Hammer Museum Announces Spring 2027 Exhibitions

The Hammer Museum has officially announced its upcoming spring 2027 season, which promises a diverse array of exhibitions exploring Chicanx and queer history, land art, and contemporary international installations. Visitors planning their trips to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles can look forward to a series of presentations that highlight both established and emerging artistic voices.

Hammer Museum Exhibitions

A centerpiece of the new season is "Joey Terrill: Homeboy Beautiful," the first institutional retrospective dedicated to the Los Angeles artist. Running from April 4 through September 5, 2027, the exhibition will display nearly 100 works, including early silkscreens, "flat" paintings from the 1980s, collages, and archival materials. The collection chronicles five decades of Terrill’s career, focusing on his engagement with the Chicano movement, queerness, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Following its run in Los Angeles, the exhibit will travel to Wrightwood 659 in Chicago.

The museum will also host "Michelle Stuart: The Memory of Paper," the first institutional survey exclusively focused on the artist's works on paper. As her first solo museum presentation in her native Los Angeles, the exhibition will feature approximately 70 works, ranging from topographical rubbings to sculptural book objects and photographs. This display will be viewable from April 4 through August 22, 2027, before moving to the Grey Art Museum at New York University.

The Hammer Museum's spring 2027 season features major retrospectives on Chicanx, queer, and land art traditions.

In addition to these surveys, the museum will present two Hammer Projects starting February 6, 2027, marking the first Los Angeles solo exhibitions for artists Oriol Vilanova and Inga Somdyala. Vilanova is set to create a large-scale installation in the museum lobby using 13,000 postcards from his personal archive. Meanwhile, Somdyala will transform a gallery space into a maritime vessel featuring a bright red sail and an immersive soundscape that explores themes of identity and culture in post-apartheid South Africa.

Hammer director Zoe Ryan noted that these exhibitions reflect the museum’s commitment to fostering new scholarship and building a foundation for future art history. To celebrate the season, the institution will host a free public event on April 3, 2027, offering late-night gallery access and music in the courtyard.

Why it matters

These exhibitions provide significant cultural visibility for Chicanx and queer narratives while highlighting the evolution of paper-based art. By showcasing international artists like Inga Somdyala, the museum facilitates a global dialogue on identity and post-colonial history that resonates with audiences interested in contemporary social discourse.