In celebration of Pride month, the West Hollywood Edition hotel has announced the first round of its Made With Pride artist residency program—a gesture celebrating the diverse perspectives and artistry of LGBTQ+ creatives in Los Angeles—with the artists’ produced work soon to be up at a silent auction. The program is the first residency hosted by the neighborhood institution.
The inaugural group of artists—Grant Legan, Zoe Walsh, Mohamed Ouedraogo, Amit Greenberg, and Vita Kari—explore a mélange of queer identity and creativity through photography, painting, ceramics, and textiles in-turn, each utilizing the scenes of the hotel and LA as their inspirational North Star. “The West Hollywood Edition has always been intentional about being a supportive sanctuary for the queer and creative communities,” Director of Culture and Entertainment Gregory Alexander shares.
The winners visualize the full matrix of professional-personal expression. Legan, a fashion and lifestyle photographer who has worked with Bvlgari and Michael Kors as well as on collections for the Ritz-Carlton and the Standard hotels, presents a cinematic series of stills that capture bustling hospitality and luxury. Frequent patrons of the Edition may also recognize Greenberg’s vibrant pop-surrealist drawing and prints, which first arrived during his special commission by the hotel for Pride 2023. Kari, a multidisciplinary, Deaf artist uses virality and mass communication as mediums of inspiration, crafting figurative tapestry work and textile collages for the residency.
Ouedraogo, a sculptor and founder of Los Angeles ceramics house OuED Home, imbued his sculptures with innocent wonder and delight, embodying one facet of annual Pride celebrations. Alongside Ouedraogo’s ceramics are the chromatic paintings of elusive queer bodies and landscapes by Zoe Walsh, who presents an archival piece pulling distinct themes from the city’s art history compendium, including the likes of 1980s Falcon Studios photographs and architect Richard Neutra’s designs.
In celebration of the residency’s completed body of work, the hotel will host a silent auction with all proceeds benefitting the Los Angeles LBGT Center on June 18. Not available for the auction’s final drop of the hammer? The Edition will also donate the proceeds from its limited-edition signature cocktail True Colors (that’s tequila, yuzu, lychee, passionfruit, and hibiscus mezcal float topped with rainbow sour candy) to the Center.
More of our favorite stories from CULTURED
Introducing CULTURED’s 2026 Young Writers List
What Does a ‘Queer’ Art Collection Look Like? Here Are 10 Answers.
Oscar Isaac and Julian Schnabel on Why Making Likeable Movies Is Besides the Point
‘The Gilded Age’ Has Only Made Morgan Spector More of a Socialist
This Item From Diane Keaton’s Estate Sale Just Sold For 98 Times Its Estimate
Sign up for our newsletter here to get these stories direct to your inbox.
in your life?
