LACMA’s Art+Film Gala to Honor Simone Leigh, with Charli xcx Set to Perform

Brat summer has officially been extended into fall. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art will host a special performance by Charli xcx at its annual Art+Film Gala, which each year honors an artist and a filmmaker. This year’s honorees are Simone Leigh and Baz Luhrmann. 

As with the past several iterations of the gala, Eva Chow and Leonardo DiCaprio will serve as gala chairs and Gucci as presenting sponsor. Gucci also typically dresses the honorees and LACMA staff.

This year’s star-studded event will be held on November 2 at LACMA. 

Leigh is one of today’s most closely watched artists. She is best-known for her large-scale sculptures of Black women that often include cowrie shells and raffia. In 2022, she represented the United States at the Venice Biennale; her work was also included in that Biennale’s main exhibition, “The Milk of Dreams,” curated by Cecilia Alemani. Her contributions to the main exhibition won her the Biennale’s Golden Lion prize. Among the works included was Brick House, which Alemani had initially commissioned for the High Line, where she is director and chief curator. 

Leigh is also currently the subject of a traveling survey that debuted at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, which served as the commissioning institution for the 2022 American Pavilion. That exhibition is currently on view at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. She has also appeared in the 2012 and 2019 Whitney Biennials, and she won the Guggenheim Museum’s now defunct Hugo Boss Prize in 2018.

Luhrmann is the director of Romeo + Juliet (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001), The Great Gatsby (2013), and Elvis (2022). He also recently directed the cover for Vogue’s September issue.

Charli xcx’s BRAT, which includes such bangers as “360,” “365” and “Von dutch,” has been one of the summer’s breakout albums.

In a statement, LACMA director Michael Govan said, “Simone Leigh is one of the most captivating and important voices in contemporary art, brilliantly melding an array of different artistic traditions and centering Black femme subjects in powerful and moving ways. Baz Luhrmann has crafted an emotional cinematic oeuvre over three decades, driven by his imagination and passion. We are excited to honor him alongside Simone and celebrate their remarkable careers.”

Added Chow, “I can’t wait for our amazing musical guest Charli xcx to bring the house down. It’s going to be a great evening!”