British celebrity photographer Andy Gotts brings his first-ever California exhibition to El Encanto, the hillside luxury resort in Santa Barbara, opening August 27 and running through November 30, 2026. THE PLAYLIST places 40 large-format, unretouched black-and-white fine art prints throughout the historic property, turning the guest experience into a curated gallery walk across seven acres of terraced gardens.
The Exhibition Itself
Gotts, appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II, has maintained one unbreakable rule across his three-decade career: no airbrushing, no digital retouching, no filters. The approach draws on Henri Cartier-Bresson's concept of the "decisive moment," rendering every line and wrinkle exactly as the camera captured it. Ringo Starr reportedly called Gotts "the Ansel Adams of faces" — a description that tracks when you see the extreme close-up, high-contrast work in person.
The 40 prints are organized into four thematic groupings. Divas covers Dolly Parton, Liza Minnelli, Kylie Minogue, Rita Ora, Nicole Scherzinger, Shirley Bassey, and Annie Lennox. Kings of Stage features Ozzy Osbourne, Steven Tyler, Elton John, Roger Daltrey, Alice Cooper, Motörhead, Meat Loaf, and Liam Payne. Guitar Gods spotlights B.B. King, Ronnie Wood, and Brian May. Rhythm & Soul brings together Ringo Starr, Sting, Gene Simmons, Mick Fleetwood, and Phil Collins. Six works in the collection carry dual signatures from both Gotts and his subjects — Parton, Osbourne, Fleetwood, Wood, King, and Payne — making them among the rarest pieces in the artist's archive. Also on display are original hand-marked contact sheets, grease-pencil annotations intact, giving guests a look at Gotts' editing process before a final frame is chosen.
The Operator Angle
For hospitality operators, the exhibition model here is worth noting. El Encanto has built a dedicated revenue layer around the show by launching THE PLAYLIST Experience, a suite package tied directly to the exhibition's four thematic groupings. Four room types — the Oak Tree Suite (Divas), the Wishing Well Suite (Kings of Stage), the Terrace Premier Suite (Guitar Gods), and the Garden Bungalow (Rhythm & Soul) — are Andy Gotts-themed for the duration. Guests who book August 27–30 receive launch party tickets, entry to an intimate dinner hosted by Gotts on August 28 or 29, and daily breakfast for two. It's a clean example of art-driven hospitality programming generating both room-night demand and on-property event revenue in a single package.
Print sales extend the commercial runway beyond the resort itself. Guests can purchase works from Gotts' wider THE PLAYLIST collection through OneShot Creative, available in three sizes (60" × 40", 40" × 30", and 24" × 20") and shipped unframed from the United Kingdom. The #1 print from each edition — the same works hanging in the exhibition — is available exclusively through El Encanto, preserving a collectible tier that rewards on-site visits.
What Comes Next
Gotts noted that the Santa Barbara show arrives ahead of his next major project: a portrait series celebrating NFL all-stars across multiple decades, timed to debut around next year's Super Bowl. For a luxury resort built around experiential food and beverage programming and Chef Joel Viehland's California Central Coast cuisine, aligning with a photographer of Gotts' international profile positions El Encanto well ahead of a high-profile news cycle. The exhibition runs through November 30, 2026.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
