LA ArtFair had better food

This just in:

A friend tells me that the LA Art Fair, NOT artLA - had really good food.
They were served oysters, deserts & all sorts of luxurious nibbles whilst all we got at artLA was cold thai noodles, ittybitty rib parts & a tiny toothpick full with veggie squares.
They only got free flowing wine, while we got all sorts of liquor!!

So, the more "sophisticated" art fair filled people up with the things in the tum that make you feel well taken care of with a slight buzz that makes your confidence & creativity boosted.
Whereas the "hipster fair" got everyone drunk - which brings out the craziness & neuroses that make the art world....crazy & neurotic.

artLA reception as I remember it

Here are some notes on artLA from the reception last night:

Not very crowded. Food not so good. Peach vodka drink - straight up, strong; had 2.
Don't understand the formation of the booths - why not just all rectangle?
Nice inflatable Chips bags art. Fun to watch, colorful, but done.
At the Coagula booth; Some Russian hotties said, "What is the difference between these? Is this one color?", pointing to the issue with Liz McGrath.
It is a sad day in art journalism when the audience is wondering if this is the difference between the issues, not - say- the content is different in each issue?? duh.
At the sixspace booth, Caryn has a nice new sassy haircut. She should do well this weekend- in good company: acuna-hansen across the way. Excellent new (2" of photo detail in graphite)tiny drawings only $300; one of Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch sold. Sculpture of taxidermy rat with plastic grapes: $4000.
Walked around with Kathy & David Stone.
Dangerous Curve - too bad they are in the corner, but the Narcotics adorned & fabricated jewelry & handbags by Steve Simon are a worthy gander.
ACE was full of lookers, all work very Large. I don't care how famous they are, I didn't really see anything that was my cup of tea, as they say.
Western Projects; LOVE everything they show.
Crazy performance going on in the booth near the entrance.
Not so gentlemanly gentleman bumps into me as he says,"It went all downhill when the blacks came in."
Guy wearing colorful pants, a skirt & weird goggles.
A woman I am assuming is famous with a grey wig.
Heard that one gallery had the work of an artist that was previously with another gallery - but the artist wasn't upfront with gallery 2 about the switch. The two galleries were in booths right next to each other.Ouch.
Saw another similar thing with another artists' work in a different booth than I was expected but don't know any story there.
Overall I think there was a survey of what I have seen throughout the year while gallery hopping. I enjoyed seeng what out of state & foreign galleries had- will note more closely later, but nothing stood out as totally different from what we see here. Not like you can recognize foreign art any different that local - like the difference between haircuts & shoes on people from abroad vs. people here.

More later, as I will be there Saturday.


Note: I am not a journalist,(or an "autobiographer") so anything mentioned here is purely from a stream of consciousness memories as I recalled them.

ACME's Gunderman and dealer mystery.

There is a common talk I hear about gallery owners from some people, that seems to have a slight level of contempt: They are trust funders, are spawn of collectors, their parents were dealers, they have rich husbands paying for the gallery, they have to have a degree in Art History, they are not artists (this last one is an open debate since people feel it is a conflict of interest to be an artist & own a gallery)...

I found the article on ACME Gallery owner & director Robert Gunderman to be very exciting. I love hearing about the lives of other gallery dealers & the diverse avenues from where they all come. The different reasons why they get into art, etc. Here are some points about Gunderman & personal comparisons to share with you my background too.

Gunderman's first gallery was funded by his parents, who were collectors. I find this endearing, as I think it is a parents' underlying responsibility to back their kids' endeavors - whether financially or just spiritually. Of course, like many grown-ups, its appeared that they were disappointed to see the unsellable installation that Gunderman installed, rather than a nice poster store with frame shop in back - something that would most likely make them back their initial investment. He notes that it was a tax-write off for his parents.
Going into the art business, many people feel is the worst business to go into. Lucky for everyone who is involved & working so hard at it, be it artist or gallerist knows that it is a business, & there is money to be made. And just like any other business, there is plenty to claim & write off.
My mom & step-dad work for SBC & the CWA. My dad is a self-taught architect & builder. Noone collects art in my family, but they all make things as hobby. The first Revisited location was funded by the small income I made at my last year attempt working in the film industry as a set decorator. Our first year we ended flat with a low overhead. The second year we increased sales 15% with little float investment to cover new costs. Our third year has just begun, still debt free...knock on wood!

Gunderman was in the military. His second gallery had a back room with stacks of art magazines & gun magazines. Jodon recently bought a gun for the house. I was apprehensive at first, not quite understanding the practical necessity for it. On the other hand, if there were a situation where I was faced with using it, I might as well level the playing field, as the last time I checked, I'm not supposed to go down in a shower of bullets. Besides, everyone should have an understanding of what has the potential to kill them. I still need to get to the range & practice - I've only shot a 35mm revolver and a few cop guns that were props I had to handle in the film industry.

Gunderman went to art school and is a painter. He had a show at ACME under the pseudonym, Floyd Claypool. Some people feel that artist run galleries are suspect. But there are So many kinds of galleries that you have to break it down a little more. And definitely, it is not so admired to have a vanity show of your own work at your gallery without creating some sort of angle like Gunderman did in order to make a new statement about his own work as a painter vs. a dealer.
Gunderman feels that being an artist has given him an edge in understanding what an artist goes through mentally. It also gives him an edge in that he understands how work is made & what it entails.
No matter what business you go into, you should know all about the product you are selling. If your personal skill is not there to make & sell the product yourself, at least doing the research & meeting with people & visiting facilities is a must. In this case, studio visits.
Being an artist myself, I feel that I have a bit of edge as well. I have an understanding of what the work entails in terms of time & supplies as well as an understanding of how artists feel about their work & how it is represented. It helps me sell the work because I understand the mystery & can convey information to the collectors. It helps me think about the artists' needs easily because I am them too.

To read the article about Robert Gunderman, go here:

http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-ca-gunderman22jan22,0,7116185.story?coll=cl-art-top-right

Share your thoughts on the background of gallery owners or your perception of artists as artist representatives TODAY!! Just go to the comment line to post.

Correction!

HI folks,
I am up to my elbows in paint, shellac & vinyl...more editorial goodness later.

All ready for the event tomorrow night- Monoprints & Book signing for Jay Ryan - a Foundation Projects Event. We are happy to host a fellow gallerist at our new location before we open in February.
www.foundation-gallery.org

new location: 3204 Sunset Blvd. - corner of Descanso, inside SUMI's, our space neighbor.
Look for the delicious new sandwich board...

Also-

Please accept my apologies regarding Thinkspace Gallery, in the previous post.

The url is www.thinkspacegallery.com

Happy looking.
Leora

Lucky Friday the 13th

the 13th - Let's just call it lucky from now on.

Things are moving along at the new space- begin spackle & paint today. Folks are welcome to stop by & be nosey say HI! and ask questions.
Plus Sumi is starting to get in some gorgeous baubles in stock for your favorite most pretty Valentine....another holiday already. Let's not think of it as consumerism b.s., shall we, but rather a remembrance that even after Xmas obligations to the in-laws, ya' still love her, & after the receipts are tabulated & you are in Xmas winddown in January, that February is a nice month to start the new year - and remember that episode of the Little Rascals when the kids exchange valentine cards. Wasn't Darla cute, just like your love?

SEGUE - check out the show tonight at Thinkspace.
The show promises to be a giant bash with lots of amazing art to look at...
Joshua Petker is in the show. He worked closely with the folks at Thinkspace, who also are the ones behind SourHarvest & whom he interviewed for his blog, Pirate Cat via Fecal Face.
What a tangled web!

Also a guy, Joe Shae is in this show. He recently moved here from Santa Barbara to the downtown loft living scene & is enjoying the life LA has to offer artists.
I saw some creepy yet beautiful nesting dolls that Joe does, but I am not sure what he is showing tonight, so you will just have to go see for yourself.

www.thinkspace.com
www.fecalface.com
www.sourharvest.com

Jay Ryan event at Gallery Revisited

Gallery Revisited is pleased to host an event for Foundation Projects. We are excited to host this event as a way to support our fellow art exhibitors & the artists they represent.
This will also be a sneak preview of our new location before we inaugurate. It's our 3rd year of exhibits & our 3rd location. 3's a charm as they say.

3204 Sunset Blvd.
at Descanso Drive in Silver Lake

Book Signing & Monoprint Exhibit
for
Jay Ryan

Reception for the Artist
January 20 Friday 6-10pm
*valet parking available for $3.50 at neighboring restaurant, or street parking.

Special Additional Viewing Days & Hours:
January 21 Saturday 12 – 6pm
January 22 Saturday 12 – 6pm
street parking close or within one block east & west


The evening will include a book signing by the artist for the release of his most recent monograph,
"100 Posters, 134 Squirrels", which highlights Jay Ryan's music gig posters accompanied by essays from the likes of Steve Albini, Art Chantry & Greg Knot.
In addition, there will be on exhibit a selection of monoprints curated by Foundation Projects own Elizabeth Cline, who will be present to answer questions about the artist & handle acquisitions.
Jay Ryan is a Chicago based artist that has been an innovator of hand process methods & DIY techniques for over 10 years. From concept to production, his hand-screened posters are known for the distinctive hand drawn type & whimsical characters that distinguish him as a master of the medium with an overwhelming following of collectors. His idiosyncratic style appeals to people on all levels as great design & artwork.

The monoprints that will be on display are silkscreen collage composites of years of perfecting these techniques and mastering properties inherent in the medium. They are complied from numerous random project screens for Ryan's studio created over a period of years. Prints are pulled based on color, shape and composition & another shape is added. The collages bring the silkscreen into the fine art realm by representing principles of color, shape & form.

Foundation Projects is a curatorial project based in Los Angeles, previously Foundation Gallery in Chicago.

For more information about Foundation Projects, please visit their website www.foundation-gallery.org
Email Elizabeth Cline for Jay Ryan art inquiries or press inquiries: info@foundation-gallery.org

Lyrics for Luddites

In continuation of Gallery Revisited blogging regarding the 3 curation concepts this year, & in reference to the one, "Lyrics & Dialogue"...

Jodon made a mix-tape today. I think there is a new way of doing this now - I hear ipods are popular with the kids these days. teehee.
Not that I am a luddite, but we seem to be least tech-oriented & tech-using of anyone we know.

That is a tiny part of what Gallery Revisited is about too.
The word "revisited" refers to looking back at something again & seeing it from a different or new perspective, seeing its improvements, or with some added elements,etc. It is about looking at gallery traditions & rethinking them to work with the changing needs of contemporary art & art business. I like nostalgia, but I like new things too & appreciate the benefits of technology.

I tend to like to show nontech-induced art.
I like paintings that involve the use of paint. In revisiting paint, the invention of acrylic polymer emulsion introduced an ease that some who work in oil may perceive as lacking the heart of skill of the matter. On the other hand, oil paint doesn't seem to be getting used less, so why debate it.
In revisiting paintings, there are a huge amount of artists working in vinyl, felt, thread, paper, stuff, & they refer to their art as "paintings". I like these paintings too. This is definitely a debateable topic.

Photography seems to the medium that is taking a huge & fastpaced tech-turn in the last 8 years. I like photography that uses as many traditional methods as possible in the camera - in terms of the artist knowing how light works, capturing a moment or setting up complicated vignettes, sense of composition, storytelling etc.
In revisiting photography, new digital printing methods are getting so good. There is a great thing that happens in the chemical bath - but these could be obsolete in our life-time without hurting the medium. Most photographers I know are thrilled to have a studio in a box now, instead of needing a full processing arrangement. Purists will debate this, no doubt.

Back to the mix-tape. There is something in the way that mix-tapes are made that is lacking in the CD burning & i-pod world: The physicality.
Putting in the cassette, putting an LP on the turntable, pressing everything at the right time, stopping everything at the right time, putting away the LP, taking out another one - repeat.
And you hear it playing while you make it. You sit & listen to the song while it records. You anticipate the song ending so you can press the buttons at the right time. You read the words on the record sleeve....nostalgia. No debate.

Lyrics & Dialogue show for September: Jenny Lens - Punk Rock documentarian - Before CDs, before ipods, before digital photography.
(note: much luck on her book deal too, Spring 2007)

Synchronous Exhibit in Philly this Friday the 6th.

Regarding the curation concept of "Small is Large" & the weirdness of the collective unconscious or synchronicity:

In August I showed the collaborative installation "Polyponesian Tuberfoil Mangrove" by Pete Goldlust & Julie Hughes. Later in October I showed danielle b. ashton "daniellians".

These 3 artists all work within a conceptual realm of creating small art forms that are assembled together to ultimately create either a larger installation or a larger relationship between the pieces, on both a metaphorical & literal level. All artists were in my mental
one-word "Small". But yet their work meant a larger whole - hence "Large". There they are, an oxymoron that is one & the same, making it a dichotomy instead. Anyway, I digress...

So, it was very interesting to me when Pete told me about a show that he & Julie are participating in - This Friday the 6th is the reception. It's at a space called Vox Populi.
Talk about a Good Fit. Talk about the curator (Elizabeth Grady) making all of that come together. An impressive endeavor. Love her mind.
The name of the show is "Parts to the Whole".
Then danielle points out the December issue of Art News. "Why Small Sculpture is Big"
Now, I do not read Art News...of course with every art magazine there are the likes & dislikes crowds - but maybe I will check it out next time I'm at a magazine stand.
This article was very appropriate to our discussion.

So hard to be original these days, but I would like to take the positive outlook that I don't feel alone in my ideas & know that from a curation standpoint I am intuitively in-synch with something in the art world.

To read the about the idea of Synchronicity.

Sidebar: Elizabeth Grady also works with the Diane Arbus estate, who I referenced on this blog just a few days ago. weird.

3 Curation Concepts This Year

2006 at Gallery Revisited I will be focusing on 3 curation concepts.
There will be 2 shows from each concept on the exhibition calendar this year.

Consumerism & Product
Lyrics & Dialogue
Small is Large

How does this work?
Upon reviewing portfolios, doing studio visits & showing artists I begin by making a mental
one-word note that describes their conceptual direction.
As time goes by a couple of new one-words are noted.
Then the list of artists associated with the one-word concept grows.
Then the one-words were combined by similarities for the final curation concept.

For example, there are a few artists that I show who work in the medium of artists books, or are being published. These artists were mentally logged into "Dialogue".
"Dialogue" on a conceptual level refers to the Metaphorical Dialogue that is created within the art concept that is in direct relation to literally using words in the art itself. It also refers to the object of a book itself as a vehicle for mental dialogue while reading or viewing - & if it has not words, what are the images saying.
This is Not to be confused with the "dialogue of art or an artists' dialogue" and how we see the word "Dialogue" used to label art talk in general. blahblahblah!!

There are also a few artists who work in direct relation or derive their personal concepts directly from lyrics in music, hence the "Lyrics" one-word. Now, many many artists state that music is an inspiration, but I narrowed the list to artists who visually translate music into their paintings or whose work is in direct correlation with musical performers as subjects.

Then I combined the two concepts of "Lyrics & Dialogue". After all, aren't songs words which create a musical dialogue and don't lyrics tell a story like a little book?

That's how this curator's brain works.