Iwan Wirth Announces New Venue, Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, To Open In a Historic Flour Mill In Los Angeles

'We have long dreamt of making a lasting contribution to the Los Angeles community that means so much to our artists and to us personally', said Iwan Wirth. 'L.A. has been an essential part of Hauser & Wirth's history since the gallery's inception twenty years ago. More of our artists live in L.A. than in any other city - they're a diverse, multi-generational group whose work informs our international program and shapes contemporary dialogue. It seems particularly fitting to launch our third decade by creating Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, and pioneering a new gallery model in the city known around the world as a place for imagination, reinvention, and new forms of cultural expression.'

Los Angeles artists represented by Hauser & Wirth include Mark Bradford, Thomas Houseago, Richard Jackson, Rachel Khedoori, Paul McCarthy, Sterling Ruby, Diana Thater, and the late artists Allan Kaprow and Jason Rhoades.

'Los Angeles has exploded as a creative community for the visual arts', Paul Schimmel said. 'Artists based here want to exhibit in their home town, and increasing numbers of artists from around the world want to live and work in Los Angeles. With Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, we aspire to give all of these artists a unique second home: a place to create and show their art in historical context, a place that encourages their most rigorous and best expressions, a place that brings them and their art into a dynamic, exciting, and transformational dialogue with the public.'

About 901 East 3rd Street

The site of Hauser Wirth & Schimmel is bounded by 2nd and 3rd Streets, connected by an internal breezeway and South Garey Street, in a part of Los Angeles currently experiencing rapid renewal and growth. This historic complex is comprised of seven different buildings, including a Neo-Classical bank building; a five-story mill structure; two warehouses with arched truss ceilings and skylights; and a third warehouse, the largest building on the site, featuring a windowed clerestory. With a variety of spaces ranging from eccentric small rooms to soaring industrial interiors, the architecture of the complex at 901 will enable Hauser Wirth & Schimmel to offer many different types of art viewing experiences. Intimate and grand spaces alike will be used to showcase the full scope of art's mediums and scales, with three to five exhibitions on view at any given time, changing several times a year. In addition to shows and projects by the gallery's L.A.-based artists, exhibitions at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel will encompass a mix of important historical, thematic group exhibitions; exhibitions that introduce L.A. to the gallery's artists from points around the globe; and one-person exhibitions and special projects by artists new to Los Angeles and the gallery.

A key feature of the complex at 901 East 3rd Street is a 20,000 square foot interior courtyard - one of the largest in downtown Los Angeles. Currently covered, this central space will be opened to the sky to provide a unique platform for outdoor sculpture exhibitions, a venue for special events, and areas for quiet contemplation and informal gathering. The complex, which also features 28 covered parking spaces, has been mostly uninhabited since the 1950s. Over decades of vacancy the address earned the moniker "The Graffiti Building," owing to the vibrant, raucous painted expressions of local street culture that have accumulated on its exterior street walls. This graffiti will remain through the course of the gallery's 2015 exhibition in the raw space, connecting the new facility to its neighborhood, the site's history to its future.