LA Trip August 2009
I just returned from a trip to LA. I had lived in LA from 1982-1986 and it was fun to go back and revisit the past.
I went downtown to "gallery row", to check out the art and was sad to discovered that most of the galleries were either permanently closed, closed for the summer, or were found in the back of alternative spaces, like the backroom of a Cafe or even the back of a pet store (and even that gallery was closed on a Wednesday). I walked around the Fashion District but couldn't get over how the economy has just devastated the art galleries in downtown LA.
Someone on Facebook had recommended I check out Bergamot Station in Santa Monica which is a collection of warehouse buildings that contain all commercial galleries. I had much more success there and many of the galleries were open. There was some nice art to see, some multi-media installations and a functional art gallery.
Here are two wire sculptures in the functional art gallery that were interesting to me. They were more than life-sized:
And here is a piece I really liked from a new young emerging artist who seem to paint on canvas, cut out shapes, burn the edges and then his larger pieces has some kind of frills added to the edges. He had a large piece of a cityscape, a giant shark, and a free-hanging crumpled house that was interesting. Given I was in LA, and I do remember the challenge of driving around, I particularly enjoyed this piece, which has a pileup of crumpled little cut out fabric cars to the right:
I'll be sure and go back to Bergamot to see more next time.
I also got some good pool time in a gigantic pool, saw a comedy show (was surprised that "Skippy" from the old Family Ties TV show was actually pretty good in his set, but the rest of the show was not so great), and dropped in on an old friend I have not seen since 1989 and that was great.
I came back to San Francisco happy and a little sunburned. Happy to have gone to LA and visit parts of my past but also happy to back in the place that is my home now.
I went downtown to "gallery row", to check out the art and was sad to discovered that most of the galleries were either permanently closed, closed for the summer, or were found in the back of alternative spaces, like the backroom of a Cafe or even the back of a pet store (and even that gallery was closed on a Wednesday). I walked around the Fashion District but couldn't get over how the economy has just devastated the art galleries in downtown LA.
Someone on Facebook had recommended I check out Bergamot Station in Santa Monica which is a collection of warehouse buildings that contain all commercial galleries. I had much more success there and many of the galleries were open. There was some nice art to see, some multi-media installations and a functional art gallery.
Here are two wire sculptures in the functional art gallery that were interesting to me. They were more than life-sized:
And here is a piece I really liked from a new young emerging artist who seem to paint on canvas, cut out shapes, burn the edges and then his larger pieces has some kind of frills added to the edges. He had a large piece of a cityscape, a giant shark, and a free-hanging crumpled house that was interesting. Given I was in LA, and I do remember the challenge of driving around, I particularly enjoyed this piece, which has a pileup of crumpled little cut out fabric cars to the right:
I'll be sure and go back to Bergamot to see more next time.
I also got some good pool time in a gigantic pool, saw a comedy show (was surprised that "Skippy" from the old Family Ties TV show was actually pretty good in his set, but the rest of the show was not so great), and dropped in on an old friend I have not seen since 1989 and that was great.
I came back to San Francisco happy and a little sunburned. Happy to have gone to LA and visit parts of my past but also happy to back in the place that is my home now.
Labels: Bergamot Station, Santa Monica
posted by KatieMoe at 7:58 AM
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