Alex Israel

Gagosian is pleased to announce Upside Down, an exhibition of new fin sculptures by Alex Israel at the Davies Street gallery in London, opening June 12.

The four sculptures on view, enlarged versions of those found on surfboards, allude to both Southern California surf culture and postwar Los Angeles art history. Carved from Plexiglas and rendered in varying degrees of reflectivity and transparency, the works’ sleek production and emphasis on physical and perceptual experience invite dialogue with the region’s Finish Fetish and Light and Space movements of the 1960s. The sculptures’ pop-inflected colors evoke the commercial aesthetics employed by surf brands to convey the freedom and optimism long associated with Southern California’s coastal lifestyle. Each work is titled after a beloved pop song, adding to its aura of collective longing and nostalgia.

The new fins, related to those first exhibited at Gagosian Rome in 2023, are here inverted and suspended from the gallery ceiling. This unexpected positioning recalls surfers performing a “turtle roll,” going “over the falls” (being caught on the lip of a wave before plunging upside down), or simply the orientation of the fins beneath the water as board riders paddle out. The installation also lends the gallery, with its street-facing windows, a fish tank–like appearance, positioning viewers at an “underwater” vantage.