Nicole-Antonia Spagnola

Nicole-Antonia Spagnola’s practice draws on the histories and conventions of subcultural music, literature, art, and film, relocating them as contemporary documents and reflecting on the position of the artist today. Her work 1-2-3: Apartment Gallery takes cues from the films of Billy Wilder, particularly The Apartment (1960), Irma La Douce (1963), and Kiss Me, Stupid (1964). Each film touches on cycles of fidelity, desire, power, and desperation, looping continuously until the structure disrupts from within, pulling the characters off course. Wilder serves as the touchstone for 1-2-3: Apartment Gallery, which plays on multiple screens located throughout the museum. In this work Spagnola has replaced professional actors with artists and curators who operate apartment-based galleries across Los Angeles.

Synopsis: A pregnant woman runs to her lover, uncertain whether he intends to kill another man—or himself. A john discovers a mysterious currency to pay his favorite girl. A composer struggles to keep his jealousy in check.

Nicole-Antonia Spagnola was born in 1991 in Los Angeles. A multimedia artist with a practice rooted in film, Spagnola draws inspiration from a wide range of sources, including the history of computational media and 1980s Italian hardcore music. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Commercial Street, Los Angeles (2025, 2021); Schaufenster, Kunstverein München, Munich (2024); Ivory Tars, Glasgow, Scotland (2024); Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna (2023); Stadtgalerie Bern, Bern, Switzerland (2023); The Wig, Berlin (2023); Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York (2023); 100 Bell Towers, Montreal (2022); Artists Space, New York (2022); and Full Haus, Los Angeles (2017). Recent group exhibitions include The Wig, Berlin (2024); Galerie Hussenot, Paris (2024); Sgomento Zurigo, Zurich (2024); Ivory Tars, Glasgow, Scotland (2024); 3236RLS, London (2024); Bel Ami, Los Angeles (2024); Felix Gaudlitz, Milan (2024) and Vienna (2023); and Galerie Neu, Berlin (2023). Spagnola earned a BFA at the California Institute of the Arts (2016), Valencia, CA, and an MA at the University of California, Los Angeles (2018). She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles.