Before You Now
California State University, Northridge: August 31–December 7, 2024
Lancaster Museum of Art and History: January 25–April 13, 2025
Vincent Price Art Museum: July 12–September 20, 2025
www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/you-now-capturing-self-portraiture
Before You Now is LACMA’s touring exhibit on self portraiture. The exhibition focuses on the enduring theme of the artist’s self-portrait, as seen in a selection of works from LACMA’s collections of photographs, prints, drawings, videos, and installation art. Primarily featuring contemporary makers, the exhibition is an introduction to seeing American artists as they see themselves—or as they want to be seen by their public. They are shown contemplating their physicality in realistic fashion, highlighting their persona through symbolic tropes, or utilizing humor or conceptual methods to enlighten, exaggerate, or camouflage their reflective selves. Over 50 artists—including Laura Aguilar, Kwame Brathwaite, Kalli Arte Collective, Roger Shimomura, Cindy Sherman, Rodrigo Valenzuela, June Wayne, and Alexandra Grant—display an ongoing fascination with, or return to, the self-portrait. Before You Now aims to broaden the topic to include many whose practice leans into an autobiographical narrative, and explores artists who are adding to and redefining our culture by expanding on ideas of identity.
