Behind the Alex Israel Cover

When putting this issue together, we knew we wanted our cover to feature the work of an artist with a deep connection to the city, much as Western artist and illustrator Maynard Dixon had with San Francisco when he created the cover of the issue of Sunset published after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. We quickly landed on Alex Israel, who was born in LA and perhaps takes inspiration from this city more than any other contemporary artist. Israel is adept at mining and re-framing LA iconography: whether he’s reimagining the tsunami warning wave, building miniature dioramas of a fantastical Sunset Strip, or producing multimedia escapist Southern California beach narratives, his love for LA is palpable, poppy, and transcendent. His Noir collection of paintings recently exhibited at Gagosian ennoble establishments that are beloved by locals but not necessarily fixtures on the Hollywood bus tours: concert halls, gas stations, tattoo parlors.

Painting: © Alex Israel. Photo: Thomas J. Story Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian

Much like Maynard Dixon’s cover, Israel’s cover can also be seen as a metaphor for a city at a pivot point. “There used to be a mural on Sunset Boulevard right below the old Spago with lavender eyes with stars in them,” says Israel. “It’s something I’ve always remembered from childhood as a kind of LA version of the Dr. T.J. Eckleburg billboard from The Great Gatsby, but here in our own backyard looking over The Strip. I referenced this idea in the past when I had a billboard of my Self-Portrait, in sunglasses, up in the sky above the site of the old House of Blues (2013-15). The sky in the cover image is ambiguous. You can’t really tell if it’s a beautiful sunset or a terrifying fire, or maybe it’s both. The arch is a reference to Spanish revival architecture. The earliest colonial buildings here were the missions, and they all have arched loggias, and these openings framed the view and turned our landscape into a picture long before it was ever captured on film. I was also inspired by the history of Sunset magazine. We looked at old issues and found some that have an arch frame composition on their cover. Above the fiery sunset is a very celestial, almost spiritual fantasy night sky that reminds us of the incredible fantasia of this place, the dreams this place holds, the wishes that are granted, and all the things that we love about our city.”