Viewing California at Timothy Taylor

This group exhibition paying homage to the West Coast as a muse comes at a poignant moment for the region as residents grapple with the aftermath of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. Many of the artists included in the exhibition were affected by the fires, and a portion of the exhibition’s sales will benefit artists who lost studios and artworks.

The exhibition – conceived and programmed last year, before the fires – is a multigenerational and international look at California as an inspiration – it’s landscapes, confluence of diverse communities and histories, and the precarious balance between nature and culture. Since the 20th century, California has birthed many influential movements, many characterized by its particular qualities of light, colour, surf and sky.

California has also long been a place of converging migrant communities and multiculturalism, activism and defiance, and this comes to the fore in this exhibition, with artists including the rebellious, prismatic colourful sculptures of San Francisco Bay native Ruby Neri, or June Edmonds, known for her kaleidoscopic geometric abstractions, expressions of the Black Californian experience. A beautiful ode to a place that continues to capture the imagination.