Anne Imhof’s solo exhibition EMO is the largest presentation of the artist’s work in the United States to date and her first in Los Angeles. It brings together several bodies of work across multiple mediums, putting each in dialogue with found objects in ways that implicate visitors’ bodies as they move through the space, at turns exalting and frustrating the viewing experience.

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

 

Visitors enter and first encounter a labyrinth of industrial water tanks that snakes through the gallery's ground floor, creating hallways, enclosures and windows bathed in a deep-red glow. The tanks' caged armatures stretch several feet high, obscuring both the viewer's physical path and their sight lines onto Imhof's paintings.
The artist regularly plays with the anxiety and anticipation around what can and cannot be seen, what remains hidden and in need of excavation, as well as the charged nature of empty spaces.

 

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Cloud III, 2022
Oil on canvas
280 × 420 cm
110 1/4 × 165 3/8 inches

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Cloud III, 2022
Oil on canvas
280 × 420 cm
110 1/4 × 165 3/8 inches

Anne Imhof
Cloud III, 2022
Oil on canvas
280 × 420 cm
110 1/4 × 165 3/8 inches

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Cloud III, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Cloud III, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Cloud III, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Cloud III, 2022 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Cloud III, 2022 (scale image)

Anne Imhof
Cloud III, 2022 (scale image)

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

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Several of the artist's recurring motifs in her paintings appear on panels and canvases, including the jester, or clown; billowing Technicolor clouds; collaborators from past performances.
Imhof recently added techniques to her artistic practice, in which bright reds and turquoise are superimposed over imagery to create a multilayered, three-dimensional effect that complicates the works' two-dimensional nature. 

 

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023
Acrylic on aluminum
280 × 180 cm
110 1/4 × 70 7/8 inches

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023
Acrylic on aluminum
280 × 180 cm
110 1/4 × 70 7/8 inches

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For Imhof's aluminum works, she inscribes an intensely repeating linear gesture onto the painted panel, as if to deface, or to mark her body's presence, amid its pristinely applied industrial pigments.

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023
Acrylic on aluminum
280 × 180 cm
110 1/4 × 70 7/8 inches

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023
Acrylic on aluminum
280 × 180 cm
110 1/4 × 70 7/8 inches

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023 (scale image)

Anne Imhof
Clown two, 2023 (scale image)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023
Acrylic on aluminum
280 × 180 cm
110 1/4 × 70 7/8 inches

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023
Acrylic on aluminum
280 × 180 cm
110 1/4 × 70 7/8 inches

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023 (scale image)

Anne Imhof
Clown one, 2023 (scale image)

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For Imhof's aluminum works, she inscribes an intensely repeating linear gesture onto the painted panel, as if to deface, or to mark her body's presence, amid its pristinely applied industrial pigments.

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Disturbed, 2023
Oil on canvas
280 × 420 cm
110 1/4 × 165 3/8 inches

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Disturbed, 2023
Oil on canvas
280 × 420 cm
110 1/4 × 165 3/8 inches

Anne Imhof
Disturbed, 2023
Oil on canvas
280 × 420 cm
110 1/4 × 165 3/8 inches

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Disturbed , 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Disturbed , 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Disturbed , 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Disturbed , 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Disturbed , 2023 (scale image)

Anne Imhof
Disturbed , 2023 (scale image)

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

 

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Emo, 2023
Oil on canvas
280 × 392 cm
110 1/4 × 154 1/4 inches

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Emo, 2023
Oil on canvas
280 × 392 cm
110 1/4 × 154 1/4 inches

Anne Imhof
Emo, 2023
Oil on canvas
280 × 392 cm
110 1/4 × 154 1/4 inches

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Emo, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Emo, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Emo, 2023 (scale image)

Anne Imhof
Emo, 2023 (scale image)

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The paintings in EMO are on the whole figurative, representing a departure from Imhof’s largely abstract painterly practice.

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

 

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023
Pencil on paper
21 × 16.1 cm
8 1/4 × 5 4/3 inches

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023
Pencil on paper
30.8 × 41 cm
12 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023
Pencil on paper
36.2 × 26 cm
14 1/4 × 10 1/4 inches

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023
Pencil on paper
21 × 16.1 cm
8 1/4 × 5 4/3 inches

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023
Pencil on paper
21 × 16.1 cm
8 1/4 × 5 4/3 inches

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (scale image)

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (scale image)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023
Pencil on paper
30.8 × 41 cm
12 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023
Pencil on paper
30.8 × 41 cm
12 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (scale image)

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (scale image)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023
Pencil on paper
36.2 × 26 cm
14 1/4 × 10 1/4 inches

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023
Pencil on paper
36.2 × 26 cm
14 1/4 × 10 1/4 inches

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (detail)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (scale image)

Anne Imhof
Untitled, 2023 (scale image)

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Wanna dance and cry, 2023
Spray painted glass, two panels
210.8 × 182.9 cm
83 × 72 inches (overall dimensions installed)

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Wanna dance and cry, 2023
Spray painted glass, two panels
210.8 × 182.9 cm
83 × 72 inches (overall dimensions installed)

Anne Imhof
Wanna dance and cry, 2023
Spray painted glass, two panels
210.8 × 182.9 cm
83 × 72 inches (overall dimensions installed)

Details
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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

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Timed at different intervals several of Imhof's newest films, both shot around Moscow in the early months of 2022 before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, are screened on a full-sized billboard on the second gallery floor. 
In AI Winter (2022) performer Eliza Douglas,  shirtless and unflinching amid the harsh Russian winter, and using repetitive, machinelike gestures, walks briskly around and between the architectural ruins housed within Moscow's Gorky Park.

 

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
AI Winter, 2022
Video, color, sound
13:56 min

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
AI Winter, 2022
Video, color, sound
13:56 min

Anne Imhof
AI Winter, 2022
Video, color, sound
13:56 min

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
AI Winter , 2022 (film still)

Anne Imhof
AI Winter , 2022 (film still)

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles
Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
AI Winter , 2022 (film still)

Anne Imhof
AI Winter , 2022 (film still)

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 In Youth (2022), a group of horses runs and communes together in an open field covered in freshly fallen snow. They seem to nurture one another, moving beautifully and freely through this natural environment to the baroque strains of J. S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion. As day moves slowly into night, the camera gradually reveals the site to be an urban one, a historic social housing development located at the edge of the city. Yet the utopian feeling created between these animals is unmarred by this revelation.

 

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Youth, 2022
Video, color, sound
8:47 min

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Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

Anne Imhof
Youth, 2022
Video, color, sound
8:47 min

Anne Imhof
Youth, 2022
Video, color, sound
8:47 min

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The works in EMO are coming together in ways that both coordinate and contradict to the hard and soft of metal and skin, offering a study of contrasts between the natural and unnatural, human and animal, and human and machine. 

Anne Imhof – EMO – Los Angeles

All installation views: Robert Wedemeyer