Cliff Notes
Each week, our regional Cliff Notes columnists Jaydra Johnson, Brittney Frantece, Blessing Greer Mathurin, and Quintessa Matranga pick the most exciting events and exhibitions on the West Coast.
Samala Meza: This Grass is Green
Sidecar Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
May 23rd – June 28, 2025
Night Gallery is becoming more and more of a hot spot for emerging curators, writers, and painters. During a reading, I got too mozy around after hours and was taken away by Samala Meza’s exhibition curated by gallerist Caryle Packer in the Night Gallery’s annex space, Sidecar Gallery.
Meza’s geometry takes on a certain sex appeal—everything remains readable, yet breathy and teasing. There’s a flirtation between the compositions and the viewer, as if the works are asking: “Do you recognize me? Do you know my name?” it also invites you to ask, to name desire or it fragmentation the bubbles into being. All together, the poppy color imbues every piece with whimsical nature; eroticism is coated in levity as the pieces seem to tempt.
The reasoning behind my draw is the implicit femininity of abstraction. If art is to be gendered, this work is post feminist. It moves between gazes while centering selfhood without ever showing face. This first solo presentation was like a good first date, leaving me excited for more.
Dakota Higgins: New Work
Xela Institute of the Arts, Long Beach, CA
May 10 – August 20, 2025
Long Beach is a city rooted in a deep understanding and celebration of work, labor, and the intersections of industry and identity. That’s why Dakota Higgins’s first museum showing couldn’t be more aptly placed.
Higgins’s body of work explores industry through the lens of novelty, but with such breath and familiarity that each piece feels like a conversation. There’s something recognizable in every gesture, allowing the critique and concept to land without being lost in jargon. The logic of the work operates in a way that invites inspection rather than excluding the viewer.
Aptly titled Mountains of America, Higgins’s 50-piece collage series takes us on a journey through ecology, economy, and emotion. Using found materials, the series facilitates a conversation—marrying packing supplies with florals and fauna within a shared frame. The works comment on American expansion and its industrial roots, leaving traces of history within warm portraits of the landscape.
Americana, as explored by Higgins, is dissected with an exacting knife, yet the charm remains. Glitter, scraps, coins, and life itself are assembled not just to critique, but to hold space for hope and contemplation—asking what this country has been, and what it might still become.