Photo: AFC
The above documentation represents the last picture I was able to take before the batteries in my camera died. Sadly it was a perfect metaphor for the fair. After all, over the last two months I received nothing from LA Art’s pr firm, the fair itself was downsized considerably when they were unable to secure the adjacent space in their building, and by the time I arrived at the fair most galleries were already packing up their belongings (not good, while arriving 45 minutes before the show closed isn’t the best way to see art, it’s also a little early to be preparing your shipping). Needless to say, it didn’t come as too much of a surprise that most gallerists I spoke to wished they had seen a few more people, even if they were able to sell a few pieces.
Image copyright Susan Anderson and Paul Kopeikin Gallery
To be honest, the concept of this fair alludes me a bit, since not all of the galleries showcase the work of LA artists. Paul Kopeikin Gallery for example had a great booth of photographers, Brooklyn Queens based Amy Stein amongst them, but only Susan Anderson lives in LA. Others met the show’s nitch a little better, Gallery Luisotti, one of the stronger booths displaying the photographs of California born Lewis Baltz, and Mark Rewedel, a Canadian born artist living on the west coast. Shoshana Wayne Gallery’s abstract painter Phil Argent, who like Mark Rewedel teaches at California State University, stood out from the crowd, as did Alexander Gorlizki, an English artist working in New York, mentioned purely because his patterned drawings are so remarkable.
As readers may have already observed due to the content of this post, the fair was exceptionally strong on photography. I’d make a greater effort to balance out the coverage, but due to the fact that I have one shot of the entire fair, our coverage will simply have limitations. It is with sentiment in mind, that I’ll leave you with the very pertinent information, that Matt Dillon did not attend LA Art. Apparently he’s a regular client of at least a few of these galleries though, so his absence wasn’t much of a surprise.
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }