Sandwiched between auto shops and galleries like Lizabeth Oliveria, this new kid on the La Cienega art block helps provocative artists take off.

Short for "LA exhibitions," LAX is the brainchild of art curator and critic Lauri Firstenberg, a former assistant director at MAK Center for Art and Architecture. Despite its LA-centric moniker, the nonprofit contemporary-arts venue exhibits artists who hail from all over the globe. Not just a space for tangible art, architecture and design, the gallery also aims to foster discussion and interaction in an environment that is accessible and provocative. The inaugural exhibition by LA artist Daniel Joseph Martinez proved just how malleable the art space is: The exhibit spilled out onto the outside walls of the building's facade, which quoted the artist's thoughts on beauty, and onto a nearby billboard reading, "The fully enlightened earth radiates disaster triumphant." Once inside the gallery, visitors encountered a single-channel video, two prints and a floor-covering installation consisting of eights tons of asphalt and 800 pounds of animal lard. Since its inaugural exhibition the gallery has showcased the work of Arturo Ernesto Romo, Kalup Linzy, Ruben Ochoa and Lisa Tan. —Elisa Jacobs