Luchita Hurtado, “Dark Years”

At 98, Los Angeles artist Luchita Hurtado is having something of a moment after a 70-year career spent mostly in obscurity. Born Venezuela, Hurtado moved to New York City as a child, eventually studying at the Art Students League. She lived variously in San Fransisco, Taos, New Mexico and Mexico City, where she was befriended by Frida Kahlo among other artistic luminaries. And throughout this fascinating life she made her art, borrowing time in other artist’s studios when she didn’t have one of her own. This exhibit focuses on her early work from the 1940s and ’50s, when she concentrated primarily on abstractions evocative of Pre-Columbian art.