VIOLA FREY
Observed & Gathered
May 3 - June 7, 2025
The Pit is honored to present Viola Frey: Observed and Gathered, a landmark solo exhibition examining the profound and multifaceted artistic practice of Viola Frey (1933-2004). This exhibition, which marks Frey’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles in over three decades, will open on May 3, 2025, from 5-7 pm and be on view through June 7, 2025. With works ranging from 1980 to 2004, the exhibition will feature a selection of her larger-than-life ceramic figures, densely rich paintings and drawings, alongside more intimate ceramic sculptures, plates, and works on paper. This will be the artist's second exhibition with the gallery, her first since the announcement of The Pit’s representation of her Foundation.
Viola Frey (1933–2004) received her BFA and honorary doctorate from California College of the Arts and Crafts, where she taught for 30 years, and attended graduate school at Tulane University. She was awarded two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, the Award of Honor in Sculpture from the San Francisco Arts Commission, and many other grants and awards.
Her work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. In 2000, she co-founded Artists’ Legacy Foundation with Squeak Carnwath and Gary Knecht. Upon her death in 2004, she became the Foundation’s first Legacy Artist.