Gary Garrels has kept a low profile in Los Angeles since arriving in 2005 from the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, where he was chief curator of drawings and a curator of painting and sculpture. Frustrated with aspects of MoMA’s institutional culture, he made the leap to chief curator at LA’s renowned Hammer. His professed reason for leaving an important post in New York’s most important institution is the vibrant energy in the LA scene, and at the Hammer particularly. It’s a move seen by many as another confirmation of the migration of America’s creative centre from the East to the West. And though he’s kept fairly quiet, especially compared to the Hammer’s glamorous director, Ann Philbin, his initial steps show promise: Garrels helped steer a show of drawings by the Latvian-born American artist Vija Celmins, in association with the Pompidou Centre; his first clear announcement of his take has been this summer’s Eden’s Edge: Fifteen LA Artists, an idiosyncratic show ranging from established figures like Lari Pittman and Jim Shaw to relative unknowns; and his enthusiasm for LA’s young scene, and the Hammer’s ability to work on small shows with emerging artists, looks set to make waves. What comes next for Garrels is one of the most intriguing questions of a Southern California scene that continues to expand and deepen.