LA Art Show Opens This Wednesday January 15, Red Truck Curating “Littletopia”
Art! Art! Art! Five days of non-stop art as the LA Art Show returns January 15 to 19th at the Los Angeles Convention Center. As media partners, we’ll be bringing you coverage from the VIP opening, plus in-depth looks at the various themes, exhibitions, and dealers, along with coverage of panels and special events.
CARTWHEEL is presenting one of these special events planned for guests of the LA Art Show: A curated tour of the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District murals. The tour begins inside the LA Art Show at the Isabel Rojas-Williams curated panel discussion exhibition “Will L.A. Reclaim Its Title as ‘The Mural Capital of the World’ ” (booth 152). After a discussion of Los Angeles mural history, LA Art Show guests will travel by shuttle to the Downtown Arts District.
The Downtown Los Angeles Arts District features many murals by exhibition and panel artists, including RISK, MEAR ONE, Allison “Hueman” Torneros, and Augustine Kofie. The LA Arts District also features murals by Shepard Fairey, Vyal, and Ron English, among other acclaimed artists, and the tour be stopping for snacks and refreshments at Urban Radish and Angels City Brewery, local businesses that support and exhibit local artists.
CARTWHEEL has long been fans of Red Truck Gallery and CARTWHEEL founder Cindy Schwarzstein was collecting from their gallery before she began the website and event production company. Last year at the LA Art Show, Red Truck Gallery was one of our favorite booths. It had a warm, friendly atmosphere that enhanced smart yet accessible art, distinctly rooted in American folk and outsider outsider art. We can’t wait to see what they have in store for us with “Littletopia” a special section of the LA Art Show dedicated to
innovative galleries who are breaking down barriers, bucking convention and letting their skilled artists create a new vocabulary.
Featured will be La Luz de Jesus Gallery, returning to fairs after a long hiatus and making their debut Los Angeles art fair appearance, along with Culver City’s Thinkspace Gallery, and Spoke Art and Varnish Fine Arts from San Francisco, all of whom we’ve covered and love. Plus from New York: Sloan Fine Arts, known for presenting emerging and mid-career artists with an emphasis on art that is visually and emotionally compelling; and Last Rites gallery, the East Coast’s premier dark art gallery. The Northwest is represented in Littletopia by Seattle’s Roc la Rue which as been an integral part of Underground Contemporary/Pop Surrealism since their founding in 1998; and Portland’s Breeze Block which exhibition significant artists in urban art, popular culture, and design.
Other notable events: The opening night VIP reception, celebrating fifty years of sharing with Bordeaux, France as part of Los Angeles’ Sister Cities program, a kick-off to a yearlong collaboration, Bordeaux LA 2014, that celebrates the enduring French American friendship. Join this year’s Art Ambassador, actor Tim Robbins, at the vernissage on January 15. Tickets for the VIP party and preview beginning at 8pm are $125 and include drinks and food sampling. Tickets for the Patron Reception which begins at 7pm are $250 and include exclusive tasting of many world-renowned wines from Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, and California-Latino inspired samplers by chef of note, John Sedlar of Rivera Restaurant. Both include unlimited access to the LA Arts Show and the VIP lounge during the fair’ run. (Pro-tip for opening night: Buy parking for opening night in advance costs $25, but it’s worth it to not site in the pay-now line. You can also take the Metro to Chick Hearn Station just across the street)
Actor/musician/artist Cheech Marin has donated a limited edition portfolio, printed by RichardDuardo, from The Chicano Collection / La Colección Chicanato be sold during the LA ArtShow. Proceeds from this sale will go to Sister Cities of Los Angeles, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, to help raise funds and support for the 2014 celebration of the 50 year partnership between Los Angeles and Bordeaux.
And former Los Angeles County District Attorney (and current mayor Eric Garcetti’s) father Gil Garcetti is showing his photographs and will discuss how, through his photography and political experience, he has been able to move urban areas to look at bicycle riders and bike sharing programs as ways of alleviating traffic congestion, improving one’s health, and helping make our air a bit cleaner. Gil’s photographs will be exhibited in Bordeaux in 2014 as part of Los Angeles’ sister city program. The discussion on Saturday at 2pm will be moderated by Isabel Rojas-Williams of the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles, who curated Garcetti’s exhibition.
Isabel Rojas-Williams is also the moderator on Sunday’s discussion “Will L.A. Reclaim Its title As ‘The Mural Capital of the World?’ ” at 2pm. The panel includes attorney Eric Bjorgum, from Karish & Bjorgum Intellectual Property Law; Felicia Filer, Department of Cultural Affairs’ Director of the Public Art Division; Willie Herrón III, artist and MCLA’s restorer; José Huizar, LA City Councilmember 14th District, who was instrumental in getting the Los Angeles Mural Ordinance passed; artist Allison “Hueman” Torneros whose work we follow; and artist & MCLA’s co-founder, Kent Twitchell.
The fair is set up with three distinct sections: Modern & Contemporary, Historic & Traditional Contemporary, and the IFPDA Los Angeles Fine Print Fair. Along with art there are the Dialog LA panels and docent tours of the fair, plus the LA Art Show’s sister fair, Los Angeles Jewelry and Antique Fair will be going at the same in Convention Center. We’ll be posting more and more as we get closer to the date, but right now, block off your calendars for January 15 to 19.
Dabs Myla. Thinkspace Gallery will be part of the Littletopia gallery section, curated by Red Truck