Artist Reggie Burrows Hodges on Display at Three Los Angeles Arts Institutions

The J. Paul Getty Museum, California African American Museum (CAAM) and Art + Practice (A+P) announced today three exhibitions featuring new works by contemporary painter Reggie Burrows Hodges, largely inspired by artworks from Getty’s collection.

Reggie Burrows Hodges (b. 1965, Compton, California) creates paintings that engage with themes of memory, labor and power. Working in both intuitive and process-based modes, Hodges focuses on intimate, everyday moments that often evade representation. His scenes convey impressions of experience through soft, gestural marks that evoke the hazy quality of recollection. Hodges complicates the association of negative space with emptiness by building out his compositions from black grounds. This first layer gives form and substance to his figures, their contours implied through lushly rendered environments. The artist’s descriptive focus on his subjects’ surroundings emphasizes the historical and social conditions that shape subjectivity.

“Reggie Burrows Hodges is an exceptional artist recognized internationally for his ingenuity and deeply passionate visual storytelling,” said Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the Getty Museum. “We are delighted to be partnering with CAAM and Art + Practice to display his newest work and first solo museum presentations in the city where he was born and raised. Each exhibition will offer their own unique perspective of his work.”

The three displays are inspired by Hodges’ deep appreciation for Old Master paintings and desire to develop a new body of work that engages with paintings from Getty’s collection. Often beginning each painting with the same compositions as the Getty artworks, Hodges expands upon the original painting’s formal and thematic attributes with references to his own personal, poetic style.

On view in the Getty Museum’s East Pavilion from Oct. 20, 2026 to Feb. 28, 2027, “Reggie Burrows Hodges: A Theater of Passions” features five paintings by Hodges. In this series, he investigated the underlying dynamics of violence and theatricality embedded in the dramatic narratives of three 17th-century Italian works from Getty’s collection: Orazio Gentileschi’s “Lot and His Daughters” and “Danaë and the Shower of Gold,” and “Lucretia” by Orazio’s daughter, Artemisia Gentileschi. The paintings exemplify Hodges’ distinctive painterly language, characterized by a formal rigor and evocative imagery.

“Hodges’ paintings illustrate his distinct artistic style,” said Davide Gasparotto, senior curator of paintings at the Getty Museum. “Shifting emphasis away from descriptive naturalism, he instead privileges atmosphere, ambiguity and psychological presence, revealing not only a profound sensitivity to the formal and emotional complexity of his sources but also a natural affinity for the compositional strategies and richly textured surfaces that define 17th-century painting.”

At CAAM, “Reggie Burrows Hodges: A Theater of Miracles” is on view from Oct. 20, 2026 to Feb. 28, 2027 and presents additional works that reflect the influence that Old Master paintings have had on Hodges’ practice. Several of the paintings are inspired by works in the Getty’s collection, including the 16th-century Italian painting “The Miracle of the Quail” by Jacopo Bassano, which joins the presentation at CAAM. Hodges’ modern takes bring attention to everyday gestures while maintaining the sense of drama in the historical works.

“We are thrilled to join the Getty in presenting the work of Reggie Burrows Hodges at CAAM in Exposition Park and at Art + Practice in Leimert Park. This is the final co-presentation in CAAM’s five-year partnership with A+P, so it is fitting we celebrate one of South LA’s own,” said Cameron Shaw, Executive Director at CAAM. “The meaning of artwork shifts depending on how and where it is shown, and each venue in the collaboration offers a distinct entry point to Hodges’ practice. Through references to painting, music, theater, travel, literature and the artist’s own upbringing, this constellation of exhibitions reveals his point of view and invites viewers into his world.”

At A+P, “Reggie Burrows Hodges: A Theater of Dreams” will be on view Oct. 20, 2026 to Feb. 27, 2027. Expanding viewers’ understanding of Hodges’ sources of inspiration, it features new paintings influenced by his memories of childhood in Compton, the legacy of Leimert Park, and his experiences traveling through Europe.

“These concurrent exhibitions mark Hodges’ first solo museum exhibitions in Southern California, and it is especially meaningful to see his work presented across Los Angeles, including South Los Angeles, where he was born and raised.” said Bridget R. Cooks, curator of the exhibitions at CAAM and A+P. “Together, these presentations offer visitors an opportunity to gain insight into the processes and inspirations behind Hodges’ paintings while encountering some of his most ambitious work.”

Hodges has presented solo exhibitions at the Malta International Contemporary Art Space (MICAS) (2026), the Parrish Art Museum (2025), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2023), the Addison Gallery of American Art (2023) and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (2022).

“Reggie Burrows Hodges: A Theater of Passions” was curated by Davide Gasparotto, senior curator of paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum. “Reggie Burrows Hodges: A Theater of Miracles” (at CAAM) and “Reggie Burrows Hodges: A Theater of Dreams” (at A+P) were curated by Bridget R. Cooks, independent curator, scholar and professor of African American studies and art history at the University of California, Irvine. “A Theater of Dreams” is co-presented as part of CAAM at A+P, a five-year collaboration.

On Oct. 27, the Getty Center will host a free public lecture featuring Reggie Burrows Hodges in conversation with curators Gasparotto and Cooks. The event will be followed by a reception and a special opportunity to view the Getty installation.

A catalogue featuring essays by Gasparotto and Cooks will be published In conjunction with the exhibitions, available in Spring 2027.

Hodges is represented by Karma, New York and Los Angeles.