PRESENTATION: Art for a Safe and Healthy California

Jessie Homer French, Ghosts, 2012, Oil on canvas, 19 3/8 x 25 3/8 inches (49.2 x 64.5 cm), © Jessie Homer French, Courtesy GagosianThanks to the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California and its partnership with the arts community, California Independent Petroleum Association announced this month that it would withdraw a referendum on California’s landmark law (SB 1137) to protect neighborhoods from toxic oil drilling from the November ballot. As a result of this early win, the Campaign has become a general-purpose committee that aims to protect frontline communities from Big Oil’s next attempts at pollution and destruction for profit.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Gagosian Archive

“Art for a Safe and Healthy California” is an exhibition designed to provide valuable support for this crucial initiative. The highly successful benefit launched on April 9 with an extensively reported-on event at the gallery’s Beverly Hills location that raised more than $14 million for the Campaign. Gagosian is grateful to the artists who participated in the project at this critical first stage, a selection of works by artists was auctioned at Christie’s during their marquee sale week. A second set of works is now being presented for sale, also at Gagosian Beverly Hills.  Now the benefit exhibition “Art for a Safe and Healthy California”, is presented in Beverly Hills by the actor and activist Jane Fonda. As Jane Fonda said “I am thrilled to be able to use my love of art to propel the fight against climate injustice while simultaneously uplifting the work of these talented and generous artists,” said Fonda. “I am so fortunate to have Larry Gagosian and his LA team by my side as we continue to pursue a safer and healthier California”. The work featured in the exhibition represents a diverse array of mediums and approaches; much of it also reflects concern about the environment. In “Self-Portrait (Fins and Pier)” (2023), a recent entry in Alex Israel’s iconic Self-Portrait series, the artist’s Hitchcock-inspired profile logo frames a photorealistic painting of two quintessentially LA features, while in Richard Misrach’s photograph “Untitled (Acrobat Super Grid #8)” (2012), a pair of athletes perform, half-submerged, in the gray-green ocean. Shepard Fairey’s painting “Bliss at the Cliff’s Edge” (2024) also features a sea view, showing a couple reclining beneath a striped parasol as an oil rig looms from the water behind them. “We are at the cliff’s edge,” comments the artist, “when it comes to preventing the most catastrophic damage to the planet”. Nan Goldin took her photograph “Cupid and Psyche” (2010) in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, as part of a commissioned project titled “Scopophilia”. Pairing shots from throughout her career with new images of works from the Louvre’s collection, including the titular sculptural pair, the artist explores the intersection of desire and gender fluidity. Jessie Homer French’s canvas “Ghosts” (2012) depicts a stealth bomber—as eerily pale as a phantom—flying past an anonymous wind farm. Lonnie Holley employs found materials in a resonant fusion of metaphor and commemoration, while Y.Z. Kami’s mandala-like painting “Gold Dome” (2023–24) makes reference to Eastern and Western alchemical traditions and alludes to the “inner gold” of sacred art.

Participating artists: Jackie Amézquita, Andrea Bowers, Matt DiGiacomo, Shepard Fairey, Frank Gehry, Nan Goldin, Lonnie Holley, Jessie Homer French, Alex Israel, Y.Z. Kami, M (aka Michael Chow), Richard Misrach, Analia Saban, Tavares Strachan, and Hank Willis Thomas

Photo: Jessie Homer French, Ghosts, 2012, Oil on canvas, 19 3/8 x 25 3/8 inches (49.2 x 64.5 cm), © Jessie Homer French, Courtesy Gagosian

Info: Gagosian Gallery, 456 North Camden Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, USA, Duration: 18/7-30/8/2024, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-17:30, https://gagosian.com/

Richard Misrach, Untitled (Acrobat Super Grid #8), 2012, Pigment print mounted to Dibond, 63 1/2 x 83 1/4 inches (161.3 x 211.5 cm), © Richard Misrach, Courtesy Gagosian
Richard Misrach, Untitled (Acrobat Super Grid #8), 2012, Pigment print mounted to Dibond, 63 1/2 x 83 1/4 inches (161.3 x 211.5 cm), © Richard Misrach, Courtesy Gagosian

 

 

Nan Goldin, Cupid and Psyche, 2010, Archival pigment print, 41 x 59 inches (104 x 149.7 cm), Edition of 3 + 2 AP, © Nan Goldin, Courtesy the artist and Gagosian
Nan Goldin, Cupid and Psyche, 2010, Archival pigment print, 41 x 59 inches (104 x 149.7 cm), Edition of 3 + 2 AP, © Nan Goldin, Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

 

 

Analia Saban, Woven Angle Gradient as Weft, Cadmium Red Medium (Nine O’Clock) #3, 2024. Woven acrylic paint and linen thread on panel, 15 ¾ × 17 ¾ × 2 inches (40 × 45.1 × 5.1 cm) © Analia Saban, Courtesy the artist and Gagosian
Analia Saban, Woven Angle Gradient as Weft, Cadmium Red Medium (Nine O’Clock) #3, 2024. Woven acrylic paint and linen thread on panel, 15 ¾ × 17 ¾ × 2 inches (40 × 45.1 × 5.1 cm) © Analia Saban, Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

 

 

Y.Z. Kami, Gold Dome, 2023–24, Gold-leaf on linen, 18 1/2 x 20 inches (47 x 50.8 cm), © Y.Z. Kami, Photo: Owen Conway, Courtesy Gagosian
Y.Z. Kami, Gold Dome, 2023–24, Gold-leaf on linen, 18 1/2 x 20 inches (47 x 50.8 cm), © Y.Z. Kami, Photo: Owen Conway, Courtesy Gagosian

 

 

Left: Alex Israel, Self-Portrait (Fins and Pier), 2023, Acrylic on Sintra, 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cm), © Alex Israel, Courtesy Gagosian Right: Shepard Fairey, Bliss at the Cliff's Edge, 2024, Spray paint, collage, and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 44 inches (152.4 x 111.8 cm), © Shepard Fairey, Photo: Ed Mumford, Courtesy the artist and Gagosian
Left: Alex Israel, Self-Portrait (Fins and Pier), 2023, Acrylic on Sintra, 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cm), © Alex Israel, Courtesy Gagosian
Right: Shepard Fairey, Bliss at the Cliff’s Edge, 2024, Spray paint, collage, and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 44 inches (152.4 x 111.8 cm), © Shepard Fairey, Photo: Ed Mumford, Courtesy the artist and Gagosian