Lari Pittman and the recent work series depth
Published on 08/22/2026 at 14:29 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael MĂĽller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Lari Pittman has built one of the most recognizable bodies of work in contemporary painting, with large, intensely patterned canvases that refuse quietness. His recent survey Magic Realism at Long Museum in Shanghai gathered over 30 works from the last decade, underlining the consistency of his visual language.
Magic Realism and recent surveys
The museum survey Magic Realism at Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai brought together over 30 paintings and drawings created by Pittman in roughly the past ten years, including six works from the museum’s own collection. The show, curated by Rochelle Steiner, ran from August 17 to October 20, 2024 and focused on the dense, graphic and narrative qualities of his paintings.
Earlier institutional attention includes the exhibition Lari Pittman: Mirror & Metaphor at Jeonnam Museum of Art in Korea, presented as the first museum survey of his work in the country. These surveys trace a coherent arc from the early 2010s to his more recent bodies of work, highlighting how recurring motifs and diagrammatic structures evolve over time.
Work series like The Remedy of Analog Space & Time
Within his recent output, the works grouped under The Remedy of Analog Space & Time play a central role, combining acrylic and spray paint on gessoed canvas mounted on wood panels. A major version from 2025, measuring around 96 x 80 inches, appears in the group exhibition California Light and Space (The 21st Century Version) at David Zwirner in Los Angeles, where its layered imagery is described in detail.
Jessica Silverman’s 2026 group exhibition Beauty is the Best Defense in San Francisco includes two magic-realist paintings titled The Remedy of Analog Space & Time #1 and #2, both 2025, framing decorative excess as a witty and resistant strategy. In that context, Pittman’s hybrid Latin American identity and his engagement with the crises of the digital age are explicitly foregrounded in relation to these works.
All news and background on Lari Pittman
Readers who follow Lari Pittman’s complex painting cycles can explore further exhibitions, surveys and market signals in the AD HOC NEWS archive.
The core of Pittman’s practice
Pittman is widely known for large-format paintings that combine ornamental patterning, text fragments, symbolic figures and sharply edged graphic elements in densely layered compositions. His works often juxtapose botanical forms, architectural silhouettes and diagram-like structures with elements drawn from Mexican folk art, advertising and everyday domestic objects.
Series such as Thought-Forms (2012), Nocturnes (2015) and Sparkling City With Egg Monuments (2023) structure this vocabulary into distinct cycles, each with its own chromatic logic and narrative emphasis. In Sparkling City With Egg Monuments, exhibited together for the first time within Magic Realism, the city becomes a recurring stage populated by egg-like forms that oscillate between monument and fragile shell.
Where the artist stands now
Overall, Lari Pittman’s recent work groups and survey exhibitions confirm a position as a key figure in contemporary painting whose major series remain actively discussed and shown across institutions.
Key facts on Lari Pittman
- Artist: Lari Pittman
- Medium / Genre: Painting (highly patterned, narrative abstraction)
- Born: 1952, Glendale, California, United States
- Place(s) of practice: Studio practice centered in Los Angeles, California
- Active since: Late 1970s, with wider recognition from the late 1980s onward
- Key work groups: Thought-Forms, Nocturnes, Sparkling City With Egg Monuments, The Remedy of Analog Space & Time
- Current/last exhibition: Magic Realism, Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, August 17 to October 20, 2024
- Major collections: Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Orange County Museum of Art (Costa Mesa), Long Museum (Shanghai)
- Awards: Various grants and honors noted in institutional biographies, including recognition for contributions to contemporary painting, but no major Turner- or Praemium-tier prize is prominently documented in recent free sources.
- Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Lari Pittman
Which recent exhibition best surveys Lari Pittman’s work?
The survey Magic Realism at Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai presents over 30 paintings and drawings from roughly the past decade, including six works in the museum’s permanent collection, and is curated by Rochelle Steiner.
What defines the series The Remedy of Analog Space & Time?
The Remedy of Analog Space & Time consists of acrylic and spray-paint works on gessoed canvas over wood panels, described by David Zwirner and Jessica Silverman as magic-realist, hybrid paintings that mix logos, text, botanical forms and urban imagery.
In which collections can Lari Pittman’s work be found?
Public collections that hold Pittman’s work include the Whitney Museum of American Art and Orange County Museum of Art in the United States, as well as the Long Museum in Shanghai, where several paintings are part of the permanent holdings.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
