Tschabalala Self at the Hammer

"Bodega," the Spanish word for a small variety store, is an beloved feature of any neighborhood with a Latinx population: Los Angeles, Miami. In Harlem, it overlaps with the Black population and is inspiration for an art installation by New York- based artist Tschabalala Self called Bodega Run.

Hammer Projects: Tschabalala Self, Installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, February 2-April 28, 2019. Photo: Joshua White.

She is known for her representations of full-figured Black women made using pieces of fabric stitched into voluptuous compositions. In this show, Self has added sculptural versions of those figures to populate her bodega society.

Hammer Projects: Tschabalala Self, Installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, February 2-April 28, 2019. Photo: Joshua White.

The floor is covered in linoleum stripes of red, green and black — colors of the pan-African flag — and the walls papered with hand-drawn shelves bearing jars of apple sauce, mayonaise, Goya nectars. (A nod to Goya as masterful observer of 18th and 19th century social hierarchies.) Hanging on the wall are her sewn fabric panels: a woman walking and smoking, another crouching before the glassed refrigerator and removing a bottle of Negro Modela beer. (Again the double entendre, the beer being chosen by the Black model.) Or maybe she selects it for the bearded Black man towering above her, hands in pockets, though he seems more inclined to Ballantine Ale.

Tschabalala Self, Bodega Run Diptych, 2017. Acrylic, watercolor, flashe, gouache, colored pencil, pencil, hand-colored photocopy, hand-colored canvas on canvas. 96 × 84 in. (243.8 × 213.4 cm), each of 2. Collection of the Luma Foundation, New York.

On another wall, the hand drawn shelves offer Hershey bars and M&Ms. A woman reaches into a cooler for ice cream. Taking in the entire scene is a pair of booted legs with a round security mirror behind where they stand. He may be the proprietor but he is not all there. However, we are, meandering around the bodega, seeing ourselves in that mirror.

Hammer Projects: Tschabalala Self, Installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, February 2-April 28, 2019. Photo: Joshua White.

Organized by Hammer curator Anne Ellegood, the Self show continues through April 28.

Dirty Protest, a potent show of pieces from the Hammer’s collection organized by Connie Butler.

Dreamweavers, a well-chosen selection of art organized by Nicola Vassell for Kaseem Dean (Swizz Beatz) at UTA Artists Space through April 13.