ANGEL-X

OPENING RECEPTION FOR THE ARTISTS: October 10, 4:00-7:00 PM. Dates and times subject to change. Please sign our guest list to receive the latest updates about this exhibition.

From the beginning, Al’s Bar reflected Southern California as it actually was—not as a single culture, but as a convergence of histories, accents, and scenes. 

Founded by Alphonso Vasquez as a working-class bar for truckers and

John Valadez – Clavo

downtown laborers, Al’s later became, under Marc Kreisel, an artist-run hangout that would enter Los Angeles lore. When music entered the picture, the range of acts—from barrio-rooted hardcore punk bands like The Bags and The Plugz to Los Lobos and beyond—made clear just how porous, hybrid, and culturally intertwined the space was from the start.

Musée du Al extends that legacy with Angel-X, a group exhibition guest-curated by muralist, painter, and early Al’s Bar regular Eloy Torrez. The exhibition brings together artists from different generations whose work has been shaped by heritage, migration, language, neighborhood, and the shifting ways culture in Los Angeles has been named—or resisted being named at all.

Eloy Torrez – Whitewashed

Across generations, artists have adopted different terms, discarded them, or refused labels altogether. Angel-X does not argue for a correct identity or a unified position. Instead, it creates a shared space where artists shaped by overlapping histories can be seen together without being collapsed into a single story.

The title is intentionally open: a gesture toward Los Angeles as the City of Angels, an echo of angel imagery embedded in music and visual culture, and an “X” that suggests crossing, refusal, and experimentation—a subtle nod to Al’s punk-era ethos.

This exhibition is not about answers. It’s about proximity, dialogue, and what happens when generations share the room.