Welcome to Wet Paint in the Wild, the freewheeling—and free!—spinoff of Artnet News Pro’s beloved Wet Paint gossip column, where we give art-world insiders a disposable camera to chronicle their lives on the circuit. To read the latest Wet Paint column, click here (members only).
The dust has settled on another raucous Frieze Los Angeles, where Hollywood-types mingled with the art world up and down Sunset Boulevard and beyond. To get another pair of eyes on the ground, I enlisted the help of abstract painter Lucy Bull, who lives and works in Tinsel Town (and who will open a show with David Kordansky Gallery in the city on May 11), to try and capture the energy. Let’s take a look at how her week went…
—Annie Armstrong
I have a berry tree outside of my studio that attracts parrots. I wish I could include audio because it’s a real pandemonium and the sound is the best part. It doesn’t happen every day but it’s consistently around 4pm when they show up.
Here, Tristan explains how everyone should be single for a year.
Omari Douglin says “Peace” in front of his painting during the opening of his exhibition “boutique O” at Matthew Brown.
Artist (and frequent collaborator with Omari/co-founder of Room 3557) Adrienne Maki poses in front of Omari’s installation. I thought her Comme outfit perfectly matched the required shoe covers but I realize you can’t really make any of that out… The vibe at the opening felt like a fashion mixer down to the music (a mix of Larry Heard).
After Omari’s opening, I booked it to Santa Monica to see my dear friend John Garcia’s show at Del Vaz Projects. Del Vaz is an alternative space based out of Jay Ezra’s home, which also happens to be the childhood home of Shirley Temple. There was a big dinner celebrating its ten year anniversary. I came right in time to slide in line with artist Kelly Akashi. I particularly liked the chef’s shirt (the food was good too!).
After dinner, John’s band/collective Gushy performed in the courtyard. I had been enjoying their new album in the studio all week so it was a real treat to see them perform live.
Bibbe Hansen (of Warhol’s Factory) even performed a “Blessing for Gushy.”
Made it to the Gaylord Apartments show to see Bradley Kronz’s show. Bad photo but I find it amusing because I stayed behind an extra hour, eyeing the door in hopes of getting a snap of Leo DiCaprio. Turns out Leo never came and it was just a rumor that Shulan (of LOMEX) started.
Here artist Nora Berman is telling me how last time she was at the Gaylord, she signed Emile Hirsch’s name in the guestbook.
Nora was positive that Joseph Geagan (artist/co-founder of Gaylord) fell for it when she saw him clock Hirsch’s name in the guestbook but Geagan told me otherwise…
On Sunday, I attended the screening of Jordan Wolfson’s Body Sculpture (2023, courtesy of Gagosian). The screening was held at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills and was followed by a conversation between Wolfson and Johanna Burton of MOCA.
Musician Harmony Tividad poses with Jordan and her mom Wendy outside of the theater. It was my first time meeting Wendy, but her reputation as a psychic healer truly precedes her.
After the screening, a group of us dined at The Grill. Pictured from left to right: Juliana McCarthy (astrologer), Ariana Papademetropolous (artist), Jordan, Matt Copson (artist), Aeon (ritualist), Isabelle Albuquerque (artist), me, Harmony and Francis Brady (cofounder of Adworld). We had a bit of a Larry David moment when we saw that we were charged $74 for four bottles of Hallstein water (curious what kind of rating Amalia Ulman would give it…).
I loved “Emma Dreaming of California” at GAGA, a Marc Camille Chaimowicz show which took the idea of Madame Bovary falling in love and moving to California as its starting point.
GAGA sweetie/gallerist Fernando Mesta reclines on one of the Chaimowicz rugs as he points out all of the Fairfax flea market finds he added as per Chaimowicz’s instruction.
Even the beret was found in LA!
After squeezing in some studio time, I caught the tail end of the Yacht Club party hosted by LOMEX, Gaylord Apartments and O-Townhouse. This party was arguably the most horny of the week with its two dancers and a DJ set from Los Angeles mainstays Jasmine Johnson + Avalon Lurks.
At home, Bikini Crucifixion no. 14 (2021) by Elizabeth Englander (another GAGA artist) hangs above my bed.