WES LANG HAS BECOME increasingly reclusive.
Fifty-two years old in September, the prolific Jersey-born, LA-based painter once architected a run of widely influential crossover moments between art and pop culture through a coveted series of drawings executed on hotel stationery at the Chateau Marmont (2011), album artwork for the Grateful Dead's sprawling Spring 1990 box set (2012), and paradigm-shifting merch for Kanye West's Yeezus tour (2013). All while busting out a frighteningly consistent array of paintings and drawings, which he's shown in recent years at galleries like Almine Rech in Paris and One Trick Pony in LA, but mostly sold independently out of his Boyle Heights studio. Among artists, he occupies a singular position-simultaneously working at the center of culture while often standing outside the art world-industrial complex.
Since the pandemic, Lang has gone even deeper underground.
Over the last three years, he's gotten married, moved out to the suburbs, had a son, and quietly removed himself from the LA radar.
These days, his 11,000-square-foot studio, which used to be "like Grand Central station," he says, rarely accepts visitors-and, anyway, he just as often paints from a new space in the back of his home. No new work has left either studio in the arms of collectors.
So what's he been making while hiding out? Well, now we know.
Lang has just reemerged with The Black Paintings, an immense series of 96 paintings and 96 drawings that are on display from September 2024 to March 2025 at Damien Hirst's Newport Street Gallery in London.
Denne historien er fra October 2024-utgaven av GQ US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra October 2024-utgaven av GQ US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
SHABOOZEY THE BIG SHA BANG
Shaboozey spent months at the tippy-top of the charts with a hit song about dealing with hard times the easy way: by hitting the bar. He sang on a couple songs with Beyoncé too. So we asked the one and only SHANIA TWAIN to help country's biggest new star make sense of his explosive year.
HANNAH EINBINDER BORN STANDING UP
With her star turn on Hacks, the comic turned actor has established herself as one of Hollywood's most exciting young talents-much to her own surprise.
Katt Williams The Man Who Opened The Portal
In January, the comic delivered an instantly iconic podcast interview that threw pop culture into crisis-and seemed to predict all manner of messy celebrity gossip to come. At home on his farm, Williams explains why he said what he said— and why he'd do it again, and again, and again....
JOHN DAVID & MALCOLM WASHINGTON A NEW HOLLYWOOD DYNASTY
The Washington brothers built their careers apart—until an irresistible project drew them together. In The Piano Lesson, they tackle a father's thorny legacy.
FUTURE & METRO BOOMIN'S HISTORIC Hit STREAK
What happens when the best rapper alive reunites with the hottest producer of the moment? You get a back-to-back-to-back run unlike any since the Beatles.
PHARRELL WILLIAMS Designer of the Year
Riding along from Paris to Hollywood to New York with the Louis Vuitton *men's creative director, whose prolific and often prophetic contributions to fashion, film, and music have once again thrust him to the center of the pop culture Venn diagram.
JOHN MULANEY. KID GORGEOUS GROWS UP
After immortalizing the whirlwind of the past four yearsrelapse, intervention, recovery-in his awardwinning standup special, John Mulaney has emerged as one of the most popular comedians on earth. For his next trick, he's embracing his surprising new role as a suburban dad.
DWAYNE JOHNSON THE WORLD'S BIGGEST Actor
It's hard for Dwayne Johnson to hide. Wherever he goes, there he is― as conspicuous out in the world as he is on the silver screen. But after two decades of playing a version of himself in huge movies, suddenly Dwayne Johnson is ready to do something entirely new: vanish.
How the WNBA Became the Most Fun, Complicated, and Exciting League in Sports
Caitlin Clark! A'ja Wilson! Angel Reese! This year, women's hoops emerged as a dominant popcultural force. But the road to sports-league supremacy has been long and winding. This is the inside story of how the W finally broke through.
A Companion for Your Wrist
Audemars Piguet's new release with artist Brian Donnelly, a.k.a. KAWS, brings high-art hype to the world of pop-watch collabs.
