STEVEN ARNOLD: COCKTAILS IN HEAVEN Art Direction & Exhibit Design, Del Vaz Projects, Los Angeles,CA 2026Cocktails in Heaven, was a landmark exhibition devoted to exploring the zeitgeist-crackling, madness-materializing, fairy-tinseled life and work of the artist Steven Arnold (b. 1943, Oakland, CA; d. 1994, Los Angeles, CA).
At the center of the exhibition is a recreation of Zanzabar, Arnold’s former home and studio, remembered as a space of “world-building and genre-bending.” It functioned as home, salon, stage and social organism. Rather than reconstructing it literally, artist Orrin Whalen was commissioned to create an “experimental social container,” a structure grounded in meticulous research but open to instability.
Attempting to encapsulate Zanzabar, Arnold once explained, “My studio is more like Barnum and Bailey fucks Louis the Fourteenth, in drag. . . . All the atmosphere around here is illusion, cardboard Pic-N-Save illusion. It has nothing to do with status and everything to do with faking it, with theater.”
Intuit Dome Permenant Installation, NINE dot ARTS, Inglewood,CA 2024As LA's newest landmark, Intuit Dome collaborated with renowned local artists and adding their creative vision to the state-of-the-art arena. The Intuit Dome Public Art Program features the work of artists in a wide-ranging display of photography, paintings, sculptures, mixed media, and more.
Outside the premium suites on the first level is a series of captivating wall sculptures by LA-based artist Orrin Whalen . The sculptures feature a draping pattern that nods to theater curtains, tying into the many concerts and performances the venue will host. They also include a repeated woven motif, inspired by textures that can withstand force while keeping true to their form, such as the netting of a basketball hoop, shoe laces, and even the streets and boulevards connecting the city. “A woven structure shows the togetherness of a team, an arena full of fans, or simply the gridded streets that bring this city together,” said Whalen. “In togetherness there’s strength.”
Collection curation by NINE dot ARTS. Photos courtesy of Intuit Dome
Creature Comforts Installation & Performance, Wassaic Project, Wassaic,NY 2025The Wassaic Project is a contemporary arts institution that has been a cornerstone of upstate New York’s cultural landscape since 2008. Based in the historic Maxon Mills—an 8,000-square-foot, seven-story former grain elevator transformed into a vibrant arts space—the Wassaic Project serves as a dynamic incubator for new voices in contemporary art.
For this 3 week residency Whalen created ‘Creature Comforts’ a miniature installation and performance with a doomed glowing city and sprawling oil fields to be terrorized by a gasoline guzzling creature. The performance in its absurdity referenced creature features like Godzilla and themes of power, consumption and obsession.
Shoredale AveInstallation, Los Angeles,CA 2022
