Monuments That Los Angeles Deserves
- Kristine Schomaker
- 1 hour ago
- 5 min read
By Mary Singh Los Angeles has been in a prolonged conversation about monuments. Co-organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art and The Brick, and co-curated by Hamza Walker, Kara Walker, and Bennett Simpson, earlier this year, "MONUMENTS" brought ten decommissioned Confederate statues into the Geffen Contemporary's vast industrial space, placing them in direct dialogue with contemporary works by nineteen artists. Praised by the Los Angeles Times as "the most significant show in an American art museum right now," the exhibition ran through May 3, 2026.
For those who experienced it, the effect was profound and unforgettable. For those who didn't, Heavy Metal at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery picks up the conversation, taking another vital look at visibility and influence.
Historically, public monuments and sculptures have long reflected the priorities of those in power. In a city like Los Angeles whose identity is woven through the fabric of its diverse populations, there is a need for sculptures that emphasize inclusion and representation. The question of who and what gets memorialized, and how to go about that, feels urgently local.
Curated by Nancy Meyer, Heavy Metal features 20 artists who rewrite this dominant narrative from a feminist perspective, using formalism as a lens through which to examine colonial histories, memory, and the natural world.
Opening the gallery doors, the viewer is whisked away to another world in Miya Ando's ethereal cloud piece, simultaneously evoking a slight ominous feel while acting as a portal to unknown possibilities.
Past the entry hall, the gallery is imbued with the quiet strength of fearless artists who aren't afraid to take up space and who utilize it to command attention and convey important messages about what it means to be human.
Alika Cooper's Manhole series consists of bronze-cast relief manhole cover-like sculptures that humanize the ubiquitous, underappreciated metal plates stepped over daily. Beautifully gnarled and painstakingly ornate, Cooper's creations depict visceral images that blur the boundary between a city and its inhabitants. In a place like LA, where infrastructure and inequality are never far apart, the gesture feels pointed.
With inspiration from Death Valley, Katie Grinnan's mind-bending work causes one to pause and tilt their head toward what lies before them. Grinnan created Psychic Tectonic Glitch Body from her own body casts, in different yoga positions, and the result is a work that appears to be two figures melding into one, cannibalizing itself or perhaps suggesting rebirth and movement through time. Viewers are left thinking about interconnectedness and the complex, multifaceted nature of the human experience.
Kelly Lamb's gargantuan walnut and mirror-polished stainless steel creation, Upon These Bones, has the power to stop visitors in their tracks as they tilt their heads in amazement wondering about the symbolism and artisanship. The work is a digitally scanned bison bone reconstructed to resemble a bench, inviting viewers to rest on something far weightier than furniture — the layered, often buried, history of America's native lands and the generations of life that precede everything built upon them.
Tucked away in a room of its own, Abigail Lucien's small but mighty Kindling conveys conflicting emotion through a sense of emergency and admiration of beauty, drawing visitors to stop and study the shimmery bright red barn which she created to symbolize a fire at her grandparents' dairy farm that remains unextinguished in her memory.
A look at Kelly Wall's temporal prayer can transport viewers to a family picnic of their youth where classic lawn chairs played host to loved ones delighting in laughter and merriment amid the sweet smell of barbecue smoke and ice-cold lemonade. Made with glass, lead, and aluminum, Wall's bench features the words of John Steinbeck and Joan Didion along with a grief knot, symbolic of eternal bonds. Wall's work reminds viewers that memory lives in objects and that Los Angeles has no shortage of stories worth preserving.
In the early 1900s, Angelenos were mesmerized by Craftsman homes, idyllic California bungalows with trademark porches, intended for those with the means and the standing to afford such a lifestyle. In her interactive showstopper — also her first large-scale sculpture — Beatriz Cortez invites visitors from all walks of life onto The Lakota Porch: A Time Traveler, inspired by one built by an Apache Mescalero stone mason more than a century ago. What might viewers experience on the porch? Perhaps a visit with an imaginary neighbor, friend, even an enemy from the present or past. Maybe it's simply just a feeling of belonging, the idea that everyone is deserving of a porch and no one is excluded from the opportunity to experience joy. Ascending the steps and feeling the weight of one's own footsteps on the trek to the other side is a reminder of what it means to matter in this city.
Like one act of a play suspended in time, Amy Bessone's mise en scène installation creates a playful and interactive, yet thought-provoking stage for viewers to choreograph their own dance through the artworks or connect with a stranger while admiring the vibrant, moody shapes as their own shadows merge with those of the paintings.
If only LAMAG had a retractable roof, these majestic sculptures would act as a beacon for Barnsdall Art Park, encouraging Angelenos of marginalized communities to push artistic boundaries and unite on this tranquil Hollywood hill to celebrate the shared elation of seeing oneself represented in art. This, ultimately, is what community-built monuments look like — not stately generals on pedestals, but benches made of bone, porches open to everyone, and manhole covers that stop people in their tracks.
Heavy Metal runs through June 20, 2026 Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery 4800 Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90027 lamag@lacity.org (323) 644-6269
Mary Singh is a writer and art enthusiast who lives and works in Los Angeles, exploring as many corners of the city as possible through exhibits, food, nature, architecture, and community events. Outside of her day job as partner at digital studio Pel, she spends her free time pursuing her own creative projects.
