David Zwirner's LA Chapter

There are many different hearts of Los Angeles depending on who you ask. For gallerist David Zwirner, it is in Melrose Hill, on the corner of an unassuming residential street and the bustling North Western Avenue that is home to art-world neighbors such as Morán Morán, Clearing, James Fuentes, and Southern Guild, among others.

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This week Zwirner’s new, three-story flagship on the block brings his number of LA locations to three (two of which opened last year), all next-door to each other. The inaugural exhibition is also a celebration of the gallery’s 30th anniversary. A vine-covered fence opens up to the white-walled structure designed by Selldorf Architects, and a custom billboard by the legendary cartoonist R. Crumb halos the space. The sprawling, 15,000-square-foot compound is sunlit and spacious with rooms that pour out into outdoor spaces like a rooftop with panoramic views of the city. 

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In the entrance, a vibrant, nature-filled painting by Marcel Dzama, aptly titled Mother nature plays her farewell song, 2023, sets the tone. What follows is a spectacular and slightly overwhelming display of works—98 in total—from every artist on Zwirner’s star-studded, international roster. This cross-generational dialogue ranges from historical to brand new. There is a Ruth Asawa sculpture, an Ad Reinhardt blue painting, a Barbara Kruger mural up the stairway, two new small and tender scenes by Michael Armitage, a Nefertiti bust by Isa Genzken, a Jordan Wolfson print on brass, a series of Yayoi Kusama paintings, documentation of a Rirkrit Tiravanja performance from 1993, a black hole by the late Richard Serrra, a 2024 bronze sculpture by Huma Bhabha, and a delightful cookie monster with a mouthful of mushrooms by Katherine Bernhardt (also 2024).

“There’s a lot of art and a lot of architecture,” the gallery owner  says of his trifecta of art spaces (plus a bookstore), as guests trickle into the outdoor terrace where he is speaking and gather around tables. Many artists made works specifically for the show, Zwirner shares, listing Portia Zvavahera and Dana Schutz, among others. They each also had a say in how their work was staged, not a small feat when you are working with over 80 artists and estates.

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For Zwirner, every project begins with his artists in mind. Why LA? “Artists love it so much,” he offers of the environment. “These wonderful museums are growing faster than in New York. It’s really conducive to a gallery space.”

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The first Zwirner outpost in LA was born during the pandemic, when the eponym came to visit—”I was the only guest at the Beverly Hills Hotel,” he laughs. The space he is standing in today was the only location he looked at. (Two of the lots belong to furniture stores that he rents from.) The German art dealer looked up the street lined with classic Los Angeles-style architecture and saw the Hollywood sign like a banner across the northern hills. This, he decided, was the total center of the town. 

Before Annabelle Selldorf—who has designed every gallery to-date—excavated the 7-foot ceilings and created a new floor plan, the architect and Zwirner discussed how to tell a story that connects the new and old spaces. “He’s my favorite person to work with because I understand what he wants,” she says of their three-decade-long partnership which has yielded 12 locations (with one more forthcoming in New York next year). “We talk about scale; we talk about proportion; we talk about light, and ahead of everything, we talk about art…. We explore.”

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This careful approach from design to curation is present in the Zwirner’s layout and how it is used. In the flagships’s first room, there is an early ‘90s mixed-media work by newly represented artist Raymond Saunders. Nearby, a neon sculpture by Jason Rhoades (Down Under, 2003) is installed next to a photograph by Thomas Ruff, d.z.g.01, 2023, that mirrors its neighbor’s colorful and grid-like arrangement. 

From there, the new space doubles into rooms on each side, and then some. The spacious nature lends itself to multiple atmospheres at once, and each room vibrates with a different energy. Upstairs, a skylight-lit corner room is sparse and calming: Blinky Palermo’s steel, “T” shaped sculpture, Ohne Titel (Untitled),1973, hangs from one side, facing an equally austere aluminum wall-work by Donald Judd from two decades later. The room is rounded out with a textured, white painting by Robert Ryman made between 1996 and 1997 and a 2021 mixed-media work by Christopher Williams emblazoned with black font that lists out: “wall coverings, picture frames, photographs, arrangements." The effect is a welcome pause from the surrounding frenetic and exuberant energy one level down. 

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Next door, in the smallest gallery, four thin strings of dual light-blue and earthy red-toned yarn hang from the ceiling into the floor in Fred Sandback’s simple yet evocative Untitled (Four-part Vertical Construction), 1988. In the middle gallery, Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ 1993 string of lightbulbs (also untitled) emit a warm glow. 

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In the back of the third building, the hum of art-world chatter fills the air as the crowd convenes to process the art, and make game plans for seeing the rest of the show or beating traffic to head home to make deadlines. Harmony Difo, a LA-based travel writer, observes how the flagship, with its outdoor amenities and neighboring galleries, is a welcome attraction for locals and art-lovers visiting the city alike. I agree as I scan the space; it does feel like a destination. 

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“David Zwirner: 30 Years” is now on view through August 3, 2024, across David Zwirner’s galleries at 606, 612, and 616 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90004.