It is rather refreshing to have Los Angeles painted by a New Yorker. That New Yorker is Croatian-born Stipan Tadić, who paints his adopted home in a comic-book meets cyberpunk meets realism aesthetic that when he began to produce the work felt refreshing and new. So not that we are all up-to-date on refreshing and refreshers of the life and times of Stipan Tadić, he is taking this style to Los Angeles and about Los Angeles in Diamonds and Rust, an upcoming solo show at James Fuentes’ west coast outpost. Tadić has the knack of making you rethink your relationship and familiarity with a place, giving it new life and a new angles to understand. He paints the night, but not always the dead of night but the life and light of night. In LA, that often means a dichotomy of cars and traffic, but also a chance for him to paint the beauty of the LA light and evening colors that make this city so special and visually iconic. LA is a city of sunsets and dusk, and as the gallery notes that this “project also marks Tadić’s separation from documenting New York City,” he can look at American cities more broadly and with a sincere and interested eye. —Evan Pricco