If you’re an art buff, or just appreciate culture, your thirst can be quenched with several options that are open now and in the soon to come.

Gallery openings and the gusto of live performance are not on hold any longer. While we have been starved from the “starving artist” visions of abstract, concrete and beauty through this trying time, art is not dead.

With the lift of certain mandates throughout Los Angeles County, art galleries and performances that have been closed or halted are now welcoming patrons once again.

The splashes of paint, strokes of a brush or a stomp of a foot of new and old artists, can be seen once again on the walls of galleries and the performance on stages.

Are you the edgy type? Do you enjoy a great avant-garde moment? According to Curate L.A., you can catch Jingze Du, an extremely talented artist at the Steve Turner Gallery, with the exhibit titled: Midnight.

Du’s gritty artistic styling with the “Midnight” collection is influenced by “art, fashion, film, urban life, the Internet and the serenity of midnight” and will surely speak to the Picasso loving art fanatic. The Steve Turner Gallery is located in the heart of Hollywood, so when you’re done witnessing the masterpieces of Jingze Du, the culture of the surrounding Los Angeles area surely waits for you. This exhibit will be held from Sept. 17 to Oct. 16.

If you’re looking for a great free exhibit, check out Lorna Simpson’s: Everrrthing. This exhibit can be found at Hauser & Wirth, located in the Arts District in Downtown L.A.

Simpson’s exhibit promises to engage its audience with “layers of paradoxes, threading dichotomies of figuration and abstraction, past and present, destruction and creation,” according to the museum’s website. Simpson, being the multifaceted artist that she is, will also be displaying sculptural works.

Simpson has broken many barriers since the mid 1980s. Open your mind and bask in the beauty of relevance. By relevance, I mean how her art speaks. There is a voice with every piece. The pigeon-hole that societal views have placed on the vast amount of what the community of the progressive art community stands for, at least what we’ve been accustomed to see in the Los Angeles area — Simpsons works are ones that confront and challenge narrow, conventional views of gender, identity, culture, history and memory. This exhibit will be open for viewing from Sept. 14 until Jan. 9 of next year.

For the local, or not so local 21+ crowd, what goes better with wine than art?

Azo VINO Wine Bar is a local hot spot located in West Covina. Their gallery “is filled with beautiful artwork made of glass and canvas. We have a variety of artwork including hand painted wine glasses, cut and etched glass, stained glass window treatments, vases, hand blown ornaments, wine accessories, metalwork, and jewelry,” according to the gallery’s website.

There is no entry fee for this wine and art gallery, and guests can enjoy taco trucks in the alley behind the building. Galen, the owner, is also more than willing to offer wine tastings and suggest the perfect wine for his guests so that they can enjoy their evening with generous hospitality.

Azo also has live music and performances that draw a wide range of customers. Not only can you take a gander at the art around you, but you can sip on a nice glass of chianti or chardonnay and sway to the beat of the night.

Speaking about beats, what about the zapateo steps of a flamenco performance?

The Fall Flamenco Feria will be hosting a two day event, Sept. 25 and Sept. 26, consisting of “Andalusian style — dancing, Flamenco — lots of Flamenco, dance classes, singing classes, shopping, paella, tapas, wine, kids activities and more.

Many flamenco organizations such as Mojacar Flamenco will be stomping it out on stage, clapping their hands ,(palmas), in a call and response order to the Spanish guitarist. Professional flamenco dancer, Juan Talavera, who in his earlier days was casted in movies such as The Wild Wild West (1965), Death in Granada (1996) and Ringer (1996), to name a few, will also be on the roster.

This event has been waiting to return since it was cancelled last year due to COVID-19. Watching a live performance that has culture and strength might be a good therapy for many of us trying to cope with this past year.

Don’t miss this. Tickets can already be purchased for the Fall Flamenco Feria 2021 Tickets in Los Alamitos.

Whether it be the 13 paintings by Gustav Klimt that were destroyed by an explosion conducted by Nazis during WW2 or in Napoleon Bonaparte’s rampage of looting Roman artwork, art shows a resiliency throughout history as something that will always stand the test of time. Clearly, there is no exception in our time.