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It invites visitors to rethink ideas of permanence and humanity’s place in nature, through sculptures, paintings and collages made by 22 artists from across the Americas, including some based here in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
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A view of Carmen Argote’s “an archetype of stillness” and “an archetype of touch” paintings in the Hammer Museum’s “Several Eternities in a Day” exhibition.<\/p>\n
L.A.-based Mexican American artist Carmen Argote’s paintings \u2014 titled “an archetype of stillness” and “an archetype of touch” \u2014 are among the works that first catch your attention upon entering the exhibition.<\/p>\n
The pair of 16-foot-tall human-like figures that Argote painted \u2014 without brushes \u2014 by dipping her hands and feet in a mixture of avocado, cochineal dye and lemon juice, will change color throughout the length of the exhibition as the avocado continues to dry, release oil and eventually disintegrates the paper they were painted on.<\/p>\n
“\u200aThis piece has taught me so much about letting go,” Argote told LAist. “And really accepting the life of a material and life of an artwork.”<\/p>\n
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“Cuerpos terrestres en fluidez” by Jackie Am\u00e9zquita in “Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials” at the Hammer Museum.<\/p>\n
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Sarah M Golonka<\/p>\n
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Another work, titled “Cuerpos terrestres en fluidez” (or “Terrestrial Bodies in Fluidity”) by L.A.-based artist Jackie Am\u00e9zquita consists of a set of sculptures that Am\u00e9zquita built using the rammed earth technique (which dates back to the Neolithic period) and then split into fragments.<\/p>\n
The materials she used included decomposed granite from the Mojave Desert, lava rocks, obsidian, rain and ocean water.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s this idea that we have of nature to not be permanent when it’s actually older than us,\u201d Am\u00e9zquita noted.<\/p>\n
The questions that her and other artists\u2019 use of organic materials raise about permanence or impermanence, Am\u00e9zquita told LAist, \u201cis just an echo to what life is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is part of our human condition,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe\u2019re always confronted with the idea of life and death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her artistic practice, Am\u00e9zquita added, is also about \u201c\u200areminding us that we are part of the land, that we are soil, that our bodies are made of earth and also earth is made out of us. And so our footprint, or the decisions we make, has a ripple effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
What an exhibition on rice cultivation can teach us about sustainable practices<\/p>\n
At the nearby Fowler Museum (also affiliated with UCLA), is Mountain Spirits: Rice and Indigeneity in the Northern Luzon Highlands, Philippines<\/a>, a new immersive exhibition centered around the ecological wisdom of the rice cultivation practices of the indigenous Ifugao people in the Philippines.<\/p>\n \u200a\u201dWe focus on rice because rice became this foundation for the Ifugao resistance against Spanish conquest, and they used rice to be able to consolidate their political and economic resources,\u201d says Stephen Acabado, professor of anthropology and director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA.<\/p>\n The exhibition is split into three galleries. In one gallery, visitors can see a time-lapsed video of the landscape that places into context the Ifugao mountain spirits and the indigenous belief system. Paired with the videos are wooden carvings of the bulul, or rice guardians, and fabrics that represent Ifugao deities.<\/p>\n Wooden carvings of the bulul, or rice guardians, in the Fowler Museum’s new “Mountain Spirits” exhibition.<\/p>\n A second gallery pairs rituals and tools that the Ifugao use for rice cultivation with videos showing them in practice. And the third gallery examines how the higher ranking Ifugao members keep the community alive through sustaining rituals.<\/p>\n \u200a\u201dWhat we’re seeing now, especially with climate change, looking at how they cared for the land for at least 400 years, [their] sustainable form of agricultural production \u2026 will give us at least an idea on how we can adapt their practices for food security and care for the environment,\u201d Acabado says.<\/p>\n Beyond sustainable practices, Acabado hopes the exhibition can dispel the idea the Philippines is a monolith and also strengthen a sense of identity for Filipinos.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough we\u2019re focusing on the Ifugao,\u201d Acabado says, \u201cthe exhibit wants to highlight the diversity of the Philippines.\u201d<\/p>\n A museum with sustainability at its core<\/p>\n LACMA\u2019s newly opening Geffen Galleries are getting a lot of attention at the moment, but don\u2019t overlook the nearby Craft Contemporary museum, which is also worth checking out (and a fun fact for The Pitt watchers: It was founded by Noah Wyle\u2019s grandmother)<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Craft Contemporary on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Sustainability is a core tenet for the Craft Contemporary, according to its senior curator Frida Cano. The museum was a case study<\/a> in the Getty\u2019s 2025 Climate Action Report for sustainable exhibition design.<\/p>\n Its practices include recycling materials from past exhibitions for public workshopping events, having artists sign printed exhibition materials so they become collectibles for guests and utilizing natural dyes in art installations.<\/p>\n Its upcoming May exhibition, tierra<\/a>, recycles pulp from a past paper-making workshop for artwork labels and creates paint utilizing cacti from Descanso Gardens.<\/p>\n A person participates in Craft Contemporary’s paper making workshop.<\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Courtesy of Craft Contemporary<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n For Cano, it\u2019s especially important to focus on the power of craft and sustainability in an increasingly tech-based era.<\/p>\n \u201cThe world is larger than our little micro-universe of craft,\u201d Cano said. \u200a\u201cSo we’re taking the power of craft to make sure that we contribute to the wellness of humanity, you know, mother Earth at large.\u201d<\/p>\n More exhibitions and Earth Day events to check out<\/p>\n Earth Day Festival at the Natural History Museum<\/a>: Events include exhibitions, art and science activities and free screenings of the museum\u2019s film series \u201cGreen Screen: Our Planet on Film.\u201d The event takes place Sunday. (And a tip: go full Earth Day and take the Metro there. The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC will mean more traffic in the area.)<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776342434_391_.jpeg\")
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