Moskowitz Bayse is pleased to present 'Who’s Laughing Now?', a solo exhibition by New York-based artist Michela Griffo. A prominent activist in the LGBT civil rights movement since the 1960s, Griffo has dedicated her life and artmaking to the cause of incisive protest and sociopolitical critique. In 'Who’s Laughing Now?', the artist presents a series of allegories that take the form of diptychs. Pairing vivid oil paintings of iconic Disney characters with delicately rendered graphite drawings of human experiences—then linking the two with comic strip-style commentary that destabilizes ideas of both—Griffo advocates for the reconsideration of pervasive cultural standards around gay rights, women’s rights, fair wages, and much more. ___ Moskowitz Bayse is pleased to present 'Friends, Acquaintances, and Idols', a solo exhibition by the late Los Angeles-based artist Kenneth Kendall. Delectably camp, Kendall’s practice presciently embraced both post-modernism’s penchant for vernacular pastiche and pop art’s analysis of fame before either concept entered the mainstream. Employing the tradition of enamel portrait miniatures—popularized in 1630s Europe—to depict his many friends, acquaintances, and idols such as Vivian Zarvis and Mae West, Kendall’s work was unapologetically exuberant. During the 1950s and 60s, when the Ferus Gallery’s hypermasculinity dominated the Los Angeles art world, Kendall operated as an insider-outsider—a covertly queer artist that preferred a dazzling milieu of Hollywood starlets. Excerpts of exhibition texts by Christie Hayden