Mind-expanding multimedia, haunted mansion cocktail parties, art of haunted minds, a redefinition of Renaissance representation, Baroque arte povera theatrics, memento mori in modern art, fungible Frankensteins on film, a ritualistic sound-based altarpiece performance, hypnotic illuminated public sculpture, and more. And don’t forget to check our monster all-city Halloween guide for a further abundance of thematic, costumed, stage-bloody good times all week and weekend.

Thursday, October 27

Electric Psychedelia at Vellum LA. A group exhibition exploring altered consciousness through visual synthesis, curated by Ellie Pritts. Starting with an immersive pop-up opening reception at SVStudios before moving to the West Hollywood gallery, Electric Psychedelia aims to challenge viewers' perceptions of reality through immersive visual experiences. Pritts selected artists whose work evokes altered states of consciousness and inspires viewers to think differently. Opening reception: Thursday, October 27, 8-11pm, 3424 N. San Fernando Rd., Atwater. Exhibition: On view October 28 - December 4; free; vellumla.com.

Friday, October 28

Halloween House Party at Los Angeles Nomadic Division. An unforgettable Halloween House Party at the actual home featured in the 1978 John Carpenter classic film, Halloween. In homage to the site, we are throwing it back to classic 1970’s horror film inspiration for a night of art, music, food and drink, featuring a polysensorial installation, site-specific series of experiences created by artist Max Hooper Schneider. Ticket proceeds benefit LAND’s annual public art programs, supporting artists working across Los Angeles. Suggested attire is “Classic Horror Movie Victim.” Friday, October 28, 7-10pm; $200 and up; address provided with ticket purchase; nomadicdivision.org.

Harmonia Rosales: Garden of Eve at UTA Artist Space. Growing up in Chicago, Rosales’ worldview and artistic practice were heavily informed by her Afro-Cuban American background. Going to museums as a child, Rosales was fascinated by the impeccable skill and composition of Renaissance masters, but deterred by the Eurocentrism and paternalism of their work. Self-taught, her paintings bring new life to Renaissance style by reimagining hegemonic narratives with Black and Latinx subjects at the forefront of familiar religious and Greco-Roman narratives, retelling the story of creation through the eyes of women and Orishas, deities of the African Diaspora. 403 Foothill Rd., Beverly Hills; Opening Reception: Friday, October 28, 6-8pm; free; utaartistspace.com.

Saturday, October 29

My Barbarian: Broke People’s Baroque Peoples’ Theater at ICA LA. A recital of the grandeur of excess executive through impoverished means, Broke People’s Baroque Peoples’ Theater depicts an encounter between an imagined theater company and an audience. Structured as a play within a game within a play, the performance is an amalgamated decoupage of detoured theater texts, ornate musical numbers, and masked interactions. The performance coincides with the ICA’s current exhibition, a survey of My Barbarian’s long and multivalent practice. 1717 E. 7th St., downtown; Saturday, October 29, 5-9pm; free; theicala.org. 

Michael Deyermond: The Trouble Cup, and Ned Evans: Water Bound at Craig Krull Gallery. Michael Deyermond is an angst ridden, tragic-love, soul searching poet with a fatalism tempered by irony, wit, and a gut-wrenching sense of dark comedy. Coming close to death from health issues in Italy, he began making obelisks and wooden trophies, perhaps symbolic of the heroic effort to continue. Coincidentally, Ned Evans’ new exhibition was also inspired by a near death experience. While hospitalized, lifelong surfer Evans dreamt of the ocean and heard voices telling him to make these works about water. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica; Opening reception: Saturday, October 29, 4-6pm; Artist talk: December 10, 11am; On view through December 10; free; craigkrullgallery.com.

Ali Liebegott: Rooms and Other Feelings at OCHI Projects. Liebegott is a visual storyteller, using watercolor, ink, and oil to make paintings and drawings that feature sharp observations full of well-seasoned characters, familiar places, and quotidian wit. Chronicling the goings-on of the everyday, Liebegott welcomes the viewer into her community and immediate surroundings as seen through the lens of her own queer consciousness. Each brightly colored self-portrait, landscape, and interior scene depicts personal experience with nuance and complexity and draws on the elusive nature of memory and feelings. 3305 W. Washington Blvd., West Adams; Opening reception: Saturday, October 29, 5-8pm; On view through December 17; free; ochigallery.com.

Elena Manero: Contingencias at ArtBug Gallery. The work of Elena Manero operates as a device that intercalates two temporalities: projected images that perpetuate rites of passage, with those of subjects that incorporate the presence of the present. From this artifice, a new event arises that escapes transience. Manero crosses time through the resource of memory with the projection of images of transitions from one state of life to another: birthdays, weddings, first communions and other symbolic events that mark the changes of cycles of reality. 2441 Hunter St., downtown; Opening reception: Saturday, October 29, 5-9pm; free; instagram.com/artbugallery.

National Theatre’s Frankenstein at Boston Court. Nick Dear’s retelling of the Mary Shelley horror classic is directed by Academy Award-winner Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire), and stars dueling Holmes avatars Benedict Cumberbatch (Hamlet, BBC’s Sherlock) and Jonny Lee Miller (Elementary, Trainspotting) alternating between the roles of Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Captured live on stage in 2011, this thrilling, sold-out production became an international sensation, experienced by almost half a million people in cinemas around the world. 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena; Saturday, October 29, 8pm, Cumberbatch as Monster; Sunday, October 30, 7pm, Miller as Monster; $20; bostoncourtpasadena.org.

Sunday, October 30

Blacktronika: Now is the Time Festival at MOCA Geffen. Organized with King Britt, Blacktonika is a day-long festival exploring the many sides of electronic music with 8 of the genre’s most fearless innovators. Featuring the layered club experimentation of Moor Mother and DJ Haram’s 700Bliss; the colorful sonics of Suzi Analogue; the Caribbean influenced multi-instrumentalism of Xenia Rubinos; the melodic modular magic of Colloboh; the warm sub-tonics of JWords; the time-traveling rhythmatists Tyshawn Sorey and King Britt; future ancient sound warriors Chimurenga Renaissance; and the debut of UC San Diego’s multicultural supergroup, 5hz. 152 N. Central Ave., Little Tokyo; Sunday, October 30, 2-9pm; free w/ rsvp; moca.org.

Monday, October 31

Carmina Escobar: CHOLAEXCUINCLE: Death does not exist at Coaxial. Escobar is an extreme vocalist, composer, improviser, filmmaker, sound and intermedia artist based in LA. Escobar investigates and expresses emotions, memory spaces, states of alienation, and the possibilities of interpersonal connection through voice performances, installations, experimental theater, interdisciplinary collaboration, new technologies, and video/film pieces that seeks to challenge our understandings of musicality, gender, queerness, race, relationship to nature, and the foundations of human communication. As the current Artist in Residence at Coaxial, Escobar presents an in-person altar Installation Halloween night and a live-streaming performance around midnight the following evening, moving into Dia de los Muertos. 1815 S. Main St., downtown; Monday, October 31, 6-9pm; Coaxial website: Tuesday, November 1, 11:45pm-12:45am; free; coaxialarts.org. 

Wednesday, November 2

Phillip K. Smith III: Parallel Perpendicular at West Hollywood Park. Five freestanding mirrored volumes composed of parallel and perpendicular planes hover above a 40-foot diameter circle of green landscaping. Parallel Perpendicular is meant to be an entirely interactive piece. By day, the new permanent public sculpture’s forms reflect the park visitors and environment as well as the surrounding West Hollywood views. By night, the mirrored surfaces illuminate and reflect off each other, transforming and merging through slow movements into new, shifting spaces of pure color. N. Robertson Blvd. between Santa Monica Blvd. and Melrose Ave., WeHo; Wednesday, November 2, 5:30pm; free; weho.org.

Infinity Festival at Goya Studios Hollywood. Infinity Festival Hollywood is the place where Hollywood meets Silicon Valley! The festival, a multi-day annual event held in the heart of Hollywood, celebrates stories enabled by technology, bringing together Hollywood’s finest storytelling talent with the innovative creators of Silicon Valley’s cutting-edge technology. The Infinity Festival environment includes panels, exhibitions, screenings, keynotes and more, all driven by today’s top innovators and creators. 1541 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood; Wednesday - Saturday, November 2-5; $399 full pass; infinityfestival.com.









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