Art Review: Made in LA 2020 Biennial Spotlights Art Stars

The art-making milieu in Los Angeles is dazzling. Making this point with elan and emphasis is Made in LA 2020, the fifth biennial of work by living artists in this vast, creatively sizzling region. It takes the temperature of Los Angeles’s avant-garde art. It’s hot, to be sure, and what’s good is very good. Fevered at points, too, and I diagnosed delirium, both forgivable, since we live in crazy times.

The exhibition is hosted by the Hammer Museum in Westwood, UCLA’s neighborhood but also a chic, tony enclave between West Hollywood and Santa Monica, and the Huntington Museum in San Marino, about 20 miles and another galaxy away. I saw it at both places last week. Both museums have spacious galleries, so it looks nice. It’s basically two versions of the same show, with the same artists but different objects.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

The art-making milieu in Los Angeles is dazzling. Making this point with elan and emphasis is Made in LA 2020, the fifth biennial of work by living artists in this vast, creatively sizzling region. It takes the temperature of Los Angeles’s avant-garde art. It’s hot, to be sure, and what’s good is very good. Fevered at points, too, and I diagnosed delirium, both forgivable, since we live in crazy times.

The exhibition is hosted by the Hammer Museum in Westwood, UCLA’s neighborhood but also a chic, tony enclave between West Hollywood and Santa Monica, and the Huntington Museum in San Marino, about 20 miles and another galaxy away. I saw it at both places last week. Both museums have spacious galleries, so it looks nice. It’s basically two versions of the same show, with the same artists but different objects.