For the third consecutive year, The Hollywood Reporter has handed Hollywood’s most coveted trophy to a group of West Coast artists and asked them to do their worst with it. The results go on display this Thursday, March 12, when the third annual Art of Oscar exhibition, curated by L.A. art world aficionado Michael Slenske, opens at Megan Mulrooney gallery in West Hollywood, running through March 21.
The portfolio — a THR tradition launched in the 2023 Oscars issue — commissions L.A. artists to reimagine the gold statuette that Cedric Gibbons first sketched in 1928. Previous editions, exhibited at Jeffrey Deitch and AF Projects, gave us Kenny Scharf launching the little gold man into deep space, Karon Davis recasting him as an ancient Egyptian deity and Austyn Weiner turning him into a mischievous mail-art project.
This year’s class of 13 artists is no less unruly. Among the highlights: a glazed earthenware candelabra evoking a biblical oil lamp, a mirrored cupid doll titled This Is Spinal Tap, an Oscar in a wheelchair and one gold statuette sharing a still life with a loaded revolver.
Participating artists include painters Frances Stark, Salomon Huerta, Alex Becerra and Aryo Toh Djojo; sculptor and ceramicist Nicki Green; fiber artist Erick Medel; assemblage artist Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack; sculptor Kelly Lamb; veteran abstract artist Charles Arnoldi; collaborative duo Eddie Ruscha and Francesca Gabbiani; painter Greta Waller; Guggenheim Fellow E. Barker; and 86-year-old landscape painter Jessie Homer French.
The opening reception is Thursday, March 12, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Megan Mulrooney, West Hollywood. The exhibition runs through March 21.
