American Kings at the LA Art Show: Art, Sweat, and Questionable Life Choices
Ah, Los Angeles. City of dreams, traffic, and oat milk lattes that cost as much as a down payment on a car. But this week, it’s also home to the LA Art Show, where the art world collides—collectors, critics, and the occasional person who clearly just wandered in for the air conditioning. And right in the middle of it? American Kings. My last series. A tribute to the fighters, the ones who carry the weight of the world without recognition, without ceremony.
I’m here with Caelis Galería from Shanghai, a gallery that saw American Kings for what it is—something raw, something real, something that doesn’t need to shout to be heard. Seeing the work up on these walls is surreal. There’s a quiet kind of gravity to it, like the pieces are standing on their own now, no longer just mine.
This series isn’t about kings in the way we’re taught to imagine them. No thrones, no velvet robes, no smug portraits hanging in gold frames. These are kings of the everyday—the ones who push forward, who endure, who carry burdens that aren’t always visible. Their crowns aren’t made of gold; they’re made of struggle, resilience, and the quiet decision to keep going.
And in a space like this, surrounded by so much art, so many voices, American Kings holds its own. Some people stop, some move on, some linger just long enough for something unspoken to settle. That’s the thing about art—you put it out into the world, and it does what it needs to do. No explanations, no justifications. Just presence.
So here we are. American Kings at the LA Art Show. If you’re in town, come by. Walk through, take it in, let it sit with you. Or just pretend to check your phone while standing in front of a painting—we’ve all been there.