An Exhibition of Peter Schlesinger’s Ceramics Inaugurates a Playful New Art Space in Hollywood

In 1923, when much of Los Angeles was still deserted and movies hadn’t yet been released, the Hollywoodland Realty Co. set up shop in the area now known as Beachwood Canyon and built the first building in what would become known as Hollywood: a romantic, fairy-tale structure that looked like it had fallen straight from space. snow White. One hundred and two years later, when partners Alec Smythe and Noah Ruttenberg were walking in the neighborhood, they saw the building, with its antique wooden sign and bright blue trim, and were instantly smitten. It’s now home to their gallery Mariposa, opening at the start of Los Angeles Art Week. “There’s a little bit of camp, Disney and fairy tales in it,” Smythe said.

“It serves the Hollywood fantasy,” Rutenberg added.

“This building was built before the Hollywood Sign, the Hollywood Sign was built because of this building, and now the Hollywood concept itself is named after this building,” Smith continued. “It represents a lot of things. It’s about dreams and fantasy and, of course, movies and the Western and everything that it represents. The fact that it’s all included here is kind of amazing.”

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Smythe worked at David Zwirner for five years before entering law school during the pandemic; Ruttenberg is an interior designer named architectural digestNew American Voices 2025 has previously run Mariposa as a pop-up, initially launching on a vacant lot in the Marais district of Paris. After showing at pop-up spaces like the New York Independent Art Fair and an Aspen antique store, they decided to give the gallery a full-time home in Los Angeles. “The space feels so distinctly like it’s part of a movie set,” says Rutenberg. “With that comes a lot of fantasy.”

In 2023, Mariposa debuts in Paris with an exhibition of photography by legendary multidisciplinary artist Peter Schlesinger. Now, the opening of their new store in Los Angeles will feature swan-shaped ceramic pieces also created by Schlesinger, who was born in Los Angeles in 1948. “It’s a really important moment for us to be able to showcase these pieces,” Smythe said. “Because I think he is one of the most important sculptors working in ceramic art today.”