TORRAANCE, CA.- The Torrance Art Museum announces its first two exhibitions of the 2026 season, presenting a compelling and timely program that reflects the diversity, urgency, and creative vitality of contemporary art in Southern California. On view from January 10 through February 21, 2026, the exhibitions will be presented in TAM’s Main Gallery and Gallery Two.
MAIN GALLERY: Defending Ethical Integrity: The New Degenerate Art
As political forces increasingly tighten their grip on cultural institutions, Defending Ethical Integrity: The New Degenerate Art emerges as both a rebellion and a celebration of fearless self-expression. This exhibition confronts authoritarian narratives, censorship, and the suppression of creative autonomy, asserting art’s essential role in ethical resistance and social critique.
Evoking the legacy of the Nazi Party’s 1937 Degenerate Art exhibition—an effort to vilify and silence artists—this exhibition reclaims the term “degenerate” as a symbol of defiance and integrity. The exhibition includes Elana Mann and the collective AMBOS, both of whom experienced suppression firsthand when their works were turned off or altered by Pepperdine University administrators, who deemed them “political” and inconsistent with the institution’s policies.
Defending Ethical Integrity amplifies such voices, featuring a diverse group of contemporary artists who challenge entrenched power structures, disrupt social taboos, and refuse to conform to forces that would limit artistic freedom.
Participating Artists:
AMBOS Project, Polly Borland, Cassils, Robert Andy Coombs, Hugo Crosthwaite, Jay Lynn Gomez, Ken Gonzales-Day, Forrest Kirk, Laurie Lipton, Elana Mann, Narsiso Martinez, Patrick Martinez, Paul McCarthy, Dakota Noot, Zak Smith, Nadya Tolokonnikova / Pussy Riot, Steven Wolkoff
GALLERY TWO: Nine Visions × Nine Artists
MRH Fund for Artists
Nine Visions × Nine Artists presents a cohort of Southern California–based artists supported by the MRH Fund for Artists, a program providing direct financial support to help artists realize ambitious, self-defined projects. Nominated by leading arts organizations across the region, the selected artists represent a wide range of disciplines and approaches.
The exhibition reflects both the individuality of each artist’s vision and the collective impact of sustained investment in creative practice, affirming the MRH Fund’s commitment to artistic innovation, community engagement, and the cultural vitality of Southern California.
2025 Cohort & Nominating Organizations:
Weshoyot Alvitre (Museum of Ventura County); Patricia Fernández (Yucca Valley Material Lab); Leopoldo Peña (Art Division); Victor Reyes (Art Division); LaRissa Rogers (Clockshop); Ethan Stern (Craft in America Center); Cedric Tai (Yucca Valley Material Lab); Joan Takayama-Ogawa (Craft in America Center); Leila Youssefi (18th Street Arts Center)
