Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles

In 1967, brothers and artists Alonzo and Dale Brockman Davis opened the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles, likely the city’s first Black-owned and operated art gallery. Motivated by the cultural renaissance occurring in the wake of the 1965 Watts Rebellion, the brothers built a crucial space for emerging artists of color. Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles brings together dozens of works from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s collection, showcasing the range of experimental approaches to painting, printmaking, and sculpture featured at Brockman. Organized around six key themes–Roots, Material Experimentation, Body & Identity, Common Ground, Civic Engagement, and Uplift–this exhibition celebrates the Davis brothers’ courageous endeavor. Featuring work by artists including the Davis brothers, David Hammons, Betye Saar, Charles White, La Monte Westmoreland, and Carrie Mae Weems,Act on It! illuminates the transformative potential of art to expose injustice, raise consciousness, and shape culture.

Organized as part of LACMA’s Art Bridges–supported Local Access initiative, Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles will be on view at the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster May 10–August 31, 2025, before travelling to the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College and then the University Art Gallery at California State University, Dominguez Hills.