Datebook: Experimental photography, stitched portraits, night of stories

A night of live storytelling, pictures that play with the act of picture-making, a children’s story reinvented, and stitched pieces that evoke innocent childhood games as well as sin. Plus: a longtime L.A. gallerist unveils her new space downtown, 100 walkers take to West Hollywood, and Moby talks architecture in Palm Springs.

“Light, Paper, Process: Reinventing Photography,” at the Getty Museum. Photography isn’t just about the image on the paper. It’s also about the processes that lead those images to appear. This group show features seven contemporary artists — Alison Rossiter, Marco Breuer, James Welling, Lisa Oppenheim, Chris McCaw, John Chiara, and Matthew Brandt — who are all experimenting with ways in which light and chemicals form what we see on the page. Through Sept. 6. 1200 Getty Center Dr., Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

Nery Gabriel Lemus, “Just So Stories,” at Charlie James. The work of this L.A.-based artist has consistently explored questions of identity and division in his work. For his third solo show at the gallery, he appropriates the themes and tone of Rudyard Kipling’s 1902 book, “Just So Stories,” about how certain animals came to be, and uses them to weave his own creation myths, as well as a tale that is about solidarity between black and brown. Opens Saturday and runs through May 30. 969 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, cjamesgallery.com.

Kim MacConnel, “Avenida Revolución,” at Rosamund Felsen Gallery. This is the first show at Felsen’s new downtown Los Angeles space — and she is kicking it off with an exhibition of MacConnel’s textile-inspired pieces from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Bright abstract patterns evoke African and Latin American painting, with the shiny acrylic paint matted with cotton flocking, for paintings that take on the texture of fabric. Opens at 3 p.m. Saturday and runs through May 16. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., #100, downtown Los Angeles, rosamundfelsen.com.

Jack Davidson, Merion Estes, and a group show, at CB1 Gallery. This weekend brings a trio of new shows to CB1 downtown. The first features the work of painter Jack Davidson: bright collaged pieces that layer materials such as paint, ink, digital elements and even gold leaf and record his journeys around Barcelona, Spain. Keeping the collage theme is Merion Estes, whose bold abstract works bring together paint and fabric in pattern-filled ways. Lastly, the gallery has a group show that features works by five artists dealing with ground and landscape in their work. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, cb1gallery.com.

María E. Piñeres, “Sittings,” and the group show “Suggestive Roleplay,” at Walter Maciel Gallery. Piñeres is known for stitched works that run the gamut from portraiture to collections of images that reflect her background. The series “Playland,” for example, uses as a point of inspiration the now-defunct Times Square arcade where she hung out as a youth — an adolescent gathering space surrounded by porn palaces. The gallery will also have a group show of four women artists from the West Coast addressing issues of imitation, fantasy and identity in their work. Opens at 6 p.m. Saturday and runs through May 23. 2642 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, waltermacielgallery.com.

“Pop-Up Magazine: L.A.,” at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel. In an age of Instagram and Twitter and live blogging, this storytelling show is all about being there. (My colleague Deb Vankin wrote about it back in November.) The concept is simple: A variety of cultural figures — including photographer Alec Soth, New Yorker writer Dana Goodyear and comedian Baratunde Thurston — will take to the stage Sunday and tell some very good stories. None of it will be uploaded to the Web, which means that if you want to hear any of them, you will simply have to attend. To buy tickets and see a list of presenters, see Pop-Up’s listing on eventbrite.com. This Sunday at 7:30 p.m., 929 S. Broadway, downtown Los Angeles, popupmagazine.com and acehotel.com/losangeles.

Richard Kraft, “100 Walkers,” in West Hollywood. If you’re walking around West Hollywood this weekend, you may just run into a person in a bowler hat wearing a sandwich board — then another and another. It’s all part of a work of performance art organized by Kraft, who has organized other walking pieces in places such as Las Vegas and Death Valley. This Saturday from 2-5:30 p.m. in locations around the city, onehundredwalkers.com.

“The Book as a Work of Art for All,” at Autonomie Projects. Books transformed into sculptures, from figurative to abstract, can be found at this Mid-City space. Opens at 7 p.m. Friday and runs through May 16. 4742 W. Washington Blvd., Mid-City, Los Angeles, autonomieprojects.com.

“Intersections: A Conversation with Moby,” at the Palm Springs Museum of Art. In case you need a break from the main stage at Coachella, the DJ, musician and architecture blogger is going to be talking architecture in Palm Springs. This Sunday at 2 p.m. 101 Museum Dr., Palm Springs, psmuseum.org.

FINAL WEEK:

Glenn Ligon, “Well it’s bye-bye / If you call that gone,” at Regen Projects. The prominent New York artist is displaying a series of oversize word paintings that touch on the story of the Harlem Six (a group of black teenagers who were wrongly accused of murdering a shopkeeper in 1964) as well as a set of neon installations that play with the word “America,” among other works. Through Saturday. 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, regenprojects.com.

“Mernet Larsen: Chainsawer, Bicyclist, and Reading in Bed” at Various Small Fires. Paintings that distort and bend perspective. Larsen’s work is representational — showing blocky, video game-like figures in an array of activities — but her industrial Modernism-meets-M.C.-Escher-style settings will toy with your sense of perception. Through Saturday. 812 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, vsf.la.

“Lorenzo Hurtado Segovia: Mis Papeles” at the Vincent Price Art Museum. Brilliantly hued woven paper works include abstract pieces that practically take on the feel of a textile. Through Saturday. 1301 Cesar Chavez Ave., Monterey Park, vincentpriceartmuseum.org.

“Brian Weil 1979-95: Being in the World” at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. The first retrospective of a photographer devoted to highlighting members of insular and invisible communities — from sexual fetishists to members of New York’s Hasidic community. Through Saturday. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, smmoa.org.

“Inglewood Urban Stage: Construction as Performance,” at Inglewood City Hall. Over the course of a month, artist and architect Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong will be assembling and reassembling a stage into different configurations using a special system of modules. Special events will take place on Friday evenings at 7 and Saturdays at noon throughout the show. Through Saturday. Inglewood City Hall North Plaza, 101 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, cw-zw.com.

“Robert Williams: Slang Aesthetic” at the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery. The godfather of low-brow art has a sprawling one-man show of recent works that includes drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture. Also on view is the related exhibition “20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz,” which brings together the young artists featured in the popular art magazine (which Williams helped found). Through Sunday. Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, lamag.org.

“World War I: War of Images, Images of War” at the Getty Research Institute. On the 100th anniversary of World War I, the exhibition gathers art about the experience, including propaganda and vernacular pieces. Through Sunday. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, getty.edu.

“The U.S. Constitution and the End of American Slavery” at the Huntington Library. More than 80 objects, including letters by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, explore the tumultuous road that led to the abolition of slavery. Through Sunday. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, huntington.org.

“Beyond Graffiti 2,” at the Architecture and Design Museum. Organized by the Los Angeles Art Collective, this show gathers works by the Phantom, known for his ghost-like figures, Chaz Bojorquez, who makes patterns out of typography, and Kofie, who pulls graffiti toward abstraction — among many others. Through April 23. 6032 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, aplusd.org.

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS:

Marten Elder, “New Color Photographs,” at Tif Sigfrids. Fragments of concrete steps and bits of cactus rendered in rich, acid tones: Elder turns focused bits of the L.A. landscape into photography that feels like wild sci-fi. Through April 25. 1507 Wilcox Ave., Hollywood, tifsigfrids.com.

H. Lee, “Grassland,” at Spot Photo Works. Planting, cultivation and harvest — the photographer captures the entire life cycle of the marijuana cultivation industry in Northern California. Through April 28. 6679 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, spotphotogallery.com.

“Here Now: Six Works by 6 L.A. Artists” at Wilding Cran Gallery. This is an easy one: Six works by six area artists: Kristine Calabrese, Ali Smith, Ian Pines, Fran Siegel, Etienne Zack and Noah Davis (the latter of whom also operates the Underground Museum in the Crenshaw District). Through May 2. 939 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, wildingcran.com.

Jonas Lund, “Strings Attached,” at Steve Turner Contemporary. In the past, this Amsterdam-based artist has attached GPS tracking devices to his paintings to chart ownership of them. Now he’s created a series of text-based works whose very words limit aspects of ownership. For example, one work is emblazoned, “This painting may never be sold at auction.” Through May 2. 6830 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, steveturner.la.

“Trio: Kathleen Johnson, Laura London, Lisa Rosel ,” at C. Nichols Project. This intimate Mar Vista gallery is showing the work of three female photographers from Los Angeles — touching on portraiture, the staged, in-between spaces and female sexuality. Through May 2. 12613 1/2 Venice Blvd., Mar Vista, cnicholsproject.com.

“Sink or Swim: Designing for a Sea Change” at the Annenberg Space for Photography. An exhibition of photographs shows the ways in which humans have been contending with the rise of sea levels around the globe. Through May 3. 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, annenbergspaceforphotography.org.

“Man-Made: Contemporary Male Quilters” at the Craft & Folk Art Museum. A series of works produced by a loose network of eight male quilters features elaborate pieces depicting everything from heavy-metal iconography to biker imagery to sports. To find out more, read this feature on the quilters by my colleague Jessica Gelt. Through May 3. 5814 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, cafam.org.

Andrew Gbur, at Team (bungalow). The Pennsylvania-based painter reduces human features to their most basic shapes in his ongoing series of face paintings — an image of a person created with just a few strokes of color. Through May 3. 306 Windward Ave., Venice, teamgal.com.

“Boticelli, Titian and Beyond: Masterpieces of Italian Painting From Glasgow Museums” at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Drawn from the outstanding collection of Italian art at Scotland’s Glasgow Museums, this exhibition tracks the evolution of painting in Italy over five centuries — featuring works by Bellini, Boticelli and Titian. Through May 3. 1130 State St., Santa Barbara, sbmuseart.org.

Jonas Becker, “The Pile,” at the Craft & Folk Art Museum. A lush multimedia installation includes video, photography and a pile of cushiony hand-crafted sculptures that explore questions of desire. Through May 3. 5814 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, cafam.org.

“The Silence of Ordinary Things,” at The Mistake Room. This benefit exhibition for the downtown arts space brings together the work of 35 artists from all over the world who have been broadly inspired by the work of British filmmaker and installation artist Isaac Julien (the Mistake Room’s 2015 artist honoree.) Through May 9. 1811 E. 20th St., downtown Los Angeles, tmr.la.

Ken Gonzales-Day, “Run Up,” at Luis de Jesus Los Angeles. The photographer continues his investigation into the history of Latino lynchings in California in a new body of work that re-stages a historic 1920 lynching in Santa Rosa, using actors. Through May 9. 2685 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, luisdejesus.com.

“In Focus: Play” at the Getty Museum. A series of 20th century images that capture humans of all ages in acts of gaming, carousing, celebration and vacation. Through May 10. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

Enrique Martínez Celaya, “Lone Star,” at L.A. Louver. The Cuban-born, L.A.-based painter is showing a new body of his ruminative works. The show is bookended by a pair of installations: a sculpture of a young boy with tears dripping into a pool, and another boy trapped in a birdcage. Through May 16. 45 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, lalouver.com.

“Kaleidoscope: Abstraction in Architecture” at Christopher Grimes Gallery. A group show looks at the nature of abstraction at the intersection of painting, photography, video and the architectonic. This includes an installation made of cardboard boxes by Carlos Bunga and photographs of glass facades by Veronika Kellndorfer. Through May 16. 916 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, cgrimes.com.

Max Maslansky, “Jouissance,” at Honor Fraser. Paintings made from found bedsheets, pillows and curtains feature gauzy images of intimate and erotic activities. This is an artist who fuses an adept use of paint, colors and materials with subjects that are both smutty and smart. The exhibition is held in conjunction with 5 Car Garage. Through May 16. 2622 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver city, honorfraser.com.

Diana al-Hadid, “Grounds and Figures,” at Ohwow Gallery. Lacy, gritty pieces made from materials such as Mylar, plaster and gold leaf are what you’ll find at al-Hadid’s first solo show at Ohwow, where images often hover on the verge of being apparitions. Through May 16. 937 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, oh-wow.com.

“Henry N. Cobb: Hypostyle,” at the SCI-Arc Gallery. In architecturespeak, a hypostyle is a roof supported by a series of many columns (as in Egypt’s Great Temple at Karnak). In a new installation, architect Henry Cobb, of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, plays with this design, filling the gallery with columnar structures made of hollow core doors. Through May 17. 960 E. 3rd St., downtown Los Angeles, sciarc.edu.

“American Survey, Pt. 1,” at Papillion. A group show — described as a “time capsule” of 2015 — gathers work by a variety of (mostly L.A.) artists both new (such as performance artist EJ Hill) and long-running (assemblagist Timothy Washington, who recently had a solo at the Craft & Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles). Through May 17. 4336 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park, Los Angeles, papillionart.com.

Robert Kushner, “Patois,” at Offramp Gallery. Collages that employ pages of books, pieces of musical scores, gold leaf and postage stamps bear gestural images of flowers. Through May 17. 1702 Lincoln Ave., Pasadena, offrampgallery.com.

“Guerrilla Girls: Art in Action” at Pomona College Museum of Art. Posters, handbills, books and newsletters chronicle the actions of the longtime feminist art-activists. Through May 17. 330 N. College Ave., Claremont, pomona.edu/museum.

“Tom LaDuke: Candles and Lasers,” at Kohn Gallery. LaDuke’s paintings feature a layer cake of techniques that come together to provide a wild feeling of depth, while his sculptures are crafted from earthy materials such as pewter, graphite and salt. Through May 20. 1227 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, kohngallery.com.

“When the Future Had Fins: American Automotive Designs and Concepts, 1959-1973” at Christopher W. Mount Gallery. Car concept drawings from the Big Three American automakers — back when power and futuristic lines were rendered in pen and ink. Through May 20. At the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, christophermountgallery.com.

“J.M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free,” at the Getty Center. Turner’s canvases were expressive explosions of color and light at a time when many paintings were still pretty darn literal — to this day, their power remains undiminished. This exhibition gathers more than 60 works from his last 15 years of life, a period when Turner produced some of his most enduring works. DO. NOT. MISS. Through May 24. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, getty.edu.

Charles Gaines, “Gridwork 1974-1989,” at the Hammer Museum. The first museum survey of the L.A.-based artist brings together early works that play with ideas of mapping and gridding, taking images of trees and moving dancers and abstracting them into coolly mathematical pieces. Through May 24. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, hammer.ucla.edu.

“Alien She” at the Orange County Museum of Art. An exhibition tracks the far-reaching influence of the Riot Grrrl movement of the early ‘90s, when artists, musicians and other cultural figures created a wide range of work that brought together punk music with gender, sexuality and feminism. Through May 24. 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, ocma.net.

Fred Tomaselli, “The Times,” at the Orange County Museum of Art. Since 2005, this L.A.-born, O.C.-raised painter with a knack for the hallucinogenic has taken to reworking the cover photographs of the New York Times in ways that are poignant, funny and just plain weird. Through May 24. 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, ocma.net.

“Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio” at the Hammer Museum. Architectural and industrial designer Thomas Heatherwick has designed everything from a handbag for Longchamp to the dramatic, dandelion-like Seed Cathedral, which was the U.K. pavilion at 2010’s Shanghai World Expo. This exhibition examines his prodigious output. Through May 24. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, hammer.ucla.edu.

Hammer Projects: Pedro Reyes at the Hammer Museum. The socially minded Reyes has staged a people’s United Nations that employs techniques from theater games and group therapy as a way of resolving urgent issues. Through May 24. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, Los Angeles, hammer.ucla.edu.

Mark Ruwedel, “Pictures of Hell,” at Gallery Luisotti. This photographer has truly been to hell — visiting places with all kinds of devilish names such as Hell, Devil’s Kitchen and Hell’s Gate and photographing them in the process. Through May 30; there’s a reception for the artist 6 p.m. Saturday. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building A2, Santa Monica, galleryluisotti.com.

Kerry Tribe, “The Loste Note,” at 356 Mission. For her latest video/sculpture project, Tribe looks at the neurological condition of aphasia, in which the language centers of the brain are damaged -- hindering a person’s ability to communicate (even as a person’s personality and intellect remain unaffected). Through May 31. 356 S. Mission Road, downtown Los Angeles, 356mission.

“Robert Henri’s California: Realism, Race, and Region, 1914-1925” at the Laguna Art Museum. The exhibit gathers the California works of the noted American realist portraitist, who spent long periods in Southern California painting a wide cross-section of locals — from business leaders to Indians. Through May 31. 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach, lagunaartmuseum.org.

Armin Hansen, Jim Morphesis and Lars Jan at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. A trio of exhibitions includes a survey of Armin Hansen (1886-1957), a painter known for his oceanic scenes, as well as a show by L.A. artist Jim Morphesis, a painter whose expressionistic canvases combine elements of assemblage. In the project space, Lars Jan has an installation that explores ideas of disaster and survival. Runs through May 31. 490 E. Union St., Pasadena, pmcaonline.org.

Robert Rauschenberg, “Photos: In + Out City Limits,” at the Huntington Library. The museum is showcasing 15 photographs the artist took in Los Angeles in 1981 — images of shapes, landscape and odd pockets of the city. Through June 2. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, huntington.org.

“Nature and the American Vision: The Hudson River School” at the L.A. County Museum of Art. Forty-five paintings by the best-known artists of the American landscape movement, including Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Edwin Church. Through June 7. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, lacma.org.

“Light Catchers” at the California African American Museum. A reprise of an exhibition organized by the Department of Cultural Affairs in the late 1990s, this group show features the work of seven African American photographers working in Los Angeles since the late 1940s. Through June 7. 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, caamuseum.org.

“Bari Kumar: Remembering the Future” at Charles White Elementary. At LACMA’s satellite space, Kumar shows a series of paintings that combine bits of imagery that he harvests from fine art and popular culture. Through June 13, 2401 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, lacma.org.

“William Pope.L: Trinket,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Among various other works, a monumental 54-foot flag flaps and snaps to a row of industrial fans in the museum’s Geffen space — a hyper-potent symbol of what true patriotism might mean. Through June 20. 152 N. Central Ave., downtown Los Angeles, moca.org.

“Kahlil Joseph: Double Conscience,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art. A 15-minute, double-screen film tells a nuanced story of life, death and moments of magic in Compton — all set to the poetic, often abstract lyrics of native son Kendrick Lamar. Joseph is blurring the boundaries between cinema, fine art and music video. Do not miss. Through Aug. 16. 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles, moca.org.

“Islamic Art Now” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Contemporary works from LACMA’s permanent collection by 20 artists who live in or have roots in the Middle East look at questions of society, gender and identity. Runs indefinitely. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, lacma.org.

Find me on Twitter at @cmonstah