Plus a youthquake at Orange County Museum of Art
Words by KERSTIN CZARRA, DAVID NASH, and ELIZABETH VARNELL
A pantheon of Don Bachardy portraits in Pasadena
DON BACHARDY has always been obsessed with faces. Growing up in 1930s L.A., early exposure to larger-than-life personalities shaped his eye for expression and character — an obsession that would define his career. Don Bachardy: A Life in Portraits at THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY offers a rare look at his seven-decade oeuvre. The retrospective gathers more than 100 graphite and acrylic works — many never seen — alongside archival materials, letters, and photographs. His subjects range from James Baldwin and Francis Bacon to Bette Davis and Swami Prabhavananda, many of whom were guests at the Santa Monica home he shared with his longtime partner, British writer Christopher Isherwood. His portraits are usually completed in one session of two to six hours, and he often sits very close to his subjects with a fervent gaze. While abstraction dominated contemporary art, he remained faithful to the human face. Through August 4. 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino; huntington.org. K.C.
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Jeffrey Gibson’s broad strokes at The Broad
For his debut single-artist museum exhibition in Southern California, an adapted version of JEFFREY GIBSON’s 2024 Venice Biennale presentation at the U.S. Pavilion has been mounted at THE BROAD. Jeffrey Gibson: The Space in Which to Place Me highlights the Indigenous artist’s unique fusion of rich color, geometric design, and references to historical 19th- and 20th-century American documents and modern music as critiques of social injustices and equity. As a contemplation on Indigeneity and feeling of belonging, Gibson interprets the idea of multiplicity of identity through 10 paintings, seven sculptures, eight flags, three murals, and a single video installation throughout the museum’s first-floor galleries. May 10–Sept. 28. 221 S. Grand Ave., L.A., 213-232-6200; thebroad.org. D.N.
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A teen-driven takeover at Orange County Museum of Art
Life as a teen, as depicted in photos, drawings, zines, and more, is the subject of the ORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART’s new show, California Biennial 2025: Desperate, Scared, But Social. OCMA chief curator and director of programs Courtenay Finn says the exhibition is a meditation on an uncertain future and an embrace of youth’s creative energy. Juvenilia from Laura Owens, Miranda July, Seth Bogart, Brontez Purnell, and Joey Terrill joins recent work of Deanna Templeton and Heesoo Kwon riffing on their teenage years and childhoods. Griselda Rosas created new textile drawings for the show with her son, and there’s a film by Stanya Kahn, new sculptures by Woody De Othello, and installations by punk rock bands Emily’s Sassy Lime and The Linda Lindas. June 11–Oct. 12. 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa, 714-780-2130; ocma.art. E.V.
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Jack Kirby’s hulking heroes arrive at the Skirball
Long before the Marvel cinematic universe became a global juggernaut, there was JACK KIRBY, a child of Jewish immigrants from Manhattan’s Lower East Side with a pen, a boundless imagination, and a desire to make sense of the world through myth. Over a six-decade career, Kirby helped forge the visual and emotional language of American comics, cocreating a pantheon of heroes — Captain America, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, the Incredible Hulk — who would become touchstones of pop culture and emblems of hope. The SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER’s new exhibition, Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanity, with more than 150 pieces on view, traces the personal and political roots of his work, revealing how a life shaped by war, immigration, and artistic ambition found expression in bold lines and cosmic visions. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.; skirball.org. K.C.
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Corita Kent’s posters that pop land in L.A.’s Arts District
CORITA KENT’s boundary-pushing pastel silkscreen prints addressing labor and civil rights and a range of social justice topics — which are as relevant today as they were in the 1960s — have a new home in L.A.’s Arts District. The work, inspired by Warhol and others, joins a collection of more than 30,000 prints, ephemera, and objects, including her 1985 Love postage stamps, at the newly opened Corita Art Center. The CAC, one of few single-artist spaces devoted to women, is filled with the spiritually informed works on love and tolerance created by Corita, who entered the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart as a nun and went on to run the art department at L.A.’s Immaculate Heart College after studying at Otis, Chouinard (now CalArts), and USC. Her prints fueled her activism, and her prolific output is now on permanent display in her hometown. Free admission, by appointment. 811 Traction Ave., Ste. 3A, L.A., 323-450-4650; corita.org. E.V.
Feature image: Corita Kent, With Love to the Everyday Miracle, 1967, serigraph, 23 x 35 in., image courtesy of Corita Art Center, Los Angeles.
This story originally appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of C Magazine.
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