Matthew Hansel's "My Inner Demon Never Sleeps Alone" @ The Hole in Los Angeles

Matthew Hansel, Selfie, 2023. All images courtesy of The Hole and Matthew Hansel.

The Hole presents Matthew Hansel’s My Inner Demon Never Sleeps Alone, which is a body of work that has been developing over the course of the last three years.

The main gallery features a bestiary of demons, pixies, and nude men and women in all kinds of entanglements, poses and rituals. The human figures are painted from clippings of 1960s and ‘70s brochures for West Coast nudist colonies, while their demons, with scaly bodies, attenuated snouts and poulaine-toed feet, recall the morality paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. Hansel’s allegorical twist: instead of admonishing the viewer, he aims to enchant them, conjuring a universe in which, he says, “people are able to live beside and enjoy their demons in a way that they can’t in the real world.”

My Inner Demon Never Sleeps Alone is on view through June 24 at The Hole, 844 N La Brea Avenue Los Angeles

Matthew Hansel, The Couple, 2023. All images courtesy of The Hole and Matthew Hansel.

Matthew Hansel, Morning’s Light We Can’t Forget, It Warms Us Like An Ember, Illuminating With Regret, The Nights We Can’t Remember, 2023. All images courtesy of The Hole and Matthew Hansel.

Matthew Hansel, Dancing On The Toes Of Our Shadows, 2023. All images courtesy of The Hole and Matthew Hansel.

Matthew Hansel, We Exclaim Our Desires, Brief Whispers In The Wind, Our Ecstasies Our Instrument, Our Demons Our Delight, 2023. All images courtesy of The Hole and Matthew Hansel.

Matthew Hansel, The Studio Assistant, 2023. All images courtesy of The Hole and Matthew Hansel.

Matthew Hansel, Interlocking Interlocutors, 2023. All images courtesy of The Hole and Matthew Hansel.

Read Our Interview With Iconic Fashion Designer and Artist Christophe Coppens On Leaving The Fashion World Behind For Art →

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One might expect someone with the credentials of Christophe Coppens – internationally acclaimed avant garde fashion designer, official milliner for the Belgian Royal Family, former theatre actor and director, burgeoning artist – to be radically unapproachable. Instead, Coppens shakes your hand warmly, orders iced tea at an outdoor café, talks about his love for cheap avocado toast and the 20s style bungalows in Silverlake. Perhaps this is why Coppens jumped the brutal, fast-paced, capitalist boat of the fashion industry circuit five years ago, abandoning his label to pursue art. Click here to read more.