This week’s shows run from Thomas Ruff’s photographs in Hollywood to Rigoberto Torres’s life-cast neighbors in Chinatown. On Friday, David Zwirner opens Thomas Ruff: In Series, 1979–2024, a survey that runs from his early Interieurs to the recent expériences lumineuses. The same evening, David Kordansky Gallery opens After World, 1980–1991, late paintings by the self-taught artist Abraham Lincoln Walker. Most of his paintings never left his basement studio in East St. Louis until after his death. On Saturday, THE ELEMENTAL in Palm Springs opens Fractured Horizon — Explorations in Light & Atmosphere: Chapter 2.0, an interdisciplinary group show featuring 21 international artists exploring the fringe of Light, Space, and Sound Art.
Two shows that opened last week are still up. Gagosian Beverly Hills has Richard Avedon: Hollywood, more than 120 photographs with sitters from Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe to Tilda Swinton. At Charlie James Gallery in Chinatown, Vecinos gathers more than forty years of Torres’s life-cast sculptures of friends, neighbors, and performers. Also on view: Eleanor Antin’s Alternative Facts, opening Thursday at Diane Rosenstein Gallery; Frank Walter’s centenary show at Zwirner’s other Western Avenue space; Farah Al Qasimi’s 15 new photographs in Beverly Hills; and Jiha Moon’s ceramics in West Adams, some of which work as lamps.
See the full lineup below.
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Featured Exhibitions
David Zwirner | Melrose Hill/Hollywood
Thomas Ruff: In Series, 1979–2024
November 13, 2026 – February 6, 2027
@davidzwirner
Thomas Ruff was born in 1958, and David Zwirner calls him one of the most influential photographers working today. The gallery says this show at 606 N Western Avenue is his first major presentation in Los Angeles and his first solo show in the city in over a decade. It covers 1979 to 2024 and tracks his move from analogue to digital. The early series include Interieurs (1979–1983), Porträts (1981–1991/1998–2001), Häuser (1987–1991), and Sterne (1989–1992). Later series include nudes (1999–), jpegs (2004–), Fotogramme (2012–), and flower.s (2018–), along with the recent expériences lumineuses (2024–). Ruff has said, “There’s not one way of making photographs.” The opening reception is Friday, November 13, from 6 to 8pm.
David Kordansky Gallery | Mid-Wilshire
Abraham Lincoln Walker: After World, 1980–1991
November 13 – December 16, 2026
@davidkordanskygallery
Abraham Lincoln Walker (1921–1993) was a self-taught painter. He was born in Henderson, Kentucky, and spent the rest of his life in East St. Louis, Illinois. This is the gallery’s first solo exhibition of his paintings, presented at 5130 W. Edgewood Place with Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York. The works date from his final years, when he moved away from narrative figures and toward near abstraction. Walker ran a successful house painting business, and the job let him try out different paints, surfaces, and ways of putting them on. He pushed oils with a palette knife across butcher paper or Formica countertop samples, sometimes mixing in small plastic beads. The colors range from burnt orange and browns to purple, pink, and blue. The opening reception is Friday, November 13, from 6 to 8pm.
THE ELEMENTAL | Palm Springs
a contemporary center for the arts
Fractured Horizon, Chapter 2.0: Explorations in Light & Atmosphere
November 14, 2026 – January 9, 2027
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 14, 6–10 pm
@the.elemental
Featuring 21 international artists, the exhibition explores how light, space, and sound shape, dissolve, and reimagine environments. This expanded edition pairs new visual works with a sculptural sonic environment activated by five sound artists. Curated by Cristopher Cichocki. Artists: astrothebaptist, Guillermo Celis, Richard Chartier, Cristopher Cichocki, Cameron Gainer, David Wallace Haskins, France Jobin, Sebastiaan Knot, Shana Mabari, Marie-Luce Nadal, Scott Nedrelow, Robert Takahashi Novak, Yann Novak, Jaime Ruiz Otis, Javier Peláez, Nelly-Ève Rajotte, Raúl Rebolledo, Chris Sanchez, Phillip K. Smith III, Richard Twedt, and Glen Wexler. By appointment after the opening.
Gagosian | Beverly Hills
Richard Avedon: Hollywood
November 4 – December 19, 2026
@gagosian
The Richard Avedon Foundation curated this show of more than 120 photographs from Avedon’s career of over half a century. In the summer of 1956, Avedon was in Paris consulting on Funny Face. The 1957 Stanley Donen musical starred Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire and was loosely based on Avedon’s own life as a young photographer. He briefly considered giving up photography for film directing. His sitters run from Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, and Katharine Hepburn to Ralph Fiennes and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Works on view include Marilyn Monroe, actress, dress by Norell, New York (May 1957) and a 1964 portrait of Elizabeth Taylor in cock feathers by Anello of Emme. A 1993 photograph shows Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, and Sharon Stone at the Academy Awards. The gallery at 456 North Camden Drive is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 5:30.
Charlie James Gallery | Chinatown
Rigoberto Torres: Vecinos
November 6 – December 19, 2026
@charliejamesgallery
Rigoberto Torres was born in Puerto Rico in 1960, moved to the Bronx as a small child, and now lives in Orlando, Florida. Vecinos, at 961 Chung King Road, gathers life-cast sculptures made over more than forty years. At a young age he began working with John Ahearn, and the two often set up live casting sessions on city sidewalks. Many of his wall-based busts first hung on the outside of buildings in the neighborhood. A centerpiece is Fortune Teller (1995), a large work in which a mystic’s long-nailed hands hover over a glowing crystal ball. Other figures include a fireman, a mother and child, and the president of the local hangout. Newer works such as Jenny on Tightrope (2025) and Jerriel Juggles the Pins (2026) show performers from his current home in Florida. Torres has said that “each person I have cast becomes part of my family.”
Also On View
Abigail McCallum: History of Our Blood — Davis Keller — DTLA — September 19 – November 14, 2026 · @daviskellergallery
Lena Herzog: Sol y Sombra — Leica Gallery LA — West Hollywood — November 5 – December 7, 2026 · @leicagalleryla
Farah Al Qasimi: Rubberneck — François Ghebaly — Beverly Hills — November 4 – December 12, 2026 · @francoisghebaly
Beginnings — Philip Martin Gallery — Glassell Park — November 14 – December 12, 2026 · @philipmartingallery
Chris Martin: In Memory of My Feelings — David Kordansky Gallery — Mid-Wilshire — November 13 – December 16, 2026 · @davidkordanskygallery
Eleanor Antin: Alternative Facts — Diane Rosenstein Gallery — Hollywood — November 12 – December 19, 2026 · @dianerosenstein
Æmen Ededéen / Dean Fox / Daniel Pitín — NICODIM — DTLA — November 7 – December 19, 2026 · @nicodimgallery
Of Other Worlds — Château Shatto, with DM Office — Melrose Hill/Hollywood — November 5, 2026 – January 9, 2027 · @chateaushatto
Jiha Moon: The Berries, the Wanderers, and the Beasts — Shoshana Wayne Gallery — West Adams — November 14, 2026 – January 16, 2027 · @shoshanawayne
Asuka Anastacia Ogawa: Yume — Perrotin — Mid-Wilshire — November 13, 2026 – January 23, 2027 · @perrotin
Frank Walter: The World Through — David Zwirner — Melrose Hill/Hollywood — November 13, 2026 – February 6, 2027 · @davidzwirner
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