The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) proudly announce the launch of Friday Night Arts at LAMAG, a vibrant summer series running every Friday from June 6 through September 26, 2025 (except 4th of July holiday).
This innovative program is presented alongside the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation’s (BAPF) acclaimed Summer Wine Nights, inviting visitors to enjoy a unique blend of fine wine, community, and contemporary art in the heart of Barnsdall Art Park with proceeds going to support Barnsdall Art Park programs.
Each Friday evening from 5 to 8 pm, all are invited free of charge to step inside LAMAG to experience artist-led presentations, interactive installations, and special exhibitions.
The series opens with an immersive installation by Bill Barminski, a self-taught multimedia artist celebrated for his playful, large-scale cardboard sculptures that transform everyday objects into three-dimensional drawings. Barminski, who has held over 20 solo exhibitions since 1986 and teaches digital media at UCLA, has created an interactive environment designed to engage visitors of all ages. Curated by David Novoa.
In July and August, Friday Night Arts at LAMAG spotlights the COLA 2025 exhibition with evening viewing hours and a lineup of participatory public programs. On July 25, Jemima Wyman leads a collective art-making activity rooted in her multidisciplinary exploration of visual resistance, camouflage, and collective identity. The programming continues with a drawing workshop led by Olivia Booth on August 15, an origami making class with Flora Kao on August 22, and culminates with a performance by Carmen Argote on August 29. Each evening offers a unique opportunity to connect with contemporary artists and engage in hands-on creative experiences that reflect the exhibition’s emphasis on pattern, decoration, and collaborative expression.
Programming continues into September, with additional events to be announced.
Join us this summer to experience the perfect fusion of art, community, and culture at Friday Night Arts at LAMAG.
Bill Barminski is renowned for his multidisciplinary work spanning painting, sculpture, animation, and graphic design. His signature cardboard sculptures-white forms outlined in dark brown paint-create the illusion of three-dimensional drawings, exemplified by his interactive Security Theater installation for Banksy’s Dismaland in 2015. Barminski’s work often critiques consumerism and advertising, highlighted by his iconic Absolut Vodka billboard on the Sunset Strip and animated music videos for artists including Gnarls Barkley and Kid Cudi. Based in Los Angeles, he has been teaching digital media at UCLA since 1998.
Jemima Wyman is represented by Commonwealth & Council, Milani Gallery and Sullivan + Strumpf. Her most recent solo exhibition A Haze Descends was held at Commonwealth & Council in 2022. Recent group exhibition have been held at ZKM (Germany), MU artspace (Netherlands), Nam June Paik Art Center (Korea), Elaine L. Jacob Gallery Wayne State University (Detroit), Carriageworks (Sydney), Steve Turner Contemporary (Los Angeles), 17th Biennale of Sydney | THE BEAUTY OF DISTANCE: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age (Sydney), MUMA(Melbourne), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney) and 21st Century Museum of Art (Japan). Selected large-scale commissions include work for Air at GOMA Other Life-formings at Blackwood Gallery (Canada), Iconography of Revolt at City Gallery Wellington (New Zealand), The Unexpected Guest: Liverpool Biennial at FACT (Liverpool) , and Pattern Bandits at the Children’s Art Center at GOMA (Brisbane) with an accompanying book Pattern Power.
Olivia Booth has lived and worked as a teacher and artist for over two decades in Los Angeles. She is a recent recipient of the COLA-IMAP Grant 2024 from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Hopper Prize, and in recent years her work could be seen at the Neutra VDL House, Monte Vista Projects and Irenic Projects, LA, UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, Goldfinch Gallery in Chicago, and Pilchuck Gallery in Seattle. Over the years her work has been shown at non-profit spaces like SculptureCenter, LAMOA,The Finley Gallery and The Schindler House, in addition to other exhibition spaces, and has been written about in Art Forum and the New York Times. She received her MFA from Artcenter College of Design, Los Angeles (2003), and her BFA and BA from Cornell University (1996).
Flora Kao explores the poetics of human relationship with environment, transforming everyday structures into systems of beauty. In Los Angeles, Kao has exhibited solo at Launch LA, Los Angeles Artist Association, Cerritos College, Grand Central Art Center, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Commonwealth and Council, Gallery 825, Artmerge LAB, HAUS Gallery, the LA Art Show, and the UC Irvine University Gallery. Kao’s
work has also been featured at various Southern California venues including John Wayne Airport, LAX, LA Louver, Angels Gate Art Gallery, El Segundo Museum of Art, Torrance Art Museum, Irvine Fine Arts Center, City of Brea Art Gallery, LAXART, Durden and Ray, See Line Gallery, Edward Cella Art & Architecture, Beacon Arts Building, West LA College, Cerritos College, Cypress College, California State University, and La Sierra University. Kao holds a MFA from UC Irvine in Studio Art, a BFA in Painting from Otis College of Art and Design, and a BA in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College.
Carmen Argote received an MFA and BFA from University of California, Los Angeles (2007, 2004). Selected solo exhibitions have been held at Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2023); Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2022); Primary, Nottingham (2021); Clockshop, Los Angeles (2020); New Museum, New York (2019); PAOS, Guadalajara (2019); MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles (2015); and Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles (2013). Argote is a recipient of Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award (2019), Artadia Los Angeles Award (2019), and California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists (2013).