In December, during Art Basel Miami, Dior presented its pre-fall Dior Men collection across from the new Rubell Museum. The gargantuan temple of contemporary art, helmed by Mera and Don Rubell, had also recently named the Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo as its inaugural artist-in-residence. A rising star who is represented by Mariane Ibrahim Gallery and Roberts Projects, Boafo has garnered acclaim for his mesmerizing, large-scale portraits of finger-painted figures that, in his words, “document, celebrate, and show new ways to approach Blackness.”

Boafo’s work resonated with Dior men’s artistic director Kim Jones, who spent his childhood travelling through Africa and had been wanting to collaborate with an African contemporary artist. After an introduction by Mera, he travelled to Ghana to visit Boafo’s studio. “I could just see his work turning into things in front of my eyes,” Jones tells Vogue, referring to Dior’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection. Called “Portrait of an Artist,” it’s the latest of the French label’s recent string of artistic collaborations, which have become a key fixture of Jones’s tenure.

Physical runway shows are out of the question due to Covid-19, so Dior introduced the collection through a short film uploaded to YouTube. Modeled by an all-Black cast, the collection masterfully marries Boafo’s sensibilities with the elegant masculinity pioneered by Jones. Pops of neon nod to the vibrant backgrounds upon which Boafo paints his characters, one of which stares from a fur turtleneck. “Everything touches me in his work,” says Jones, who describes the creative process as an exchange. “In designing this collection, I wanted to share that passion and celebrate the power of his work, to help it become even better known.”

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Roger Herman, an esteemed painter known for his loose, expressive style, was once viewed as California’s answer to Jean-Michel Basquiat. In the decades since, he transitioned into creating clay works, translating his figurative style to vessels of various shapes and sizes. A new online exhibition at Carpenters Workshop Gallery spotlights these vibrant ceramic works, which are defined by elements of surprise. Herman treats the vessels as a round painter’s canvas first and foremost, never to be viewed all at once. “I have a constant dialogue with myself as a painter on canvas and a painter working on ceramics,” he says. “The interesting part of making ceramics is that you can’t control the process as much as with painting.”

Since its inception in 2004, Montalba Architects has made its imprint on L.A.’s sprawling landscape from marquee commercial projects such as Nobu Ryokan, The Row, and the Headspace headquarters, to residential projects in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and beyond. The firm’s skillful ability to connect spaces with their surroundings is a hallmark of its eclectic portfolio—and the recently completed LR2 House is no different. Situated in the Pasadena hills, the fluid structure blends into the wooded terrain with indoor-outdoor rooms, courtyards, breezeways, and an expansive rooftop deck that overlooks the sprawling Pasadena valley.

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