In assemblages that approximate life forms, the Los Angeles-based artist Timothy Washington incorporates a history that is both universally American and uniquely personal to him. Born in 1946, Washington rose to prominence during the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s. His mixed-media drypoints, futuristic forms made from dipping cotton into white glue and applying it to wire hangers resembling the human silhouette, were included in LACMA’s first contemporary show of black artists, in 1971. Progress in civil rights, plus the Movement’s raw counterpoint—violence, racism, displacement—are embodied in Washington’s singular sculptures, on view in “Citizen/Ship.” —J.V.