Lari Pittman and the recent work series depth
Published on 08/27/2026 at 17:31 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Lari Pittman has built a body of work in which ornament, narrative and politics collide on large, meticulously worked canvases. His recent museum survey Magic Realism at Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai and the paintings The Remedy of Analog Space & Time anchor his position in current institutional and gallery contexts.
Recent museum and gallery presence
The exhibition Magic Realism at Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai presented over 30 paintings and drawings created by Pittman in roughly the past decade, including six works from the museum’s own collection, and ran from August 17 to October 20, 2024.
Curated by Los Angeles-based Rochelle Steiner, Magic Realism grouped series such as Thought-Forms (2012), Nocturnes (2015) and the more recent Sparkling City With Egg Monuments (2023), highlighting Pittman’s dense graphic surfaces and layered magic-realist narratives.
Work series and recent paintings
In the 2026 group exhibition California Light and Space (The 21st Century Version) at David Zwirner in Los Angeles, Pittman contributed the 2025 painting The Remedy of Analog Space & Time, a large acrylic and spray paint work on gessoed canvas on wood panel measuring 96 x 80 inches.
The painting deploys corporate logos, punchy text, botanical forms and psychedelic imagery without preparatory sketches, echoing the chaos and freedom of everyday life in Los Angeles and tying Pittman’s long-standing interest in decorative excess to a specific urban visual field.
Further reporting on Lari Pittman’s exhibitions and work series
Readers can find additional English and German coverage on Lari Pittman’s recent group shows, museum surveys and work groups in the AD HOC NEWS archive.
How the artist works
Pittman is widely described as a Los Angeles-based painter whose large-scale works combine labor-intensive layering, hand-drawn pattern and sharply defined imagery rooted in queer, postcolonial and political histories.
Where the artist stands now
Against this backdrop, Lari Pittman’s recent museum survey in Shanghai and his continued presence in multigenerational gallery exhibitions underline a mature position, with currently no announced date in the 30-day window.
Key facts on Lari Pittman
- Artist: Lari Pittman
- Medium / Genre: Painting (complex, magic-realist abstraction)
- Born: 1952, Glendale, California, United States
- Place(s) of practice: Studio practice centered in Los Angeles, California
- Active since: Late 1970s, with broader recognition from the 1990s onward, including major exhibitions in Los Angeles and internationally.
- Key work groups: Thought-Forms, Nocturnes, Sparkling City With Egg Monuments, The Remedy of Analog Space & Time
- Current/last exhibition: California Light and Space (The 21st Century Version), David Zwirner, Los Angeles, June 4 to August 1, 2026.
- Major collections: Long Museum (Shanghai), Orange County Museum of Art (Costa Mesa), major North American collections documented in institutional databases.
- Awards: Recognized through institutional surveys and retrospectives rather than headline prizes, including the 2019 Hammer Museum survey Declaration of Independence and the Museo Jumex retrospective Lo que se ve, se pregunta.
- Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window.
Frequently asked questions about Lari Pittman
Where have Lari Pittman’s works recently been on view?
In the last two years, Pittman’s paintings featured in the museum survey Magic Realism at Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai, and in the 2026 group exhibition California Light and Space (The 21st Century Version) at David Zwirner in Los Angeles.
What defines Lari Pittman’s recent work series?
Series such as Sparkling City With Egg Monuments and The Remedy of Analog Space & Time combine architectural motifs, decorative pattern and text fragments to frame urban experience and queer histories within dense, magic-realist pictorial spaces.
Which collections hold important works by Lari Pittman?
Long Museum in Shanghai holds six works that anchored the exhibition Magic Realism, and North American institutions such as Orange County Museum of Art document Pittman’s paintings in their collections and archives.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
