LA Story
Hauser & Wirth, West Hollywood
September 12 – January 4, 2025
L.A. Story, currently on view at Hauser & Wirth’s West Hollywood gallery, features art that thematically stretches beyond the sun-splashed and traffic-choked cityscape of the 1991 movie it was inspired by. The film has been described as Steve Martin’s love letter to Los Angeles, with the compact exhibit serving as the curators’ own love letter to the arts community that has sprung up in the film’s wake.
Screen (ocean), 2011, Acrylic, screen ink and UV cured print on canvas over panel, 152.4 x 121.9 cm / 60 x 48 in
© Kevin Appel Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth; Photo: Brian Forrest
In interviews conducted over Microsoft Teams and in person at the gallery, co-curator Mike Davis said that the film is beloved by many L.A. artists, and that he helped conceive the show to celebrate the artists who have embraced the city as their muse.
“Some of the works in the exhibition feel like they’re related to particular (film) scenes and others [are] toggling more generally to the idea of an L.A. story,” said Davis. “There are these moments that really reference specific elements of the film, but [the exhibit] is by no means illustrative.”
Martin, an avid art collector, was an enthusiastic participant, contributing artwork from his own collection. He also worked with the curators on the narrative arc of the show.
When the Hilltop Gets Heavy, 2016. Mixed media on canvas; 199.4 x 381 x 5.7 cm / 78 1/2 x 150 x 2 1/4 in
© Mark Bradford. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Joshua White
“When we started the dialogue with [Martin], he was very tickled by the idea that the art world would be responding to [the film],” co-curator Ingrid Schaffner said in a Microsoft Teams interview. “So, it was kind of an invitation for an openness in our approach.”
When the movie was released, Los Angeles was not seen as a major player in the art world. LACMA had opened its modern art wing (then called the Anderson building) only five years before. That was soon followed by Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) downtown. Moreover, the L.A. gallery scene wasn’t yet on the radar of serious art buyers.
Untitled, 1990. Oil on canvas, 60.3 x 91.4 x 1.9 cm / 23 3/4 x 36 in 63.5 x 94.6 x 5.1 cm / 25 x 37 1/4 in (framed)
© The Estate of Luchita Hurtado; Courtesy The Estate of Luchita Hurtado and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Keith Lubow
According to Davis, it was de rigeur for Los Angeles collectors to hop on a plane to New York to purchase the creations of L.A. artists rather than frequent galleries in their own backyard.
The exhibit pays tribute to how far L.A. has come. At the gallery, Davis pointed out that it was Mark Grotjahn – represented in the show by Untitled (Baby Dragon No. 5 Face 48.80) (2017) – whose first (and very successful) solo show at Blum & Poe (now BLUM gallery) helped usher in L.A. as an art center. Now, most prominent international galleries (including Hauser & Wirth) have an L.A. presence.
“You have a lot more eyes on what’s being made here,” said Davis. “I think there are also so many galleries, both international and within the U.S., that are trying to set up an outpost here because they want to be a part of that dialogue.”
Storms Never Last (study), 2023. Oil on canvas, 76.1 x 61 x 3.8 cm / 30 x 24 x 1 1/2 in. © Friedrich Kunath, Courtesy Friedrich Kunath and Studio FK, Inc. Photo: Dawn Blackman
The L.A. conversation begins at the front of the gallery with three paintings depicting swimming pools, recalling the bird’s eye view of the film’s opening. The commanding works by David Hockney, Eric Fischl and Calida Rawles convey very different emotions, ranging from freedom to isolation and identity. Fischl’s familial Barbeque (1982), in which nothing is quite as it should be, stands in contrast to Hockney’s peaceful landscape The Little Splash (1966), both pieces from Martin’s collection.
Another Martin contribution, Carlos Almaraz,’ Diagonal Traffic in Mint Green (1985), is a rendering of speeding traffic on a high bridge. It’s one of several works that harken back to one of the film’s predominant themes – L.A. traffic. At the gallery, Almarez’ painting is hung next to Catherine Opie’s stark black and white photographic prints of freeways (Untitled #22 and Untitled #3), both from 1994.
The L.A. roads also loom large in the works of two of L.A,’s luminaries, Ed Ruscha’s Alvarado to Doheny (1998) and Mark Bradford’s When the Hilltop Gets Heavy (2016), both documenting the labyrinth streets of L.A.
Untitled (Portrait), 2024, Inkjet on canvas. 218.4 x 126.4 cm / 86 x 49 3/4 in. © Richard Prince, Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Keith Lubow
The fate of Martin’s character unfolds courtesy of a sage truth teller in the form of an electronic Caltrans freeway sign. The iconic image of Martin staring at the sign with the message that “L.A. wants to help u” flashing above, dominates Richard Prince’s faux Instagammed, untitled (Portait) (2024).
Vija Celmins’ Gun with Hand #2 (1964), one of the first times the artist referenced a violent image, is correlated with the film’s road rage scene. Jennifer Rochlin’s ceramic vessel, Kiss Her Again (2024), pays tribute to the romance between Martin and Victoria Tennant’s characters, which is the heart of the film. (The two actors were married at the time L.A. Story was released).
Greetings from L.A.: A Novel, 1972. Offset lithograph on paper, paperback, 20.3 x 13.3 cm / 8 x 5 1/2 inches (closed), pp. 240. © Allen Ruppersberg; Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Keith Lubow
L.A. as a star-making machine can’t be avoided in any exhibit about the city: John Baldessari’s Pictures & Scripts: Franklin despised his job at the ketchup plant (2015), displays an actual film script that was sent to the artist containing the lines, “The movie business is all about people wanting to be famous. It’s all car rage.” (The name of the script is unknown, according to Davis).
Davis says that Paul Sietsema’s Blue phone painting (2024), depicting a rotary phone off the hook, pays tribute to the instrument that allowed the town’s dealmaking to be done in the analog era.
The exhibit also nods to a societal issue pervading the city today. Henry Taylor’s Untitled (2022), is an installation of a shopping cart bursting with mismatched bicycle tires, which Davis said the artist found near his Skid Row studio. The film, L.A. Story, took lighthearted swipes at the culture (even the road rage scene is played for laughs). Taylor’s piece, referencing the unhoused population, is a reminder that some L.A. stories remain out of reach of a happy ending.
Cover image: Florian Maier-Aichen, Untitled, 2023. C-print, 123.5 x 157.8 x 3.8 cm / 48 5/8 x 62 1/8 x 1 1/2 in (framed) © Florian Maier-Aichen; Courtesy of the artist and BLUM Los Angeles, Tokyo, New York. Photo: Justin Craun
