Los Angeles’s trusty guardian of underground cool on the fringe, BLK/MRKT enhances our viewing pleasure.

With concrete, steel and dark wood, BLK/MRKT’s exterior is a sleek container for the gallery’s cadre of art world misfits. The roster of urban contemporary artists has filled a long-overlooked void for art that breaks the usual “fine art” mold—in short, art that hasn’t always been called art in the traditional sense. Since its founding in 2001, the gallery has played host to surrealism revivalist Tiffany Bozic, intestine-obsessed Mark Dean Veca, graphic mural master WK Interact, the rainbows and robots of Jeff Soto and the forlorn, dilapidated figures of Ben Tour. At the beginning of every year, owners Jana DesForges and Dave Kinsey put on the BMG Artists’ Annual, dedicated to showcasing BLK/MRKT artists and those with similar sensibilities. —Melissa Lo