10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This October

This month, as the season transforms, several exhibitions encourage a blending of art with the realms of life and death. A comprehensive overview of the work of esteemed altarista Ofelia Esparza features her renowned altars, which significantly contributed to the celebration of Día de los Muertos in the U.S. A visual presentation of innovative nun Corita Kent’s photographs reveals her artistic journey, while Claire Chambless presents gothic dollhouses that seem to inhabit their own mystical worlds. Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica’s early works illustrate his departure from traditional framing, and the cross-border initiative Tacto showcases artists from Baja California in a cultural dialogue that challenges xenophobic tendencies, among other highlights.

Cameron Harvey: Gathering

Official Welcome, 672 South La Fayette Park Place, Suite 46, Westlake, Los Angeles
Open until October 25

Cameron Harvey gathers plants and flowers on her daily walks through LA, grounding her paintings in her personal connection to nature. Inspired by the colors and shapes of her collected items, she lays unstretched, uniquely shaped canvases on the ground and manipulates wet paint with her form. The resultant biomorphic abstractions walk the line between painting and sculpture, suggesting the emergence of new organic life.

Frank Romero: California Dreaming

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, 1110 Mateo Street, Downtown, Los Angeles
Open until October 25

The exhibition California Dreaming features recent works by pioneering Chicano artist Frank Romero alongside previously celebrated pieces from his illustrious six-decade career. The showcase incorporates both paintings and wood and neon sculptures presenting quintessential aspects of LA—the iconic freeways, landmarks, native flora, and the ubiquitous car. A new theme emerges with flying saucers that evoke both nostalgia for Hollywood and references to rising xenophobia. Alongside new still-lifes of items collected during his travels, the exhibit emphasizes Romero’s cultural tapestry.

Claire Chambless: Spleen

Morán Morán, 641 North Western Avenue, East Hollywood, Los Angeles
Open until October 25

Claire Chambless’s dollhouses defy notions of innocence, presenting rather themes of psychological depth and bodily degeneration. Crafted from wood, resin, latex, and synthetic hydroxyapatite—a bone-mimicking material—her gothic structures appear to breathe and form as they bulge, bend, and sprout new appendages. By incorporating found objects into these creations, Chambless conjures richly imaginative realms of dark fantasy, while the interiors of her miniature homes harbor enigmatic secrets.

Hélio Oiticica

Lisson Gallery, 1037 North Sycamore Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles
Open until November 1

Hélio Oiticica was a pivotal Brazilian artist during the 1960s and ’70s, integral to both the Neo-Concretism and Tropicália movements. This exhibition showcases his creative journey from the late 1950s, laying the groundwork for the immersive environments that blurred lines between art and everyday life. Highlighted works include gouaches, a rare oil painting from his Metaesquemas series (1957-58), and his Revelos Espaciais, which showcase his early inquiries into spatial interaction.

Karl Benjamin: A Centennial Exhibition

Louis Stern Fine Arts, 9002 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California
Open until November 1

This exhibition celbrates Karl Benjamin, a co-founder of the Hard Edge Painting movement, coinciding with his 100th birthday. It gathers his works from the 1950s, leading up to the pivotal 1959 show Four Abstract Classicists, curated by Jules Langsner that signified the Hard Edge movement’s inception. These pieces encapsulate Benjamin’s exploration of artistic methods including expressionism and cubism, stretching towards the cool aesthetic that became his signature style.

TACTO: Dialogues of Separation and Union

Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), 685 North Venice Boulevard, Venice, California
Open until November 1

Tacto is a cross-border initiative focused on themes of resistance, resilience, and cultural exchange between SPARC’s Durón Gallery in LA and the Centro Estatal de las Artes (CEART) in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico. The exhibition features ten artists from Baja California whose diverse works ranging from painting, video, photography, textile, and performance engage with themes of land and identity. Featured artists include Mely Barragán, celeste hernández, and more.

Luis Jiménez: American Dream

Matthew Marks Gallery, 1062 North Orange Grove Avenue and 7818 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California
Open until November 8

Renowned posthumously, Luis Jiménez expressed his heritage through vibrant fiberglass sculptures that intersected Pop Art, automotive culture, and elements from his Mexican-American roots. His creations creatively interweave women’s figures, striking cars, cowboys, and war weapons, sometimes merging them within the same artwork. American Dream represents the first solo exhibition of Jiménez’s work in LA in over forty years, showcasing 14 of his sculptures, paintings, and drawings from 1968 to 1997.

Suchitra Mattai: Fables, Guineps and the Sweetness of Unknowing

Roberts Projects, 442 South La Brea Avenue, Hancock Park, Los Angeles
Open until November 15

Suchitra Mattai draws from a multitude of artistic traditions—from European portraiture to South Asian miniatures—to delve into themes of cultural exchange and construction amidst the legacies of migration and colonialism. In her exhibit at Roberts Projects, she employs textile techniques such as embroidery and beading, rooted in her Indo-Caribbean background. Using the fable as an overarching narrative structure, Mattai merges these contrasting elements into a cohesive storytelling format.

Corita Kent: The Sorcery of Images

Marciano Art Foundation, 4357 Wilshire Boulevard, Mid-City, Los Angeles
Open until January 24, 2026

The radical artist and nun, Corita Kent, is celebrated for her dynamic screenprints that adeptly blend pop culture, spiritual themes, and advocacy for social justice, employing experimental typography and striking graphic styles. Her photographic explorations yielded abundant source material and design inspiration, capturing the urban topography of LA and her life at Immaculate Heart College, where she was an art educator. The Sorcery of Images draws from an archive of over 15,000 35mm slides captured by Kent and her peers between 1955 and 1968, from which curators selected 1,100 images. Presented as a digital projection across three screens, the exhibition offers an in-depth look at Kent’s artistic practice, showcasing her relentless inquisitiveness.

Ofelia Esparza: A Retrospective 

Vincent Price Art Museum, 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park, California
From October 18 to April 18, 2026

The esteemed altarista Ofelia Esparza has played an instrumental role in popularizing the Mexican custom of altar-making in the U.S., honoring the memories of lost loved ones through temporary altars composed of photographs, flowers, food, and a host of symbolic items. Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Esparza is a sixth-generation altar-maker who began creating public altars in 1979 at Self-Help Graphics, where her printmaking evolved. This retrospective recreates some of her most significant altars along with additional artwork and archival material, charting her remarkable seven-decade career intertwined with critical movements for social justice and civil rights.