Cultured magazine profiles Los Angeles-based artist Erin Calla Watson as part of its 2025 Young Artists list. Watson, age 32, gained attention for her 2023 solo exhibition at Foxy Production in New York—the gallery's final show—where she manipulated 15 images from the iconic 1975–76 exhibition "New Topographics" by inserting the likeness of Australian supermodel Jordan Barrett. The project was critically acclaimed and sparked renewed discussion about the gallery's closure. Watson, who now shows with Ehrlich Steinberg in Los Angeles, continues to create ghostly, darkly humorous images that draw from internet subcultures like the "manosphere" to explore suburban gothic aesthetics.
This profile matters because it highlights an emerging artist whose work critically engages with photographic history and contemporary digital culture, signaling a new generation of artists recontextualizing canonical imagery. Watson's inclusion in Cultured's annual Young Artists list also underscores the ongoing importance of artist-focused journalism in identifying and promoting rising talent in the visual art world, especially as smaller galleries like Foxy Production close and the Los Angeles art scene continues to grow in influence.