An ambitious show – surveying a career that spans from 1961 to 2008 – deserves an equally lengthy incubation period. Franklin Parrasch, curator and co-director of Parrasch Heijnen Gallery, who last week inaugurated their new space in Los Angeles with a rare, expansive exhibition of works by beloved Californian artist Ken Price, has been thinking about it for two decades.
‘Sometime in the 1990s I once told Ken, "You know, I have an idea for a show that I’ll do one day." This came up in the context of discussing the inter-relationship of this work and how understanding any one piece is best approached with an exposure to many of Ken’s works from all periods of his career. I have had in mind specific pieces that I’ve known of over the years and imagined how they might inform each other if they were ever to meet up in one room.’
Parrasch then set about persuading the owners of the 24 sculptures presented in the exhibit to lend him their pieces. All of them agreed. It clearly means a great deal to Parrasch to be able to present the works in Price’s hometown of Los Angeles, where he was one of the originators of the city's art scene as it kicked off in the 1960s, as part of the ‘Finish Fetish’ movement of ceramicists.
‘One of the first people to preview the show was Ken’s longtime friend and fellow Angeleno, Peter Alexander. Peter came in and immediately responded to all the intensity and nuances in the work I was hoping the exhibition would reveal. This is the view of an artist and colleague – someone who was around Ken and who was certainly affected by him. I think having the show in proximity to the artists who knew Ken best – Peter, Billy Al Bengston, Tony DeLap – is what feeds the show with an energy it wouldn’t be able to absorb anywhere else.’
Long before the current taste for ceramics, Price was creating works that still look funkier than anything being made today. His clay works – biomorphic, architectural, erotic and psychotropic – gesture viscerally towards so many experiences, from the movement of surfing (something Price did every day for 15 years) to the synergy of Eastern and Mexican cultures in Southern California. It is something that is easily felt when you look at them, less so when expressed in words.
Parrasch concurs. ‘I’ve always felt that Ken channeled some kind of atavistic source of energy. The best of his work connects on some kind of pre-human level.’
The expansive exhibition spans the period 1961–2008 and includes 24 sculptures
Price was one of the 1960s originators of the LA art scene, and was part of city's ‘Finish Fetish’ movement of ceramicists
Long before the current taste for ceramics, Price was creating works that still look more outré than anything being made today
His clay works – biomorphic, architectural, erotic and psychotropic – gesture viscerally towards so many experiences, from the movement of surfing (something Price did every day for 15 years) to the synergy of Eastern and Mexican cultures in Southern California
‘I’ve always felt that Ken channeled some kind of atavistic source of energy,' Parrasch says. 'The best of his work connects on some kind of pre-human level’
INFORMATION
’Ken Price: A Career Survey, 1961–2008’ is on view until 8 March. For more information, visit Parrasch Heijnen Gallery’s website
ADDRESS
Parrasch Heijnen Gallery
1326 S. Boyle Avenue
Los Angeles, California
-
Highlights from the transporting Cruise 2026 showsThe Cruise 2026 season began yesterday with a Chanel show at Lake Como, heralding the start of a series of jet-setting, destination runway shows from fashion’s biggest houses
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to knowDesigning the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spotHeritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
Ai Weiwei’s new public installation is coming soon to Four Freedoms State Park‘Camouflage’ by Ai Weiwei will launch the inaugural Art X Freedom project in September 2025, a new programme to investigate social justice and freedom
-
Leonard Baby's paintings reflect on his fundamentalist upbringing, a decade after he left the churchThe American artist considers depression and the suppressed queerness of his childhood in a series of intensely personal paintings, on show at Half Gallery, New York
-
Unlike the gloriously grotesque imagery in his films, Yorgos Lanthimos’ photographs are quietly beautifulAn exhibition at Webber Gallery in Los Angeles presents Yorgos Lanthimos’ photography
-
Desert X 2025 review: a new American dream grows in the Coachella ValleyWill Jennings reports from the epic California art festival. Here are the highlights
-
Cowboys and Queens: Jane Hilton's celebration of culture on the fringesPhotographer Jane Hilton captures cowboy and drag queen culture for a new exhibition and book
-
New gallery Rajiv Menon Contemporary brings contemporary South Asian and diasporic art to Los Angeles'Exhibitionism', the inaugural showcase at Rajiv Menon Contemporary gallery in Hollywood, examines the boundaries of intimacy
-
Helmut Lang showcases his provocative sculptures in a modernist Los Angeles home‘Helmut Lang: What remains behind’ sees the artist and former fashion designer open a new show of works at MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House
-
'We need to be constantly reminded of our similarities' – Jonathan Baldock challenges the patriarchal roots of a former Roman temple in LondonThrough use of ceramics and textiles, British artist Jonathan Baldock creates a magical and immersive exhibition at ‘0.1%’ at London's Mithraum Bloomberg Space
