Lauren Halsey to Debut New Works at Gagosian New York
Bringing a slice of South Central LA to Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Summary
- Lauren Halsey has announced an exhibition of new works at Gagosian’s Park & 75th gallery
- On view will be new works from her celebrated plaza sign and protruded engravings series
- The installation will be on view from November 14 through December 20
Hot off the heels of her sold-out solo booth at Frieze London, Lauren Halsey is set to grace New York with a touch of West Coast flair in a new exhibition opening at Gagosian‘s Upper East Side outpost next month. Drawing on the aesthetics of her hometown, South Central, the presentation will debut new works that ruminate on the mythos of Los Angeles and Black American life at large.
On view will be a new, six-foot-tall sculpture from her plaza sign series. Riffing on the visual aesthetic and palettes found on Black and brown-owned business signage, the work confronts the crucial roles community members and institutions play when their neighborhoods are faced with economic inequality, systemic racism, state violence, gentrification and displacement.
“These works grow out of my desire to create a vocabulary and practice that exists somewhere beyond celebration and preservation,” the artist explained. “They represent my dreamscape for a plaza and my yearning to create a unique portrait of a place. I celebrate how color, text and informal language are used in my neighborhood to articulate the promise of a business or community institution.”
Additionally, her monochrome sculptural reliefs from the protruded engravings series (2022–) trace Black culture in Los Angeles through history and myth, while recalling new technical directions that emerged from her stint in Harlem. Akin to ancient hieroglyphs, these engravings transform South Central’s everyday people and places into icons of alternative temporal visions, bridging its vibrant community and culture with Afro-diasporic mythologies, funk music, personal memory and collective history.
Building on concepts from the artist’s recent projects, namely her 2023 Met rooftop commission and sculpture park and garden set to open in LA in spring 2026, Halsey’s forthcoming exhibition raises a toast to the hometown heroes.
Gagosian Park & 75
821 Park Ave,
New York, NY 10021
