John Currin Has First Solo LA Show in Over Decade at Gagosian
Los Angeles loves to throw a party. And during the week leading up to the Academy Awards, party-throwing prowess is on full display. There are soirées by Vanity Fair, the Weinstein Company, and Bulgari—just to name a few. No wonder the art world of LA is jumping on that train with a bunch of openings.
Gagosian Gallery is the master at availing itself of the big guns visiting LA during this high-flown week; the last four years, the art world monolith has brought forth fantastical openings by Urs Fischer, Richard Prince, and Taryn Simon (also known in LA environs as Gwyneth’s sister-in-law). This year, art world monolith Gagosian gives an opening on Thursday, February 19, with John Currin´s first solo show in LA in nearly a decade.
OHWOW, who back in 2012 exhibited photographer/bad boy Terry Richardson to the tune of over 2,000 people banging on their doors, is opting for a group show curated by artist Torey Thornton. Some Stew You Got Inside Your Plastic Bag, and You Always Organize The Parts So Close, a three-person exhibition, opens Saturday, February 21, featuring the work of Brian Belott, Eric Mack, and Noam Rappaport. Al Moran, who co-owns the gallery with his brother Mills, noted that for Some Stew… Thornton has grouped three artists that work in very different methods, but are pulled together here by color and material as well as formal relationships “that weren’t so readily apparent previously but are now very clear.”
Over at Kohn Gallery another group show opens Saturday, entitled Land, Air, See, with Frank Stella, Joe Goode, Carl Andre, Larry Bell, Pier Paolo Calzolari, John McLaughlin and Ettore Spalletti. Mr. Kohn openings have been peppered with celebrity collectors and fans ranging from Katy Perry and Leonardo DiCaprio to art advisor Esthella Provas and philanthropist and patron Maria Bell. This particular show will be a simple and spare one that aims to demonstrate reductive practices, distillations, and deconstructionism; in essence, it will be the perfect antithesis to the glitz and glamour that mark this Hollywood moment.
“Of course, everyone likes a good party; but this week is about movies. After they win their awards, they can come to the gallery and celebrate by acquiring a Larry Bell or Frank Stella.” Kohn
via artnet News.