Multimedia artist Charles Gaines has long been part of LA’s art scene. As a faculty member at CalArts for more than 30 years, he inspired countless Black artists to pursue their MFAs. His works are in major museums worldwide, including the Tate, MOMA, and the Whitney. He’s also the artist-in-residence at Hauser & Wirth gallery in West Hollywood, which is throwing him a homecoming of sorts right now, highlighting his giant depictions of African baobab trees.
Carolina Miranda, independent culture critic and author of KCRW’s weekly Art Insider newsletter, talks about why you should go see these works — and a couple of other exhibitions up now.
“Charles Gaines: Numbers and Trees, The Tanzania Baobabs”
Hauser & Wirth gallery in West Hollywood
February 19 - May 24, 2025
“Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #7, Makonde,” 2024, acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts. Photo: Keith Lubow. © Charles Gaines. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
Since the 1970s, Gaines’ work has included tree motifs, depicted through systems of numbered and colored grids on plexiglass.
Compared to other artists, Gaines takes a more meditative, almost mathematical approach to making images, Miranda says.
“Years ago, he started creating images of walnut trees using a numbered grid system. And so some of the grid would be the trunk of the tree, some of it might be the branches, some of it might be the space in between. … What we have at Hauser & Worth are a series of nine remarkable new works inspired by images of baobab trees that he himself took in Tanzania in 2023, so these very magnificent trees with these huge barrel trunks. And the works are large scale. So it's a little bit like entering a forest when you enter the gallery.”
“Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #2, Zanaki,” 2024, acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 part. Photo: Keith Lubow. © Charles Gaines. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
She continues, “These works, when you really sit there and look at them, are about revealing the systems that underlie the representation of all things. So in the case of a tree, that might be … all the little cells that make up the tree. But also the larger systems of the tree — the roots, the branches, all of these things, these natural phenomena, that have to come together to create the structure. It's almost like he's making that visible.”
David Zwirner gallery in Hollywood
February 13 - March 29, 2025
Installation view, “Tau Lewis: Spirit Level,” David Zwirner, Los Angeles, February 13 - March 29, 2025. Photo by Elon Schoenholz, courtesy of David Zwirner.
The Canadian-Jamaican artist has arranged a series of five figures, all more than 12 feet tall, around a circular tapestry on the floor. They’re made of found bits of textiles, buttons, pleather, scraps of metal, etc. A special Spotify playlist even accompanies the art.
Entering the gallery feels like entering a spiritual ceremony, Miranda says.
“She creates these deities that seem to have a water theme going on. One of them has a rather fishy face. And they all circle this incredible geometric, circular tapestry that she has likewise created out of found bits of fabric, and studded with bits of metal that look like they emerged out of junk shops and hardware stores. … If you think about … Afro-Caribbean spiritual traditions … these ground drawings that exist as part of those rituals, she recreated that in a fantastical, super heroic way with bits of fabric and metal.”
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles gallery in downtown
March 1 - April 5, 2025
Hugo Crosthwaite, “La Linea (The Line),” 2024, from the Tijuacolor Series, acrylic and color pencil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
Crosthwaite grew up in Tijuana, studied in the U.S., and has dual citizenship. His family members live on both sides of the border. His work imagines that border as more of a confluence than a division.
“You will see aspects of Tijuana materialize in his work, but then you'll also see references to Mickey Mouse and Coca Cola and the border itself; and all of these elements that come together in this place to create what is really a border region and a rather singular culture at that,” Miranda says.
Crosthwaite also borrows from Mexican religious art for this series. At first glance, some paintings look like Tijuana cityscapes, but if you look closer, you might see a fantastical being emerging from a fruit cart, Miranda explains.
Crosthwaite has long found inspiration through comic books, and he recently decided to do black ink sketches on colored notepads, she says. He liked how they turned out, and people had asked for years if he would paint in color. “People float. There are all of these rather strange things happening. An Aztec deity might be standing in line. And to see all of that rendered in brilliant color is quite remarkable.”
She adds, “I think for someone who resisted color for so long, I'm just like, ‘You should have done it much sooner.’”
Hugo Crosthwaite, “Ritual,” 2025, from the Tijuacolor Series, acrylic paint and color pencil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
Hugo Crosthwaite, “Frutas (Fruit),” 2025, from the Tijuacolor Series, acrylic paint and color pencil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.