PRESENTATION: Alex Israel-Noir

Alex Israel explores and embraces pop culture as a global visual language. Deeply entwined with his hometown of Los Angeles, he traffics in the detritus of Hollywood film production while also inhabiting the roles of filmmaker, talk-show host, designer, and hologram. Israel’s art practice doubles as a brand, centered around a Southern Californian millennial lifestyle for which his iconic profile-in-shades Self-Portrait functions as a logo, mobilized across high-visibility platforms in the worlds of art, entertainment, fashion, and tech.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Gagosian Archive

Alex Israel’s paintings frequently draw on pop culture and entertainment, with an air of nostalgia, fantasy, escapism, joy, and humor. For his new solo exhibition titled “Noir”, which marks the LA-based artist’s first hometown show in nearly a decade, he showcases the City of Angels at night. The visitors are introduced into a reimagined Los Angeles. Israel, born and raised in LA, grounds his work in the visual and psychological disorientations of Hollywood noir, a genre that emerged alongside the global uncertainty of World War II. With Warner Bros. as his creative playground, Israel’s new paintings draw directly from the city’s layered past. The artist’s process is as intricate as the city he captures. Starting with photographs and sketches, Israel worked collaboratively with animators to create digital blueprints that evolved into the finished pieces. His attention to detail extended to selecting specific fan palm silhouettes and perfecting the purplish gradients of twilight skies. Painted by a Warner Bros. Scenic Art department artist, the final works are acrylic on canvas, carefully crafted, yet deliberately heightened to evoke a sense of cinematic unreality. Each painting captures a familiar yet disorienting LA streetscape, from the Troubadour to vintage gas stations and yogurt shops, all frozen in time. The absence of people and the presence of mannequins in lingerie shop windows evoke a dreamlike unease, a quality essential to the noir aesthetic. These scenes prompt a kaleidoscopic reflection: not just where are we, but when? Israel’s work transcends time, layering personal memory with the city’s mythos, resulting in a psychological tableau that feels both inviting and unsettling. The rich, candy-colored palettes and slick surfaces of his paintings seduce the viewer, echoing the duality of noir’s femme fatales. Yet, behind these vibrant façades lies a disquieting duplicity, heightened by exaggerated perspectives and theatrical lighting. His Los Angeles, though undeniably beautiful, is a city of illusions, simultaneously enchanting and untrustworthy. For those who share Israel’s deep connection to LA, Noir captures the paradoxical beauty of a city built on dreams and façades. The paintings’ seductive surfaces beckon viewers to look closer, revealing a deeper commentary on the fragility of memory and the power of illusion. “Hollywood Liquor,” one of Israel’s featured works, encapsulates this ethos: a brightly lit sign that reminds us that, in this city, even the ordinary can shimmer with cinematic magic.

Photo: Alex Israel, Shamrock Tattoo, 2024, Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 72 1/4 inches (121.9 x 183.5 cm), © Alex Israel, Photo: Josh White, Courtesy Gagosian

Info: Gagosian, 456 North Camden Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, USA, Duration: 9/1/2025- , Days & Hours: Postponed until further notice, https://gagosian.com/