Heir apparent: Alex Israel disrupts the Huntington's stately air with new work
![The artist Alex Israel](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QQCVSxBpQG6ki7HNpSd8zR-415-80.jpg)
Past and present visions of Southern California’s culture are juxtaposed in a clever installation in San Marino, set within the Huntington estate – an elegant mansion and gardens dating to 1911, 12 miles from downtown LA.
Interposed among the historic collection of Gilded Age collectors Henry and Arabella Huntington – who established the house as a nonprofit culture space and art gallery opened to the public in 1919 – are contemporary works by Alex Israel, created between 2012–2015 and on view until July.
Arranged much like a treasure hunt, two new murals (as well as 16 paintings and sculptures by Israel) inhabit the Beaux Arts building, the Huntingdons' former residence – now also home to one of the most comprehensive collection of British and French art from the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States.
Superficially, Israel’s pastel-colored interpretations of contemporary LA iconography and celebrity culture create a disruptive presence in the unusual setting – but Israel, who grew up in Los Angeles, has an enduring personal connection with the place, having visited the Huntington since he was a child growing up in the city. 'The Huntington is one of those places that’s in the DNA of native Angelenos, so the idea of doing something here was very attractive to Alex – both Alex Israel and Henry Huntington are/were in love with Southern California,' explains director of art collections and show curator Kevin Salatino.
The introduction of Israel’s works is part of a series of periodic interventions in the mansion, initiated by Salatino and co-curator Catherine Hess, inviting contemporary artists to create dialogues with the collection that will appeal to its varied visitors. This also happens to be Israel’s first exhibition at an institute in Los Angeles. The placement (or displacement) of Israel’s work elicits parallels that trace the development of regional culture and taste, and touch on Californian clichés and pastiche. While the interventions are at times forceful and undoubtedly provocative, the interjection of these recent works put aspects of SoCal identity then and now into a tidy contrast. As Salatino enthuses, 'It’s revelatory and transformative – and, quite frankly, beautiful – and it certainly makes you think about the house in entirely new ways.'
Outside the Thornton Portrait Gallery, which houses the Huntington’s renowned collection of European oil paintings, hang a series of three Israel self-portraits, including Self Portrait (Dodgers), 2014–2015. In the artist's acrylic and fiberglass work, he is dressed in the iconic satin LA Dodgers blue jacket – its scintillating texture a clear allusion to one of the Huntingdon collection’s most famous works, Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, 1770, an oil painting of a young boy in an sapphire satin suit.
Meanwhile, Israel draws other direct visual references between the history of Los Angeles’ cultural iconography. Risky Business is inspired by a prop from Tom Cruise’s 1983 film, and is here installed under an 18th century crystal chandelier on the mantel of the opulent dining room.
Elsewhere, the interactions between old and new are thickly sardonic. Upstairs, the entire gallery is covered with a new commission, for which Israel enlisted the help of a scene-painter. The mural, titled In-N-Out, recreates plants from the estate’s beloved cactus garden.
The juxtaposition of old and new traces the development of regional culture and taste, and touches on Californian clichés and pastiche. Pictured: Self-Portrait (Selfie and Studio Floor), by Alex Israel, 2014; Lady Frances (Finch) Courtenay, by Thomas Hudson, c.1741; Anne Kirke, by Anthony van Dyck, ca.1637; Lady Essex Finch, by Peter Lely, c.1675; Self-Portrait (Signature), by Alex Israel, 2014.
Israel's Self-Portrait (Wetsuit), 2015, is situated among 18th-century French tapestries in the Huntington's large library.
Upstairs, the entire gallery is covered with a new commission, for which Israel enlisted the help of a scene-painter. The mural recreates plants from the estate’s beloved cactus garden, and is titled In-N-Out, 2015.
Spot the difference – Israel’s Maltese Falcon, 2013, among a selection of Renaissance-era bronze sculptures.
The artist's Sky Backdrop, 2015, behind three Sevres biscuit porcelain figures atop an 18th-century French table.
Dressed in the iconic satin LA Dodgers blue jacket, Self Portrait (Dodgers), 2014–2015, clearly alludes to one of the Huntington’s most famous works, Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy (1770), an oil painting of a young boy in an sapphire satin suit.
INFORMATION
’Alex Israel at The Huntington’ is on view until 11 July. For more information, visit The Huntington’s website
ADDRESS
The Huntington
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Charlotte Jansen is a journalist and the author of two books on photography, Girl on Girl (2017) and Photography Now (2021). She is commissioning editor at Elephant magazine and has written on contemporary art and culture for The Guardian, the Financial Times, ELLE, the British Journal of Photography, Frieze and Artsy. Jansen is also presenter of Dior Talks podcast series, The Female Gaze.
-
Phaidon’s new Graphic Classics is a lavish greatest hits of graphic design
Graphic Classics is a compendium of seven centuries of visual culture, from the everyday and ephemeral to visionary works that reshaped our world
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s Chelsea
The new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
By Melina Keays Published
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
Alexander May, founder of LA studio Sized, on the joys of creative polymathy
Creative director Alexander May tells us of the multidisciplinary approach that drives his LA studio Sized and its offspring, a 5,000 sq ft event space and an exhibition series
By Hannah Silver Published
-
50 of America’s top creatives, photographed by Inez & Vinoodh
Photographed exclusively for Wallpaper* by Inez & Vinoodh, we present a portfolio of 50 creatives driving the current discourse on American culture and its dynamic evolution
By Dan Howarth Published
-
Los Angeles art exhibitions: the best shows to see in August
Read our pick of the best Los Angeles art exhibitions to see this month, from Gordon Parks at Pace Gallery to Intuit Dome's new public art collection
By Carole Dixon Last updated
-
Nona Faustine confronts the past in New York
Artist Nona Faustine reframes New York's colonial past in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum
By Hannah Silver Published
-
How the west won: Ivan McClellan is amplifying the intrepid beauty of Black cowboy culture
In his new book, 'Eight Seconds: Black Cowboy Culture', Ivan McClellan draws us into the world of Black rodeo. Wallpaper* meets the photographer ahead of his Juneteenth Rodeo
By Tracy Kawalik Published
-
Zanele Muholi celebrates South Africa’s Black LGBTI communities in LA and London
Zanele Muholi's portraits and sculptures are currently on show at Southern Guild Los Angeles and the Tate Modern, London
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Casa Bosques’ queer-themed book curation comes to New York’s East Village
In Pride Month 2024, Casa Bosques’ pop-up bookstore in The Standard hotel, East Village, offers a stylish haven for literary mavens
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Alicja Kwade and Agnes Martin in Los Angeles: time, temporality and perception
Artists Alicja Kwade and Agnes Martin are in dialogue at Pace Gallery, Los Angeles
By Emily McDermott Published