Inspired by Steve Martin’s satirical City of Angels comedy—and blessed by the legend himself—“L.A. Story” will bring a group show about L.A.’s enchantments to Hauser & Wirth’s West Hollywood gallery. Though not a one-to-one response to the surreal 1991 film, the exhibition will have plenty of after-the-fact homages to key locations and scenes, including swimming pools (David Hockney, Eric Fischl and Calida Rawles), the coastline (Florian Maier-Aichen), the cityscape (Mark Bradford), major streets (Ed Ruscha) and Hollywood shootouts (Vija Celmin).
“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 Boulevard, which began my L.A. sojourn,” said Martin in a statement. This actually isn’t his first crossover with the L.A. art world: In 2015, he curated a show of landscape paintings by Lawren Harris at the Hammer.
