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The dazzling dance of sunlight on glistening pool water, majestic royal palms bringing a landscape to life and breathtaking fiery sunsets painting the skies in front of Hollywood’s iconic hills. These are just a few of the captivating images that embody the spirit of Los Angeles in Hauser & Wirth’s “L.A. Story,” a show masterminded by actor and art aficionado Steve Martin alongside the gallery’s senior curatorial director Ingrid Schaffner and senior director Mike Davis. Named for Martin’s 1991 film that portrays a whimsical and satirical exploration of life in L.A., the gallery exhibition honors the city of stars by showcasing the work of artists inspired by its one-of-a-kind allure.
The film, which follows television weatherman Harris K. Telemacher (played by Martin) as he searches for meaning, includes several nods to art and, more specifically, art in Los Angeles. In one scene, Harris glides through the galleries of LACMA on roller skates, and the petals of the Van Gogh sunflowers blow in the breeze as he passes by. In another, he offers friends in an art gallery a vivid interpretation of a painting’s erotic intensity—“It’s almost filthy… He’s about to kiss her, she’s pulling away a little…the way his leg is smashed up against her”—before the shot reverses to reveal a color field painting by Helen Frankenthaler.
Visitors shouldn’t expect to find a one-to-one concordance with the film, however. This is Martin’s attempt to capture the emotional essence of Los Angeles, with David Hockney’s iconic pools, as well as other images of swimming and diving by artists like Eric Fischl and Calida Rawles. The exhibition “L.A. Story” also unpacks the city’s driving culture, with landmarks captured by Ed Rusha and dreamy, or perhaps toxic, photographs of the coast of Malibu by Florian Maier-Aichen paired with monumental canvases by Mark Bradford, reflecting L.A.’s stratification and the impermanence of most of its tangible expressions. A meta reflection on the mechanics of movies is provided by Vija Celmin’s cinematic close-up of a hand firing a gun, which not only brings to mind classic film noir and Westerns from the old Hollywood studios but also recalls a scene from Martin’s film where a shootout occurs between aggressive drivers speeding along the Wild West that is L.A.’s freeways.
“I’m thrilled that ‘L.A. Story’ is the focus of so many wonderful artists and a wonderful gallery, Hauser & Wirth, which is just across the street from the Troubadour, where I first stepped foot on Santa Monica Blvd., which began my L.A. sojourn,” Martin said in a statement.
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The actor is a long-time art lover and collector and has played a major role in supporting the city’s art institutions and has been actively involved in the organization of some exhibitions, including the first major survey of paintings by Canadian artist Lawren Harris held in 2016 at the Hammer Museum before it traveled to other major venues like the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He wrote a full-length play about a fictional meeting between Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein, “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.” If you’re lucky, you might spot Martin at an art fair or an auction.
Martin’s personal art collection reportedly includes masterpieces by some of the most renowned artists: Pablo Picasso, Georges Seurat, Edward Hopper, Roy Lichtenstein and others. He also wrote a novel that takes place in the art world, “An Object of Beauty,” which narrates the life of an ambitious young woman working in New York’s art scene in a fairly accurate behind-the-scenes look at the dynamics of power and business. A memorable quote from the book comments on attitudes inherent in the art system: “When you work in the art world, everything you see seems to have significance. It’s like a mind trick. The whole point is to present and create an aura. But aura is something you can’t manufacture—it’s a reflection of what you bring to it.”
“L.A. Story” opens at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles on September 12 and will be on view through January 2025.
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