Southern California is experiencing something of an art gallery gold rush. In the last quarter, a flurry of traditionally East Coast-anchored names has announced new outposts in Los Angeles, including Pace, Lisson, Sean Kelly and The Hole, which anchor the city during events like the relatively nascent Frieze Los Angeles fair. Explore the best Los Angeles exhibitions to visit under the California sun
Los Angeles exhibitions: current
Caleb Stein: ‘Down by the Hudson’
Rose Gallery, Santa Monica
Until 29 October
Against a backdrop of the often abrasive and polarised political discourse in America, Caleb Stein’s series Down by the Hudson is a moving counterpoint. Photographed at a popular Poughkeepsie watering hole, which felt like a ‘modern-day Eden’ to Stein. In the intimate black and white photos displayed at the artist’s Los Angeles exhibition, it’s as if political divisions wash away in its silk-like waters. Amidst the muddy banks and sweeping branches, the town’s residents are distanced from the strains of post-industrialisation. It’s a powerful reminder to savour the moments in which tensions are quiet.
‘Objects of Desire: Photography and the Language of Advertising’
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Until 18 December 2022
What is art without manipulation? What is advertising photography without seduction? A new group show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will prove that in these two worlds, the exchange flows both ways. The exhibition – including work by Victoria Fu, Roe Ethridge, Jo Ann Callis, Sarah Charlesworth, and Hank Willis Thomas, delves into how artists have borrowed the motifs and strategies of commercial photography and reimagined them for a fine art context.
Los Angeles exhibitions: upcoming
‘Solaire Culture’, by Veuve Clicquot
468 North Rodeo Drive building, Los Angeles
26 October - 16 November 2022
‘Solaire Culture’ will make its US debut featuring commissioned work by leading contemporary female artists that have responded to the heritage of Veuve Clicquot and the free-spirited sensibilities of Madame Clicquot, accompanied by a selection of archival objects from Veuve Clicquot’s collection. For the show, which forms part of the Veuve Clicquot’s 250th anniversary celebrations, French curator Camille Morineau united ten trailblazing female artists for the first time: Yayoi Kusama, Sheila Hicks, Tacita Dean, Inès Longevial, Cece Philips, Rosie McGuinness, Olimpia Zagnoli, Pénélope Bagieu, Moyoco Anno and Monique Frydman, with scenography by Constance Guisset.