ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Dynaton Survey at Château Shatto Revisits Postwar West Coast Avant-Garde

exhibition · 2026-09-26

At Château Shatto in Los Angeles, "Dynaton: Convocation of Radiant Beings," curated by Laura Whitcomb, highlights the Dynaton movement from the postwar era. Featured artists include Wolfgang Paalen, Gordon Onslow Ford, Lee Mullican, Alice Rahon, and Lucita Hurtado. The movement reached its zenith in 1951 with an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art before it faded away shortly thereafter. It originated with Paalen's move to California and Mexico, drawing in Onslow Ford and Mullican. Notable pieces comprise Onslow Ford's The Luminous Land and Birthing Anew, Paalen's Nuclear Wheel and Messenger from the Three Poles, and Mullican's Kachina. The exhibition also explores the artists' engagement with Indigenous cultures.

Key facts

  • "Dynaton: Convocation of Radiant Beings" is on view at Château Shatto in Los Angeles.
  • The exhibition is curated by Laura Whitcomb (also referred to as Lauren Whitcomb).
  • Dynaton was a postwar art movement active in the 1940s and 1950s, peaking in 1951 with a show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
  • Key artists include Wolfgang Paalen, Gordon Onslow Ford, Lee Mullican, Alice Rahon, and Lucita Hurtado.
  • The movement was named after the Greek word for "the possible."
  • The exhibition features works such as Onslow Ford's The Luminous Land (1943), Paalen's Nuclear Wheel (1942) and Space Unbound (1941), and Mullican's Kachina (1948).
  • LACMA previously mounted a Dynaton survey a half-century ago.
  • The show addresses the artists' appropriation of Indigenous cultures and their struggle to move beyond Surrealism.

Entities

Artists

Institutions

Locations

  • Los Angeles
  • United States
  • California
  • San Francisco
  • Mexico
  • Paris
  • France
  • Austria
  • Melrose Hill
  • East Hollywood
  • Western Avenue
  • Mill Valley

Sources

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