A wealth of dynamic exhibitions descend upon Los Angeles this fall, like new paintings by Tahnee Lonsdale at Night Gallery to late luminary Alice Neel’s prismatic and unflinching portraits at David Zwirner.
Tahnee Lonsdale: “A billion tiny moons”
Night Gallery
September 14 — October 19, 2024
2276 E. 16th Street, Los Angeles, California 90021
Tahnee Lonsdale, “Many Lives, Many Masters, ” 2024, oil on canvas, 96 x 72 in (243.8 x 182.9 cm), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.
In a visionary second solo exhibition with Night Gallery, artist Tahnee Lonsdale offers a treasure trove of new ceramics and paintings that unearth the inner radiance of human life. Titled “A billion tiny moons,” thirteen paintings display the deft creative’s movement towards the beautifully undefinable, and gossamer-like figures ebb and flow in collective majesty. Each piece offers a magical vignette as if peering through smoky orbits of bronze, emerald, and amethyst at beguiling, feminine shadows in quiet moments of meditation and togetherness.
What we love: Viewers will encounter Lonsdale’s evolved techniques in a mesmeric collaging of matte and lucent oil paints over acrylics, culminating in a highly three-dimensional and animated presentation.
Shirazeh Houshiary: “The Sound of One Hand”
Lisson Gallery
September 13 — October 26, 2024
1037 N. Sycamore Avenue, Los Angeles 90038
Shirazeh Houshiary, “So Far So Near,” 2024, Pigment and pencil on Aquacryl on canvas and aluminium, 190 x 300 cm, 74 3/4 x 118 1/8 in, © Shirazeh Houshiary, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.
The masterful Shirazeh Houshiary unveils a visceral solo presentation with Lisson Gallery this fall—marking her first in Los Angeles in more than a decade. “The Sound of One Hand” offers the British artist’s latest explorations of the magnificent cosmos, skillfully closing in on its microscopic wonders. Perceiving elements of Zen Buddhism in her own meticulous practice, especially the sound of hand with pencil scraping into aluminum, Houshiary further summoned the teachings of transcendence from the physical to the spiritual. A series of otherworldly, abstract paintings beckon audiences by way of rich hues enhanced with shadows of calligraphy and meaningful phrases.
What we love: Works such as Enchanter (2024), Earth Lament (2023), So Far So Near (2024), and Aurora (2023) submerge viewers in hazy and fiery universes which appear at once peacefully organic and startlingly electronic.
Lita Albuquerque: “Earth Skin”
Michael Kohn Gallery
September 12 — October 19, 2024
1227 N Highland Ave Los Angeles CA 90038
Installation view of Lita Albuquerque: “Earth Skin,” courtesy of the artist and Michael Kohn Gallery.
On the festive occasion of The Getty’s Pacific Standard Time (PST) project: “Art and Science Collide,” ever-inspired artist Lita Albuquerque debuts her fourth presentation with Michael Kohn Gallery. The immersive installation and collection of paintings fuses Mother Nature’s grandeur with Albuquerque’s deeply-felt creative language. “Earth Skin,” a trance-inducing installation, utilizes decomposed granite to transport visitors atop the earth’s labyrinthine surface. Paintings brimmings with primal motifs kindle private conversations with the ancient and the intangible.
“Feet dancing above the earth, dancing with fervor, drumming, the increasing drumming of the feet not fragile on the fragile earth,” said Albuquerque.
What we love: “Earth Skin” stands as one of three, exploratory exhibitions offered by Albuquerque on the occasion of PST. This past June, her installation Malibu Line, curated by Ikram Lakhdhar, profoundly echoed a previous pigment earthwork. In addition, This Moment in Time unfolds as a gilded installation under open sky at Caltech Hall Pond Bridge, on display September 27–December 15.
Samuel Levi Jones: “abstraction of truth”
Vielmetter Los Angeles
September 21 — November 2, 2024
1700 S Santa Fe Ave #101, Los Angeles, CA 90021
Samuel Levi Jones delves into the philosophical and the historical with “abstraction of truth,” an engrossing new show at Vielmetter gallery. In his trademark practice of artistic deconstruction for the ultimate realization, Jones employs flags to investigate enduring colonial oppression. In a lyrical process of removing these emblems of authority and putting them back together again in indefinite forms, the artist rejoices in the freedom to challenge past, present, and future.
What we love: union jackass (2024) expertly weaves a deconstructed law book and a pulped British flag on canvas, while all that glitters (2024) fuses deconstructed and pulped finance books on canvas. The pieces stunningly imbue human emotion into living flags of social critique and a reverberating call for vital action.
“L.A. Story”
Hauser & Wirth
September 12, 2024 — January 4, 2025
8980 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069
In a dynamic partnership between Ingrid Schaffner, Senior Curatorial Director at Hauser & Wirth; Mike Davis, Senior Director; and contemporary icon Steve Martin, “L.A. Story” unfolds as a vibrant love letter to Los Angeles. The must-see show unites artists from multiple generations in honor of the 1991 American satire film of the same name, which was written by and starred the accomplished Martin. Calling to mind the movie’s comedic main character and his adoration of the art world, the exhibition journeys through the fantastical and the cinematic through the eyes of luminaries such as David Hockney, Florian Maier-Aichen, Mark Bradford, Ed Ruscha, and Vija Celmins.
What we love: Maier-Aichen’s Untitled (2023) photograph veils the pink, blue, and bronze Malibu coastline and sky with a Hollywood spell of irresistible illusion.
“At Home: Alice Neel in the Queer World”
David Zwirner
September 7 — November 2, 2024
606 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles 90004
Alice Neel, “Kris Kirsten,”1971, Oil on canvas, 47 7/8 x 30 inches, 121.6 x 76.2 cm, courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner.
Curated by Hilton Als, late luminary Alice Neel steeps audiences in the purely human at David Zwirner this fall, as the premier gallery connects prismatic and unflinching portraits created across the artist’s career which spotlight an array of individuals within queer communities. From fellow artists to philanthropists to politicians, “At Home: Alice Neel in the Queer World” illuminates the expressive story of someone within Neel’s circle of neighbors, colleagues, and friends. Notable works hail from leading museums and rarely seen private collections, basking viewers in a singular encounter with lush, multi-faceted paintings of congresswoman Bella Abzug, performance artist Annie Sprinkle, New York City Mayor Ed Koch, and many more. The dazzling show will travel to Victoria Miro in London from January 30-March 8, 2025.
“When she died in 1984, Neel had a great number of masterpieces to her credit, a galaxy of masterpieces, I would say, that bear witness to the terror we usually turn away from, having no language for it, namely alienation, disconnect, love,” said Als in the exhibition’s catalog essay.
What we love: Superbly published by David Zwirner Books, the coinciding catalog brims with the riveting insights of Als, as well as must-read, commissioned scholarship about Neel’s unparalleled artistry by Wayne Koestenbaum, Alex Fialho, and Evan Garza.
