Influx of Young Artists Fuels Los Angeles Art Scene Boom

Its no secret that the art scene in Los Angeles is growing like never before with the downtown arts district and the Hollywood gallery scene undergoing a growth spurt of sorts. Now, more and more up-and-coming artists are choosing to relocate there, according to Kevin McGarry in the New York Times‘s T Magazine, “adding momentum to the city’s burgeoning status as an art capital to rival New York, London, and Berlin.”

David Benjamin Sherry, Tangerine Sweep, Death Valley (2012).Photo: Benjamin Sutton.

David Benjamin Sherry, Tangerine Sweep, Death Valley (2012).
Photo: Benjamin Sutton.

While the plentiful light and space of the West Coast has long been a lure for artists, the story runs down the latest crop of new residents, where they arrived from, what their work is like, and who their respective local dealers are. Tellingly, some are such recent transplants that they have no LA representation, yet. Beyond that, it reads like a list of  hot artists to watch including:

Liz Craft

Sam Falls (Hannah Hoffman Gallery)

Gabriel Kuri (Regen Projects)

Silke Otto-Knapp (Gavin Brown’s Enterprise)

David Benjamin Sherry (Salon 94 in New York and OHWOW in Los Angeles)

Amalia Ulman (LTD Los Angeles)

Jordan Wolfson (David Zwirner in New York and Sadie Coles HQ in London)

Amy Yao (Canal 47 in New York)

McGarry also notes that Thomas Demand and Ryan Trecartin both relocated to the West Coast in 2010.

Wolfson says “I have my studio, my house, and my small life.” Ali Subotnick, a curator at the Hammer Museum who moved from New York in 2006, says, “In LA, artists can test things out without the glare of the spotlight.” The dominance of the entertainment industry is actually a good thing she says: “Artists are able to work on the sidelines.”

 

 

 

 

 


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