Ken Gonzales-Day and Anita Brenner

Ken Gonzales-Day documents. Even an exhibition of his own photographs, Surface Tension, consists of photographs taken by him of an overlooked art by others: murals.

Ken Gonzales-Day, “The Elixir,” mural by Patrick Henry Johnson, Crenshaw Blvd at Stocker St, Leimert Park, 2011. © 2017 Ken Gonzales-Day.

In this exhibition, Gonzales-Day’s art is an index to other art—how to find, and more important, identify what is usually anonymous. On your way to Art + Practice in Leimert Park, you might have noticed the stylized black woman with an Afro painted on the side of a building on Crenshaw but never realized it was “The Elixir” by Patrick Henry Johnson. (A work that had to be repainted.) You may have driven past “John Muir Woods” running along Ocean Park, south of Lincoln, in Santa Monica. It was painted by Jane Golden. Or, while stopped at the light on Wilton and Santa Monica in Hollywood, you saw the ode to “Actors and Singers” with a rather eclectic selection that includes both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ringo Starr and painted by Hector Ponce. Brochures at the Skirball gallery include not only the usual expository text but literally operate as a map to the stars of mural painting. Gonzales-Day did not limit his exploration to murals but included curious signage and funk graffiti sprayed on palm trees. His service here is to the unsung heros of vernacular art, artists trained or not who felt compelled to make great big marks, meaningful images, where they can be seen by anyone, anytime.

Ken Gonzales-Day, Palm Trees at Venice Public Art Graffiti Walls, Venice Beach, 2017. Photo © 2017 Ken Gonzales-Day

This PST:LA/LA profect was developed collaborativelybetween Gonzales-Day and Skirball curators, which sent the artist on a ten-month journey across the city—from East Los Angeles to Venice Beach, from Pacoima to Watts. Conceptually, it follows his earlier series of photographs documenting the locations of lynchings in the West, which visually confronted assumptions and denial about a tragic past.

Diego Rivera, Dance in Tehuantepec / Danza en Tehuantepec, 1935. Watercolor and pencil on paper. Collection of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift if Mr. and Mrs. Milton W. Lipper, from the Milton W. Lipper Estate (M.74.22.4) © 2017 Bancode México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Diego Rivera, Dance in Tehuantepec / Danza en Tehuantepec, 1935. Watercolor and pencil on paper. Collection of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift if Mr. and Mrs. Milton W. Lipper, from the Milton W. Lipper Estate (M.74.22.4) © 2017 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The exhibition organized by Skirball curator Laura Mart and guest curator Karen Cordero presents materials and photographs from Brenner’s archives at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, which are of abundant interest, proof of Brenner’s dedicated life. It is on view through Feb 25.