Spanning centuries of multicultural creativity, this exhibition is the kind of art experience that might restore your faith in the sad old human comedy. How nice that the installation is on long-term view.

(The New York Times)

Los Angeles museum-goers have an ongoing opportunity to enjoy one of our nation’s most important collections of art from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas in Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, which features approximately 250 of the finest objects from the Fowler’s collections in a long-term exhibition that celebrates the richness of world arts and considers the roles these works of art play in peoples’ lives.

Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives explores the roles that art plays in creating meaning and defining purpose for people across the globe. Art is not only a reflection of culture but can actively shape thought and experience. The objects on display have all intervened in the lives of those who made or used them—whether to educate, solve problems, assert leadership, assist in remembering, or provision loved ones in the afterlife. This exhibition offers a glimpse into the local histories and contexts of these objects and the stories and performances that surround them.

The objects featured in the exhibition are primarily from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas and they range in date from the third millennium b.c.e. to the present. They were selected from the Fowler Museum’s extensive holdings of world arts on the basis of their exceptional artistic merit, as well as the many ways in which they conceptually intersect with each other. Major sections of the exhibition consider how arts from diverse cultures have served as vehicles of action, knowledge, power, and transformation.

While the aesthetic qualities of the objects and the contexts of their use have enabled these works to elicit wonder, impart wisdom, and tangibly affect the lives of people, it is important to remember that societies are not static. Encounters with other peoples and new ideas ensure that artistic traditions remain vital and relevant. Intersections presents enduring traditions while also bringing attention to the dynamism and brilliance of world arts as they respond to a constantly changing world.