LAS VEGAS.- The “L.A. Now” exhibition features 20 emerging artists who live and work in Los Angeles, California. The exhibition is organized by critic and curator David Pagel. Artists included in the exhibition were selected from among those who presented outstanding artworks in Los Angeles commercial galleries during the 2007-2008 season. The artists work in a wide variety of styles and media; each has gained national or international recognition for artistic achievement.

Artists featured in the exhibition include: Olivia Booth, Miles Coolidge, Liz Craft, Nathaniel de Large, Lecia Dole-Recio, Brad Eberhard, Wendell Gladstone, Katie Grinnan, Elliott Hundley, Annie Lapin, Michael Lazarus, Nathan Mabry, Allison Miller, Kristen Morgin, Christine Nguyen, Jared Pankin, Steve Roden, Jeni Spota, Don Suggs, and Wayne White. The exhibition represents the Las Vegas debut for all of the artists.

According to curator Pagel, “L.A. Now” is designed to showcase the artistic achievements of the artists individually: “rather than start with a theme, and fit the art into that, I'm starting with the art and seeing what emerges from that.” Most important for Pagel was to select artworks that are not only singularly memorable, but that together create compelling interactions: “I wanted the works in my show to converse with one another, to engage one another materially, intellectually, and emotionally.”

David Pagel is a freelance writer, curator, and art critic for the Los Angeles Times. He is Associate Professor of Art Theory and History and Chair of the Art Department at Claremont Graduate University. Pagel’s previous exhibitions include “Painting Design,” Claremont Graduate University (2007); “702 Series: Sush Machida Gaikotsu,” Las Vegas Art Museum (2007); and “POPulence,” Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston (2005). He is recipient of an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Contemporary Arts Criticism and has been a Macgeorge Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia.