“Just Like Heaven” is an art exhibition that’s a love letter to Marc Jacobs.
“The show functions as a signal flare of sorts,” Sky Gellatly, cofounder of Control Gallery in Los Angeles and creative agency Icnclst, said of Jacobs. “He’s really deserving of, not only his flowers in the space, but at some point, maybe a really pronounced, super comprehensive, institutional look at his work in and around collaborations with artists.”
Indeed, Jacobs has been a significant cultural figure in bridging the realms of fashion and art throughout his career, both at his own label where a full roster of collaborators have helped him celebrate his 40th anniversary this year, and during his time at Louis Vuitton when his collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince and Stephen Sprouse ushered in a new kind of luxury product.
That impulse has also translated to Heaven by Marc Jacobs and with its creative director Ava Nirui, who continues to celebrate the arts by partnering with artists across industries. (Heaven by Marc Jacobs’ most recent collaboration tapped Turkish British designer Dilara Fındıkoğlu for a capsule collection incorporating elements of grunge, romanticism and Y2K, modeled by Gigi Hadid.)
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Gellatly and his team, working with Heaven by Marc Jacobs, tapped a group of creatives — including Sofia Coppola, Petra Collins, Futura 2000, Damien Hirst — to contribute works for a gallery show that celebrates the collaborative spirit of Jacobs. Some offered new works inspired by Jacobs, while others pulled from archives, including Hirst who showcases a silkscreen print with glaze on paper titled “Mickey,” at $35,000 — the highest price tag listed in the exhibition.
“Maybe this exhibition can function as a very small prototype of something that could maybe happen down the road, much bigger for him,” Gellatly went on, of Jacobs.
The artists, established names including Richard Kern and Marilyn Minter, alongside emerging talents Eri Wakiyama, Benjamin Reichwald, Chris Cadaver and Keegan Dakkar, were given carte blanche.
“The ethos of the gallery in L.A. is empowering artists to express themselves how they would like,” Gellatly said. “So, we effectively invited the artists that we did to participate, gave some guidance around what we’d like them to exhibit, but we largely left it up to them.”
Other participants include Come Tees, Julian Consuegra, Manon Macasaet, Sara Rabin, Sara Yukiko, Sean Kennedy and Alake Shilling — whose work “Big Bossy Bear” ($20,000), an object made of fired clay, sand, glitter, acrylic paint, crystals and other materials — is front and center.
“Alake’s work created a sort of centralizing harmony in this space,” said Gellatly of the piece. “At the end of the day, with the theme of the show being about celebration and shared respect and creativity, that anchoring visual in the center of the main space just felt grounded and very positive.”
Located at Control Gallery, at 434 North La Brea Avenue, “Just Like Heaven” is open through Jan. 18. The gallery, opened in 2022, was cofounded by Roger Gastman.
