L.A.’S ENCHANTING STORY

Florian Maier-Aichen. Untitled 2023. ©Florian Maier-Aichen. Courtesy of the artist and BLUM Los Angeles, Tokyo, New York. Photo: Justin Craun

Everyone has a story with L.A., even if you just drove through it. It’s the beauty of the exhibition at Hauser & Wirth’s West Hollywood gallery. The show titled “L.A. Story”, is based on the 1991 Steve Martin’s film of the same name, both caustic and romantic, in love with the city but looking at it with an ironic eye. But it is also a story anyone curates in their head. For me, it’s the summer of 1968 living on Cold Water Canyon in the hills above L.A., the blue swimming pool in the cool night, the voices on KNXFM playing in the family Ford Mustang as we drove around Los Angeles in the hot August afternoon, the double features in movie theaters, going to the beach in Santa Monica at night, spending evenings with Joan Cohn, the Columbia picture founder’s widow, the hot tar under my feet as my 16 year old self walked barefoot, going to see Gone with the Wind with Beau Bridges and his sister. These are some of my L.A. stories.

Mark Bradford. When the Hilltop Gets Heavy 2016 Mixed media on canvas. ©Mark Bradford. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Joshua White

Co-curated by Steve Martin, the Hauser & Wirth show presents a cross generational selection of great artists, each having a different connection to the metropolis: Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Chris Burden, Hillary Pecis, Vija Celmins, Richard prince, John Baldessari, Florian Maier-Aichen among others.

Friedrich Kunath. Storms Never Last (study) 2023. Oil on canvas. ©Friedrich Kunath. Courtesy Friedrich Kunath and Studio FK, Inc. Photo: Dawn Blackman

The show opens, of course, with a splash: quintessential L.A. backyard swimming pools by David Hockney, Eric Fischl and Calida Rawles. It features cars and freeways, and a monumental and stunning Mark Bradford map of the city, When the Hilltop Gets Heavy. A painting, Called Storms never Last, by Friedrich Kunath, is there as a tribute to the 1952 Gene Kelly - Stanley Donen masterpiece, Singing in the Rain. There’s even Vija Celims’ gun, Gun with a hand #2, echoing a famous scene in Steve Martin's movie when drivers, in the throes of road rage on a freeway, start shooting at each other, like in a Western shot in L.A. 

The unique beauty of Los Angeles and its pull is the blending of the banal and the achingly enchanted and poetic which is not found anywhere else. 

Steve Martin has not only been an inspiration for the show. He has also been for many years a major collector. He has contributed to the rise of Los Angeles as one of the world’s most dynamic and fascinating art scenes. L.A. is a never ending story.

~Jean-Sébastien Stehli 

Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Keith Lubow

L.A. Story. Hauser & Wirth West Hollywood. Until January 4, 2025. hauserwirth.com