Some of the art work being featured in ;Erasure: Black Arts LA,’ now on display at the Vincent Price Art Gallery at East Los Angeles College. The exhibit focuses on many of the key artists behind the Black arts movement in Los Angeles.
Courtesy photo
By Darlene Donloe
Contributing Writer
MONTEREY PARK — “Erasure: Black Arts LA,” an exhibition that explores Black erasure and creative resistance through language and image, is currently on display at the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College through Jan. 17.
The exhibition is a component of the museum’s “Act On It! Artists, Community,” and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles series, delving into the Black arts movement in Los Angeles.
Act on It! is a collaborative effort between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and several regional partners, uniting works by artists who showcased their talents at the Brockman Gallery (1967–1990), which was located in Leimert Park. That iconic gallery was a vital hub for emerging artists of color, fostering a network of Black-run spaces and collections.
Featuring dozens of works from the county museum’s collection, the exhibition embodies the aesthetic, political and social impact experienced by Brockman Gallery visitors, emphasizing the influence of the Davis brothers’ ground-breaking project.
The Brockman Gallery, launched by brothers Alonzo Davis and Dale Brockman Davis in the wake of the 1965 Watts Riots, played a central role in the development of the Black arts movement in Los Angeles.
The gallery, which intertwined art and community, served as a platform for artists to express their experiences, perspectives, and activism.
“There’s been a lot of positive response to this exhibition,” said Steve Y. Wong, director of the Vincent Price Art Museum. “I think Los Angeles has such a vibrant, cultural mix of different communities, and the Brockman Gallery, in [its] ability to highlight kind of the local neighborhood artists was pivotal for a lot of careers, really outstanding artists that are … internationally renowned. Both Alonzo and Dale did a good job of profiling other artists, not just artists within the African-American community.”
Wong, who has been the museum director for six years, said the exhibit “showcases the Brockman Gallery’s ability to unite and gather all sorts of artists who had historically been marginalized.”
“I think it was important and a lot of people recognized out of this exhibit that not only did they feature African-American and local talent, they were very inclusive of other artists who also have been marginalized through different art spaces, including … Latino and Latina artists, who are also in this exhibition,” said Wong, himself an artist who was into print making, installation and video work. “There are Asian and Asian American artists, too. We were also able to include three of our own art objects from our collection in the show.”
Act On It! is organized around six key themes: roots, material experimentation, body and identity, common ground, civic engagement and uplift. The themes celebrate the Davis brothers’ endeavor to promote outstanding underrepresented artists and foster meaningful cultural exchange.
Notable artists featured in the exhibition include David Hammons, Betye Saar, Charles White, La Monte Westmoreland, and Carrie Mae Weems.
Their works showcase the range of experimental approaches to painting, printmaking and sculpture that were featured at the Brockman Gallery.
Act On It! showcases art’s power to expose injustice, spark awareness and influence culture, highlighting its potential to drive change.
For Wong, 53, the exhibition is a full-circle moment: his high school art teacher, La Monte Westmoreland, who is a featured artist in the show, became a mentor who would shape his artistic path.
“He was my art teacher during a time when I was kind of a rebel,” Wong said. “He would push me, and at the time, I didn’t like being pushed. In retrospect, he laid the foundation for me to go into the arts as an artist.”
Wong said hosting his mentor brings an “added, extra meaning.”
“This is so great,” Wong said. “It’s a full circle. It’s amazing to work on a show that my former high school teacher and mentor, who definitely made an impact on my life, is now a part of.”
The exhibition also includes a selection of works by Black and Chicano artists from the Vincent Price museum’s permanent collection, further emphasizing the Brockman Gallery’s impact on the art world.
The museum is partnering with Writ Large Projects to present a suite of programming to complement the exhibition.
The “Closing Program: Common Ground” on Jan. 17, will feature a panel discussion and a live musical performance celebrating the Brockman Gallery’s philosophy and impact.
In 1986, the Brockman Gallery presented “Common Ground,” a landmark exhibition that invited audiences to reflect on the shared struggles, creative expressions and cultural values of underrepresented artists.
Curated by Chicana artist Linda Vallejo, the show affirmed, “We are all here together, living on common ground.”
While Brockman is best known as a center of the Black arts movement in Los Angeles, the Davis brothers were committed to promoting underrepresented artists more broadly, supporting Asian American, Latino, and women artists, and fostering meaningful cultural exchange through collaborative exhibitions and curatorial partnerships.
Moderated by curator, and critic Tiffany E. Barber, the panel will explore Brockman’s inclusive philosophy, its role in community-building, and its enduring impact on Leimert Park and beyond.
Participants will include Margaret Garcia, Michael Massenberg, Linda Vallejo and other artists whose work has intersected with the legacy of the Brockman Gallery and who continue to embody the foundational values of “Common Ground.”
The afternoon will conclude with a live musical benediction by the Voices of Creation.
Admission to the exhibition is free, and reservations are not required.
Act On It! was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in collaboration with the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College, Riverside Art Museum, Lancaster Museum of Art and History, and Cal State Northridge Art Galleries.
The Vincent Price Art Museum is located at East Los Angeles College, 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park. Hours are noon to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Darlene Donloe is a freelance reporter for Wave Newspapers who covers South Los Angeles. She can be reached at ddonloe@gmail.com.
