Oliver Bak (*1992) has become known for his historically inspired, vibrant painterly topographies, which stem from a deep engagement with the materials, procedures and influences of painting. His meticulous practice that foregrounds texture and an original use of color produces multilayered surfaces brimming with art historical and literary references. On Bak’s canvases, his aptitude for invocations of the medium’s history entwines with the themes, images and atmosphere of avant-garde poetry and myths of decadence and destruction. Interested in how the stories that have defined collective imagination develop, he delves into one particular narrative at a time, which provides the starting point for each of his bodies of work.
Horror
Curated by Jill Mulleady
November 21, 2025–February 14, 2026
Los Angeles
Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are pleased to present Horror, an intergenerational group exhibition curated by Jill Mulleady. In conceiving the exhibition, Mulleady was inspired by the long history of horror in film and literature, as well as by Mike Kelley’s 1993 group exhibition and publication, The Uncanny, a curatorial statement which explored the complex interplay of recognition, memory, and repression. Over thirty years on, Horror takes Kelley’s project as a touchstone, moving beyond the psychological discomfort of the uncanny toward the explicit shock of horror.
With works by Dario Argento, Antonin Artaud, Oliver Bak, Bruce Conner, Mati Diop & Fatima Al Qadiri, Cyprien Gaillard, Jonathan Glazer, Anne Imhof, Arthur Jafa, Asger Jorn, Mike Kelley, Karen Kilimnik, Harmony Korine, Tetsumi Kudo, Mire Lee, Diego Marcon, Tyler Mitchell, Ottessa Moshfegh, Jill Mulleady, Precious Okoyomon, Sondra Perry, Carol Rama, Cindy Sherman, Pol Taburet, Henry Taylor, Paul Thek, Rosemarie Trockel, Andra Ursuta, Kara Walker and Jordan Wolfson.
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