What Will You See at April Bey’s New Solo Exhibition at Vielmetter Los Angeles?

Short answer

All the Reasons We Never Tell Someone We Love Them…They’re Worthless, April Bey’s second solo exhibition at Vielmetter Los Angeles, opens Saturday, October 31, 2026, and runs through December 19. The show gathers large-scale tapestries from her Atlantica universe, portraits made with her community in Memphis, her first self-portraits and two monumental wall installations built from 128 pillows. The opening reception is Saturday, October 31, from 4 to 6 PM, and the artist asks visitors to come in their most festive garb.

Key facts

• Who: April Bey, the Bahamian-American artist behind the ongoing Atlantica project.
• What: All the Reasons We Never Tell Someone We Love Them…They’re Worthless — her second solo exhibition with the gallery.
• Where: Vielmetter Los Angeles, Gallery I, 1700 S Santa Fe Ave #101, Los Angeles, CA 90021.
• When: October 31 to December 19, 2026. Opening reception October 31, 4 to 6 PM.
• Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM, and by appointment. Admission is free.

What is the show about?

The exhibition grows out of a year Bey spent trying to date and find romantic love in the United States, observing courtship, in the gallery’s words, with the curiosity of an alien trying to understand human behavior on Earth. What begins as a humorous investigation of dating, desire, avoidance and sex turns into a reckoning with how people give, receive, misunderstand, withhold and lose love. The search then widens beyond romance: friends, animals, community, lovers and the self all become places where intimacy is negotiated.

What is Atlantica?

Atlantica is Bey’s long-running project in which she imagines herself as an alien reporting back to her home planet. Many portraits in the show began during her residency and exhibition in Memphis with TONE Gallery and curator Jayla Slater, where she held a public photoshoot in Orange Mound on October 31, 2024. Founded in 1890, Orange Mound was the first residential community in the United States built for Black homeowners. Bey’s photoshoots invite fellow Atlanticans, particularly queer participants, to be photographed, pampered, celebrated and archived inside her visual universe, and participants leave as collectors of her work, sharing in the ownership of the cultural objects their images produce.

Which works anchor the exhibition?

The three-panel tapestry The Secrets We Keep, All the Reasons We Never Tell Someone We Love Them…They’re Worthless stages Black men in vivid pink Western wear rising out of a tropical landscape, celebrating queer intimacy while showing its subjects in deep, sometimes maddening relationships with themselves. For the first time in her career, Bey also turns the lens on herself: the self-portraits examine boundaries, desire and self-worth. In Don’t Ask My Opinion on Shit, ‘Cause to Make You Feel Good About Yourself is Exhaustin’, personal revelations are painted in thick impasto across the lush surfaces, including the question “Who holds me when I stop holding everyone?” Two monumental wall installations made from 128 pillows complete the show, their soft, plush surfaces towering over the viewer.

How do you visit?

Vielmetter is in the Arts District, at 1700 S Santa Fe Ave, and the exhibition is in Gallery I. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM, and by appointment; entry is free. The October 31 reception runs from 4 to 6 PM, with festive dress requested by the artist. For a slower first look at the tapestries, our guide on how to look closely at a single artwork is a good place to start, and our glossary explains how a commercial contemporary art gallery like Vielmetter works.

FAQ

Is entry free?

Yes. Entry to Vielmetter Los Angeles is free, including the opening reception.

What are the dates?

October 31 through December 19, 2026, with the opening reception on Saturday, October 31, 4 to 6 PM.

Are these really Bey’s first self-portraits?

Yes. According to the gallery, she had never made a self-portrait before this body of work.

What are the pillow walls?

Two monumental wall installations constructed from 128 pillows, scaled to dwarf the viewer.

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Sources

• Vielmetter Los Angeles, exhibition page for All the Reasons We Never Tell Someone We Love Them…They’re Worthless: dates, reception, address, hours, the Atlantica project, the Orange Mound portraits, the self-portraits and the pillow installations.

More context: our guides to Sable Elyse Smith’s SKY FENCE GROUND at Regen Projects and to Kiki Smith’s exhibitions across Los Angeles.