Running through Sunday, the LA Art Show begins tomorrow with a spectacular opening night gala benefitting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Marking its 23rd year at the LA Convention Center, the show features a variety of programming and gallery exhibitions sure to dazzle viewers. The LA Art Show is one of the largest international art fairs in the country, and this art feast allows an entire weekend of visual consumption, with wide-ranging installations and gallery presentations spreading across the vast exhibition space.
Here’s just a few must-sees.
DIVERSEartLA programming occupies over 60,000 square feet of exhibit space highlighting work from around the world, including exhibits making their world and US premieres. Presented by MUSA Museum of the Arts of the University of Guadalajara and shown for the first time in the U.S., the Metaphysical Orozco recreates Jose Clementé Orozco’s 1930s-era murals using multi-layer mapping projections. Viewers will uncover the history and themes of the murals, and images are accompanied by a musical soundtrack in this vibrant installation.
Antuen’s “Left or Right,” curated by Marisa Caichiolo is a vast interactive installation depicting world leaders and despots that allows the spectator to hit punching bag images and detoxify.
Berlin’s The Konig Galerie exhibits Jose Dávila’s large-scale “Untitled” sculpture shaped from San Andrés stone, metal beams, and glass sphere. Merry Karnowsky /KP Projects debuts at the convention center with never before seen works by outsider photographer Vivian Maier.
Flash Bulb by Pandemonia is the creation of an anonymous London artist, a multi-media conceptual project involving a plastic female character constructed from symbols and archetypes in the form of a three-dimensional drawing. Pandemonia will pose and perform with various objects that represent her pop-feminist universe and vibrant color palette.
The creator of the largest graffiti art along the LA River, SABER, a.k.a. Ryan Weston Shook, creates an original work opening night which will be displayed throughout the show.
BG Gallery presents artist Matt Elson’s The Infinity Boxes, a series of boxes that allow intimate groups of people to interact via elaborately constructed infinity mirrors set up to illuminate a perceptual “other world” when the box is inhabited by two individuals. Also at BG gallery: new works by LA artist Robyn Alatorre, Susan Lizotte, Gay Summer Rick (also exhibiting at Gallery Steiner), Heather Lowe, and Dwora Fried. Below, Fried’s trenchant work, “Troll Box.”
The Los Angeles Art Association presents “Ping Pong,” a collaboration between artists from Los Angeles, Miami and Basel. Exploring the art of each city, the exhibition includes works by Chung-Ping Cheng, Sharon Hardy, Sue Irion, Gershon Kreimer, Samuelle Richardson, and Mette Tommerup.
Curated by Launch Gallery’s James Panozzo and the California African American Museum, Eyes Forward is a dynamic survey of works by ten contemporary artists of color in LA: (April Bey, Chukes, June Edmonds, Loren Holland, Duane Paul, Miles Regis, Ana Rodrigues, Nano Rubio, Holly Tempo, and Tim Washington.
Sergott Contemporary Art Gallery offers modern and contemporary artists including the textured landscapes of LA-based Hung Viet Nguyen.
At the Los Angeles Center for Photography booth, take in work from a wide range of photographers including exciting work from Jane Szabo, and the ethereal work of Aline Mare, below.
Design LA Art is a brand new area of the LA Art Show designated for exhibition areas of modern furniture, decor, and jewelry and displayed in circular, open spaces within the fair.
Littletopia is back, an exhibit space that includes 16 galleries and a 22 foot long magic space boat by Bunnie Reiss. Exhibiting galleries include 701, Art du Marche, BoxHeart Gallery, Copro Gallery, Cordesa Fine Art, Gersten Fine Art, John Natsoulas Gallery, Johnathan LeVine Projects, Josh Tiessen Studio Gallery, Keane Eyes Gallery, Mirus Gallery, Paradigm Gallery + Studio, Red Truck Gallery, Superchief Gallery and a tribute to Greg Escalante, co-founder of Juxtapoz Magazine. A Lifetime Achievement Award for Margaret Keane will be presented here.
Matt Gleason, gallerist at Coagula Curatorial in DTLA will be broadcasting his Modern Art Blitz talk show from the VIP booth in the Southeast Corner of the hall opening night.
From a presentation of photography on the anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket to the Argentinian artist Nuna Mangiante’s multi-media installation Aporías Moviles there are so many installations, exhibitions, and amazing examples of art and artistic wonder that the spending the entire weekend at the LA Art Show will hardly be an anomaly.
See you there!
- Genie Davis; photos courtesy of Hijinx Artist Management, participating galleries, and the LA Art Show