Christina Quarles' LACMA Installation Explores Illusion and Identity

Christina Quarles, a Los Angeles–based artist, has created a large-scale installation titled "Now We're There (And We' Only Just Begun)" for LACMA's W.M. Keck Foundation Gallery. The work, recently acquired by the museum, features luminous, shape-shifting figures rendered in trompe-l'œil, expanding beyond the traditional canvas to envelop the entire room. Quarles, who grew up near LACMA and attended art classes there as a child, describes the piece as a way to explore confusion of place and the disconnect between self-perception and how others see us. The title comes from a misremembered song lyric. This installation is the inaugural exhibition in a new series dedicated to working contemporary artists. Quarles hopes her work provides visibility and respite for those whose identities don't fit societal norms, while prompting questions about representation and perception.