With the Oscars this weekend, we’re turning our attention to Los Angeles, and the not-to-miss exhibitions there on view now.
Damien Hirst at Gagosian, Beverly Hills
March 1—April 14
Gagosian is showing Damien Hirst’s “The Veil Paintings,” a show of new large-scale works. Hirst describes a veil as “a barrier, a curtain between two things” as he draws inspiration from his “Visual Candy” paintings of the 1990s. Layering fields of color with dabs of heavy impasto, the works reference both Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism.
Robert Irwin
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, January 23 – April 21, 2018
Courtesy of the artist and Sprüth Magers
Photo by Robert Wedemeyer
Mark Bradford at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles
February 17—May 20
Hauser & Wirth presents “Mark Bradford. New Works.” It’s the artist’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles in over a decade, further developing his investigation into the potentials of abstract painting. Creating layers of social commentary, Bradford uses found stories from comics to question the influence of social media on contemporary culture. Alike his signature style, “New Works” also addresses the homophobia and racism in American society.
Markus Amm at David Kordansky Gallery
February 16—March 24
David Kordansky Gallery is showing new paintings by Markus Amm. Created with thin layers of paint on small-scale gesso boards, the fields of color create radiant compositions that deepen with a sustained gaze. Amm’s relationship with scale creates an intimate sublimity and references artistic and literary movements of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Mark Bradford
Rocket
2018
Mixed media on canvas
72 x 96 inches
© Mark Bradford
Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Photo by Joshua White
Robert Irwin at Sprüth Magers
January 23—April 21
Robert Irwin’s exhibition explores perception and viewing. Irwin’s experimentation with light, space, and phenomenological experience plays with the visual quality of the gallery’s interior. The installation comprised, of an arrangement of scrims, creates a vertical axis that links the interior to the exterior, moving from the modern space to the bustle of Wilshire Boulevard through the tinted glass.
“By the Lights of Their Eyes” at Shulamit Nazarian
March 3—March 31
“By the Lights of Their Eyes” is a group exhibition featuring work by six artists. Employing themes of fantasy, mysticism, science fiction, and horror, Juno Calypso, Katie Dorame, Sara Issakharian, Naudline Pierre, Roni Shneior, and Ilona Szwarc collectively draw from personal experience to create a fictional story that examines social and political issues.
Markus Amm
Untitled
2017
Oil on gesso board
13 3/4 x 11 7/8 inches
Photography by Annik Wetter
Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Art Production Fund Presents Zoe Buckman’s Champ
February 27, 2018—February 27, 2019
Art Production Fund unveiled Zoe Buckman’s Champ this week, a public art installation on view outside The Standard, Hollywood. The large-scale neon outline of an abstracted uterus with boxing gloves as ovaries, gives agency to women and encourages empowerment in the face of adversity. The kinetic sculpture rotates, its white light presenting neutral qualities and acting as a symbol of feminism. Throughout the yearlong installation, supported by alice + olivia, The Standard and Art Production Fund will also partner with women’s advocacy organizations to offer a series of free public programs.
