Singer Drake resurrects Luna Luna, the ‘art amusement park’ featuring Dali, Basquiat, Hockney, now on display in Los Angeles
- Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy featuring input by Salvador Dali, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein debuted in 1987, but closed down after a short time
- Rapper and singer Drake has been a driving force behind the art fair’s rebirth, and visitors can catch the one-of-a-kind attraction in Los Angeles
Mesmerising roundabouts and Ferris wheels designed by Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kenny Scharf that spin to music from Miles Davis or Philip Glass – this is “Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy”.
With works designed by prominent 20th-century artists, the resurrected show calls itself the world’s first art amusement park, a one-of-a-kind psychedelic fair.
“Luna Luna” recently opened its doors in Los Angeles. Features include a mirrored fun house signed by Salvador Dali, a pavilion from Roy Lichtenstein, an enchanted forest by David Hockney, and a marriage chapel designed by Andre Heller, the Austrian multimedia artist who brought the “Forgotten Fantasy” to life nearly four decades ago.
Heller – an aficionado of travelling fairs and circuses, and with far-flung interests in film, music, theatre, sculpture and more – recruited some of the most established names from the last century’s art scene as well as some talented newcomers to create Luna Luna: an amusement park designed to make art accessible to ordinary people.
The fair debuted in Hamburg, Germany in 1987, but after drawing thousands of visitors, the money ran out, bureaucratic obstacles mounted, and plans for a world tour had to be shelved. “Luna Luna” was stored in 44 shipping containers in Texas for the next 35 years.