curated by Elizabeth East at LA Louver (their summer show); and a fantastic summer show at The Church in Sag Harbor called Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing, which the curator framed as being about the existential and competitive struggle of artists who with each work must ask: Can I still get in the ring? Am I still the Champ? That is a struggle even cultural journalists understand.

Finally, this year I also enjoyed studio visits to Gary Tyler, who spent more than forty years in Angola prison for a murder he did not commit, and whose remarkable spirit is as joyous as his hand-sewn quilts are striking; sculptor and conceptual artist Kathryn Andrews, whose work evidences her intelligence, humor, and cutting societal critiques in equal measure; Tobi Kahn who has expanded and remade his studio in a way that showcases the beauty and range of his work; and Lita Albuquerque who I will be profiling in 2024.

Seeing these works was neither a salve nor a Band-Aid to the world’s problems, or even one’s own personal problems. Yet seeing these artworks provides a counterpoint and, in no small part, helps balance the scales regarding the human capacity for violence, destruction, and evil. Art may not change anything, but it can mean a great deal to one’s spirit. In 2024, we will be in need of more Art not less.