Pace Gallery Takes on Painter Lauren Quin Amid Shifts in L.A. Art Scene

Lauren Quin b. 1992, United States Follow +

Lauren Quin, the Los Angeles painter whose kaleidoscopic abstractions have captivated both museums and private collectors, has joined the roster of international powerhouse Pace Gallery.  

The gallery will showcase Quin’s work in upcoming presentations at Frieze Seoul this September, ahead of her highly anticipated solo debut at Pace’s L.A. space during Frieze Los Angeles in early 2026.

The announcement lands at a charged moment for the L.A. gallery landscape. Weeks after the closure of BLUM—a gallery that helped define the city’s contemporary art scene and previously showed Quin—artists and audiences have wondered how the city’s emerging stars might reshuffle their affiliations. Several former BLUM artists, including Beijing-based painter Liu Xiaodong and L.A.-based sculptor Asuka Anastacia Ogawa, have already found new gallery homes or adopted more flexible representation models.

Industry observers note that Quin’s move to a gallery with deep institutional connections and international reach is likely to accelerate her market and museum profile. Auction houses have already registered impressive results: Quin’s Airsickness soared to £461,700 ($587,484 USD) at Phillips London in 2022, while recent sales in New York and Hong Kong have routinely exceeded $200,000—remarkable for a painter in her early thirties.

Pace’s decision to place Quin front and centre at major international fairs underscores both the immediacy and adaptability of her work. Her paintings—thick with carved incisions, splashes of neon, and a roiling mesh of signature ‘tube’ motifs—have been praised for capturing the sensory overload and fractured attention of digital culture, while remaining rooted in a tactile, risk-embracing studio practice.

Quin’s ascent reflects broader trends in painting, as younger artists fuse inventive materials and process with references to historical abstraction and present-day image culture. 

‘She exemplifies a generation that’s unafraid to push the formal and physical limits of painting’, commented a Los Angeles curator, noting Quin’s dual presence in major museums and on the auction circuit.

For Quin, now working from her L.A. studio, the gallery move feels both like homecoming and a new chapter. ‘Lauren’s vision is unapologetically bold and also suggests the city’s unique energy,’ said a Pace spokesperson. ‘We’re thrilled to support her at home in L.A. and in our programmes internationally.’

With major exhibitions slated in both Asia and her adopted hometown, and with growing institutional attention, Quin’s work seems poised to reach an even broader audience. And as Los Angeles redefines its position in the post-BLUM art ecology, all eyes—museum, market, and otherwise—will be on her next move. —[O]

Main image: Lauren Quin, Shepard's Tone (2024) (detail). Oil on canvas. 243.8 x 457.2 x 3.2 cm. © Lauren Quin. Courtesy Pace Gallery. Photo: Paul Salveson.