Eleven artworks that have hung in restaurateur Michael Chow's restaurants for decades will go on view in a new exhibition organized by Gagosian. Titled "Friends and Legends: The Collection of Michael Chow," the show brings together works by artists who shaped the collection through their friendships with Chow.
The exhibition opens November 4 at Gagosian's Beverly Hills gallery, where it will run for four days. A second presentation begins November 14 at the gallery's New York headquarters at 980 Madison Avenue and continues through December 22.
Among the featured works are portraits of Chow by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hockney, Keith Haring, Peter Blake and Julian Schnabel. The selection also includes Ed Ruscha's Mr. Chow L.A. (1973), made with ingredients from the restaurant kitchen, and an Urs Fischer candle sculpture.
Other pieces reflect the collection's close ties to dining and hospitality. Haring's work portrays Chow among ingredients from a signature dish, while Schnabel incorporated fragments of restaurant plates and china into his art. An artist's drawing book, filled with contributions and inscriptions from guests including Francis Bacon, Jasper Johns and Cy Twombly, will also be shown.
Chow opened his first Mr. Chow restaurant in London in 1968, followed by locations in Beverly Hills and New York. The restaurants became gathering places for artists and collectors, and several works in the exhibition began as portraits or gestures of friendship.
By bringing these pieces into a public exhibition, the presentation offers a view of how creative communities can shape collections--and how those collections may continue to connect art, culture and everyday life.
