To celebrate the 20th anniversary of M+B, we’re launching a biweekly series spotlighting photographers who helped shape the gallery’s early identity. Before M+B became known for contemporary art, we began as a photography gallery—one that approached the medium with a different lens. Rather than focusing solely on formal or academic concerns, we championed photographers whose work felt alive with cultural urgency—artists who were capturing the world around them in ways that felt immediate, vital, and unmistakably of the moment.
We’re beginning this series with Hugh Holland, whose sun-drenched images of 1970s Southern California skate culture became a cornerstone of our early program and remain among the most iconic works in our archive.
Hugh’s journey as a photographer began after he moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s. Though not a skateboarder himself, he had a singular eye for the raw energy, effortless grace, and golden light that defined a generation of skaters coming of age in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape. His photographs captured more than just a sport—they documented a movement on the verge of becoming something bigger.
In the midst of a historic California drought, teenagers began sneaking into empty backyard swimming pools, turning suburban leftovers into sites of spontaneous rebellion. Drawing inspiration from surfing, their skate style was fast, low, and improvisational—stylish and risky in equal measure. What began as trespassing soon evolved into a radical form of expression, reshaping street culture, fashion, and youth identity in real time.
Hugh was there to witness it. With rare intimacy, he captured the swagger, defiance, and freedom of these early skaters—their makeshift uniforms, their sun-bleached hair, their refusal to conform. He preserved a fleeting moment before skateboarding went mainstream, when it was still rough-edged, anti-authoritarian, and full of promise.
His photographs from this period remain some of the most celebrated of the era, collected internationally and credited with shaping the visual language of skate and street culture for decades to come. It’s more than skate. It was a movement.
M+B was honored to present Holland’s first solo exhibition, Angels, in 2006—a landmark moment that helped launch his work onto the global stage. Since then, his photographs have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, NPR, and The Los Angeles Times, with further acclaim following the release of his monograph Locals Only and his inclusion in MOCA’s Art in the Streets.
In celebration of his enduring legacy, we’re pleased to debut a new estate print size for a selection of Holland’s most iconic works—offering collectors a fresh way to engage with his timeless vision.