The multiplatform approach of United Talent Agency is diversifying even further. Yes, the agency that represents Harrison Ford, Kanye West and the Coen Brothers is venturing into the art space. This month, the agency will open the UTA Artist Space, a “gallery-like” hub melding the marketplaces of popular culture and art. As you may recall, if you follow such developments, UTA initiated a fine art division in 2015.
United Talent Agency represents figures in entertainment and media, from motion pictures to television to broadcast news to book publishing. The agency is also immersed in the areas of film finance, film packaging, branding, licensing, endorsements and representation of production talent.
As first reported by the New York Times, the Los Angeles juggernaut is venturing off the page and screen. Art lawyer Joshua Roth joined United Talent Agency in early 2015 to instate its first fine art division. He represents artists Ai Weiwei, Rashid Johnson and Judy Chicago in their film and entertainment ventures.
“I’m interested in artists who are re-envisioning the way to make art and re-envisioning how people experience it,” Roth told the New York Times in 2015 after his hiring was announced. “And I think our agency can be really helpful in that way. We want to help find opportunities for artists outside of the gallery.”
Ultimately, rather than operating “outside of” the gallery, he is redefining its signification. Roth deemed the UTA Artist Space, housed in a 4,500-square-foot former manufacturing building, a “gallery-like venue.”
‘Heroin 5,’ Larry Clark, 2014. Oil on canvas. © Larry Clark
He clarified that the space will not hold regular exhibitions (the space will have limited public hours), nor is the aim to develop artists’ careers. Rather, the space will be a springboard for collaborations with out-of-town galleries keen to reach Los Angeles-based collectors, and multidisciplinary events that serve United Talent’s talent catalogue.
The inaugural UTA Artist Space show will feature brash photographer and filmmaker Larry Clark. Fifty of his works will be on view, made available with help from Clark’s New York gallery, Luhring Augustine. His vintage 1960s photographs depicting restless teenagers (some of which have never been shown) will hang alongside a 2014 series of his abstract oil paintings and photo montages, all works drug-tinged in theme.
In tandem with the exhibition, the UTA Artist Space will screen his 1968 film, Tulsa.
This is the first exhibition of Clark’s work in Los Angeles since his survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2000.
The U.T.A. Artist Space is located at 670 South Anderson Street, in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, and opens September 17.
‘Untitled,’ Larry Clark, 1963. Vintage gelatin silver print. © Larry Clark
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