IN PERSON

RSVP

Gala Porras-Kim: The weight of a patina of time features works inspired by the artist’s conversations with the Fowler curators about Mexican archaeology and museum practices, and includes recent large-scale pieces and new smaller works, some making their Los Angeles debut. At 6 pm, enjoy a conversation between Gala Porras-Kim and the Fowler’s chief curator Matthew H. Robb. A reception with light refreshments and music will follow from 7–9 pm. 

Gala Porras-Kim (b. 1984, Bogotá; lives and works in Los Angeles/London) received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2009 and her MA in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2012. Her solo exhibitions have been held at the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City and Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville (2023); Gasworks, London (2022); Amant and Kadist, Brooklyn (2021); and MoCA LA (2019). She has participated in numerous biennials, including the 13th Gwangju Biennale; 34th Bienal de São Paulo (2021); Whitney Biennial (2017); and Made in LA (2016). Porras-Kim is a recipient of numerous awards, including an Art Matters Foundation Grant (2019), Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant (2016), and a Creative Capital Grant (2015). She has participated in residencies at the Getty Research Institute (2020-22); Delfina Foundation, London (2021); and Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge (2020). Her work is in the collections of MOMA; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Brooklyn Museum, New York; MoCA; LACMA; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; MCA, Chicago; DePaul Art Museum, Chicago; Dallas Museum of Art; Perez Museum, Miami; and the Seoul Museum of Art.

Matthew H. Robb is chief curator at the Fowler Museum. An expert on the art and archaeology of ancient Mexico, he holds degrees from Princeton University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Yale University. He has held curatorial positions at the Princeton University Art Museum, the Walters Art Gallery, the Saint Louis Art Museum, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; he writes frequently on the history of collecting pre-Columbian art. Robb’s award-winning 2017 catalog, Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire, was recently translated into Spanish by Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia under the title Teotihuacan: Ciudad de Agua, Ciudad de Fuego. His curatorial work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Getty Research Institute. He has been a member of the GRI’s Pre-Hispanic Art Provenance Initiative since its inception in 2019. 

Parking available in UCLA Lot 4, 198 Westwood Plaza, directly off Sunset Blvd; $3/hr or max $15/day. Rideshare drop-off at 305 Royce Dr.

Image credit: Gala Porras-Kim (b. 1984, Bogotá; lives and works in Los Angeles), 254 offerings for the rain at the Peabody Museum (detail), 2021; color pencil and acrylic vinyl paint on paper; Private Collection; © Gala Porras-Kim; image courtesy of the artist and Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles, Mexico City. Photo: Paul Salveson