A captivating group show at Charlie James Gallery looks at the (figurative) masks we wear

I’m thinking about eating a hot dog from a hot dog because I’m into programmatic architecture and Tail o’ the Pup has made a comeback in WeHo. The concept of face is at the heart of a captivating group show at Charlie James Gallery titled “Rostro” — the Spanish version of the word. Works, from left, by Jeffrey Sincich, Patrick Martinez, Vince Palacios and Danie Cansino in the group show “Rostro.” Other, more abstracted connotations of face also materialize — particularly within an architectural and urban context. But he nevertheless encountered a range of striking work — such as an interactive piece by Sondra Perry that demands of the viewer answers for “what social conditions enabled you to even be in an art gallery, of all places, in the middle of the day.” A still from Sin Wai Kin’s “Act 1, Part 1 of a View From Elsewhere,” 2018, which destabilizes notions about the ways in which gender is performed. “For all the unreal landscape with eye-popping turquoise and purple mountains, red sky and unusual way the opera characters popped up — at one point a tiny Brünnhilde looked like Tinkerbell standing in Wotan’s gloved palm — this was absolutely traditional Wagner.” America’s hottest opera ticket this summer was Yuval Sharon’s graphic production of “The Valkyries” with Gustavo Dudamel and L.A. Phil at the Hollywood Bowl.