2) Kohn Gallery, “Wallace Berman: American Aleph”
Semina’s mystic visionary recontextualized as a numinous conduit for his times.

3) The Getty: “Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art On China’s Silk Road”
Not technically contemporary (5th to 8th century) but a mind-blowing revelation.

4) Hammer Museum, “Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-1957”
Ground zero for inter-media experimentation in postwar US still illuminates.

5) Samuel Freeman Gallery, “Blindsight”
Understated works by Emilie Halpern, Molly Larkey and Jenene Nagy brought elegant physicality into sublime resonance.

6) Chimento Contemporary, “Marc Fichou: Outside-In”
Rigorous play from an artist who adapts forms from nature and physics like readymades.

7) USC Fisher Museum of Art, “Lita Albuquerque, 20/20: Accelerando”
Merging video, installation and performance, feminist eco-sci-fi work was lushly cinematic.

8) Diane Rosenstein Gallery, “Aaron Fowler: Blessings on Blessings”
Brilliant mixed-media tableaux melding the Pilgrim legacy and contemporary African-American experience.

9) LACMA, “Agnes Martin” and “John McLaughlin Paintings: Total Abstraction”
Two exhibitions, two pioneers who imbued minimalist painting with meditative intensity.

10) Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, “Beyond the Object: The 72nd Scripps Ceramic Annual”
Blurring lines between two and three dimensions, between science and aesthetics, show’s wild diversity attests ceramics’ durability.