A new exhibition at the University Art Gallery tells the story of the Brockman Gallery, which was based in Leimert Park from 1967 to 1990 and was at the forefront of presenting works by Black and Latine artists. Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles runs through June 7, and brings artwork from the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to the CSUDH community.
“In 2020, we were invited to participate in the second cohort of LACMA’s Local Access program,” says Gallery Director Aandrea Stang. “We worked with LACMA’s American Art curator Lauren Hanson and colleagues at the Vincent Price Art Museum in East Los Angeles College and the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster to develop an exhibition that tells the story of the gallery.”
Launched by brothers Alonzo Davis and Dale Brockman Davis in the wake of the 1965 Watts Rebellion, the Brockman Gallery operated until 1990 and was central to the development of the Black Arts Movement in Los Angeles. The exhibition brings together works by artists who exhibited at the gallery, which served as a critical nexus for emerging artists of color and contributed to a growing network of Black-run spaces and collections.
“This exhibition provides some art-historical context for our community about what has been by artists of color over the last half century in Los Angeles,” says Stang. She points out that several artists featured in the exhibition have close ties to CSUDH, including Semilla Lewis, who taught art history, and La Monte Westmoreland, who taught art.
“The exhibition provides our community with a cultural history that parallels the founding and development of the university and its community,” adds Stang.
The University Art Gallery is located in LaCorte Hall, A-107, and is open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. The public is invited to a reception on Wednesday, March 4, from 4 to 7 p.m.
Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles is presented as part of LACMA’s Local Access program and is organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in collaboration with the Lancaster Museum of Art and History; Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College; and California State University, Dominguez Hills University Art Gallery.
Local Access is a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by LACMA as part of the Art Bridges Cohort Program.
