The best art galleries in Los Angeles

Los Angeles is perhaps most associated with the celluloid dreams of Hollywood, but it is also an art collector’s paradise. The city is dotted with a variety of contemporary galleries, ranging from purpose-built spaces to converted studios and shopping malls. Here you’ll find emerging American artists side by side with the best international talent, and museum-quality collections vie for space alongside urgent and thought-provoking street art. Los Angeles is known to be a patchwork of contrasting scenes and neighborhoods, but one thing unites them all: it has always been a place to see and be seen. This has never been more true than in these groundbreaking art galleries.

Find out what’s going on this month with our latest guide to exhibitions in Los Angeles.

Jeffrey Deitch

(Image credit: Photo by Josh White / JW PicturesCourtesy of Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles)

Former MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch returned to Los Angeles with a bang in September 2018, opening his eponymous gallery in Hollywood with a solo exhibition by Ai Weiwei. The idiosyncratic art dealer commissioned star architect Frank Gehry to renovate the 15,000-square-foot space that previously served as a storage facility for cinema lighting equipment. Natural light now streams in through UV-filtered skylights, illuminating solo exhibitions by artists such as Judy Chicago, Robert Longo, and Rammellzee, as well as carefully curated thematic exhibitions (People, 2018, Punch, 2019, and Shattered Glass, 2021). Deitch is also known for providing free space for LA’s underground artists. A second, smaller space nearby on Santa Monica Boulevard featured installations by George Clinton and Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot.