LA Artland: Contemporary Art From Los Angeles

by Chris Kraus, Jane McFadden, Jan Tumlir

LA Artland is a survey of one of the most vibrant and influential art scenes of recent decades. Having produced world-renowned artists such as Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy, Chris Burden, Catherine Opie and Jim Shaw, Los Angeles since the 90s has rivaled New York as the US contemporary art capital. With the continuing success of LA-based art programs at CalArts, Art Center and UCLA, as well as a growing gallery scene stretching from blue-chip to artist-run spaces, Los Angeles as an art center continues to thrive, producing increasingly successful generations of artists. The focus of this publication is on extensive visual documentation of contemporary artists working in Los Angeles now, ranging from well-established international names to emerging talent.
Alongside this visual survey are three essays. Chris Kraus incorporates interviews with artists and gallery owners providing insight into the network of scenes that make up contemporary LA art now. Jan Tumlir (independent art critic) contextualizes contemporary art in Los Angeles, commenting on recent trends and the influence of the LA-based MFA programs. Jane McFadden (art historian currently teaching at Art Center) traces specific trajectories between artists living and working in Los Angeles from the 60s to today, forming a unique history of the area.

Genres: Art

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Chris Kraus is a writer and critic. She studied acting and spent almost two decades making performances and experimental films in New York before moving to Los Angeles where she began writing. Her novels include Aliens & Anorexia, I Love Dick, Torpor, and Summer of Hate. She has published three books of cultural criticism—Video Green: Los Angeles Art and the Triumph of Nothingness, Where Art Belongs, and Social Practices. I Love Dick was adapted for television and her literary biography After Kathy Acker was published by Semiotext(e) and Penguin Press. A former Guggenheim Fellow, Kraus held the Mary Routt Chair of Writing at Scripps College in 2019 and was Writer-in-Residence at ArtCenter College between 2020–2024. She has written for various magazines and has been a coeditor of the independent press Semiotext(e) since 1990. Her work has been praised for its damning intelligence, vulnerability, and dazzling speed and has been translated into seventeen languages. She lives in Los Angeles.