Normally talking about artist’s lives in the past tense indicates retrospectives of 20th century contemporary art icons; Neoclassicists; prominent figures of the Renaissance — less commonly rising stars cut short mid-career. Tragically killed in a 2002 plane crash at just 35, we can only muse where Luxembourg-born Michel Majerus’s career would have taken him … the body of work he left behind suggesting far.

From Toy Story‘s Woody to The Prodigy’s Keith Flint … Tron to a reworked Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol painting; Majerus’s fixation with pop culture was clear, his ability to pipeline oft-trashy iconography into powerful, moving artworks evident. Michel Majerus’s first solo show in Los Angeles takes place over both of Matthew Marks’s galleries, and sees the aforementioned toy cowboy starring as one of its key pieces: a gargantuan piece nearly 16ft high, 23ft wide — overdose its title, overdose its capacity.

Michel Majerus at Matthew Marks, Los Angeles, continues at 1062 North Orange Grove Avenue and 7818 Santa Monica Boulevard until 9 January.

@matthewmarks

pornography needs you, 2001
Acrylic on canvas
119 1/4 x 131 1/8 inches 303 x 333 cm

Tron 4 (grün Pantone 375), 1999
Silkscreen on canvas and wall painting
Wall painting: 118 x 118 inches; 300 x 300 cm
Screen print: 56 x 48 inches; 142 x 122 cm