Apophenia

About

The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) is pleased to present Open Call: Apophenia. In celebration of the gallery’s 70th year anniversary, LAMAG revisits its popular open call exhibition format, featuring 350 artists living and/or working in Southern California. Founded as the All City Outdoor Festival in 1950 and dispersed throughout nine LA city parks, the recurring program evolved into Open Call, a non-juried opportunity for youth, students, professional, and non-professional artists to present their artwork side by side at LAMAG. This year, in lieu of a cash prize and honorable mentions, LAMAG will invite between two to four artists to develop an exhibition in the gallery’s project space. The selection will be made by newly appointed LAMAG Curators Nancy Meyer and Hugo Cervantes. 

This year’s Open Call, subtitled Apophenia (the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things, such as objects or ideas) is derived from an artwork included in the exhibition. The curatorial approach speaks to the show’s ethos of creating connections among artists and practices that celebrate the differences across Southern California. Organized by theme, medium, and color, Open Call: Apophenia generates a conversation mediated by artistic differences to create points of connection. Open Call: Apophenia includes painting, photography, works on paper, and sculpture made by artists living within Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. 

Open Call: Apophenia is curated by Nancy Meyer and Hugo Cervantes. 

The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery is a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA.)

Lead Image: Attached Below. Credit Line: Unfiltered art for twenty bucks. Circa 2000’s. Photo by Douglas McCulloh. The Los Angeles Neighborhood Project, The Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection.