Physician and naturopath Philip Lovell commissioned two icons of modernist architecture: the Lovell Beach House in Long Beach, completed by Rudolph Schindler in 1926; and this house, Lovell Health House, completed by Richard Neutra in 1929. An icon of International style and the first true steel house in the USA, it is built on a steep hillside in the Los Feliz Canyon and signifies the completion of the move from arts and crafts to modernism. Somewhat ironically, this house, which was built for a doctor, was used as Pierce Morehouse Patchett’s house in the 1997 film LA Confidential.

Born in 1963, Alex Hartley has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally at venues including KØS Museum of Art in Public Spaces, Koge, Denmark (2019); Royal Academy of Arts, London (2017); Contemporary Arts Centre, Ohio, US (2014); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark (2013); Fundación Canal, Madrid (2008); and The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2001). In 2017, the artist’s work featured in the Yokohama Triennale while the monumental, site-specific installation Wall was on view as part of the Folkestone Triennial until November of the same year. In 2013, Hartley undertook a residency with the National Trust for Scotland.