LA Art Show 2014: Photo Preview of Littletopia

Littletopia is here! The LA Art Show special section curated by Red Truck Gallery features a brash, smart selection cutting edge galleries. Red Truck founder Noah Antineau wanted to show exciting non-mainstream art and throw a party with his friends, so he invited Breezeblock from Portland,  Mexico’s FIFTY24MX, New Eye-ACCD Projects, Sloan Fine Art and Last Rites Gallery from New York, Roq La Rue out of Seattle, San Francisco’s Spoke Art and Varnish Fine Art Thinkspace LA and of course La Luz de Jesus, the progenitor of  what we now call Pop Surrealism and Conceptual Narrative. The result is a super cool section at the LA Art Show that is casual, inviting, and full of  lush, sexy, disturbing, dark, playful art.

We didn’t include everything–we want there to be some surprises–and expect plenty from this explosive, innovative group of galleries.

Red Truck Gallery

Waiting for Antineau

Noah’s mom, Chris Roberts-Antineau quilted the deer head

Noah checks out the work now that it’s hung.

This carved piece which  moves, making the central figure swim, and Roberts-Antineau’s quilts (below) exemplify the craftsmanship inherent in the Red Truck Gallery collection.

New Eye-ACCD

Aaron Smith with Noah Antineau. Smith explains New Eye-ACCD:

 “Littletopia” as curated by Red Truck Gallery promises to be a vibrant, accessible group of galleries showing younger, edgy artists. I love the idea of the fair organizers recognizing that the LA ART SHOW, 2014 should welcome new collectors and promote more emerging artists. When Noah from Red Truck with the urging of Alix Sloan from Sloan Fine Art approached the Illustration Department at Art Center College of Design with the invitation to participate, Ann Field (the department Chair) and I thought it was a perfect fit! I’m excited to curate a group of ambitious and talented artists, and present them to a new clientele for the first time. “New Eye  – ACCD Projects” is a new adventure for us at Art Center, and we hope to participate more in the future.

Ester Pearl Watson next to the New-Eye ACCD Zine Stand, an installation which will sell her ‘zines.

Hanging the show in the New Eye-ACCD booth.

Sloan Fine Arts

This New York gallery brings playful, colorful and thought-provoking works.

Varnish Fine Art

Works from Ransom & Mitchell are among the offerings from San Francisco’s Varnish Fine Arts.

Spoke Art

Wait til you see Spoke Art’s explosion of Pop Surrealism including Shawn Huckins, Scott Hove and Jason Edmiston.

Roq La Rue

Breeze Block

Pink drinks and power tools

Last Rites

New York-based Last Rites Gallery leans towards darker work.

FIFTY24MX

This Mexico City gallery combines traditional Mexican themes with a Pop Surrealism twist, super fresh!

Thinkspace LA

Thinkspace LA is full of  art and surprises.

La Luz de Jesus

Gallery director Mat Kennedy says about La Luz de Jesus’ appearance at Littletopia:

We removed ourselves from the fair circuit about six years ago because it hadn’t made fiscal sense to participate; the buyer pool had shrunk and the focus on conceptual abstract work seemed to dominate. We’ve noticed that the market (as a whole) has come back to embrace what we do, which is to showcase figurative, narrative art. Billy and I decided it was important to remind the art community at large that we helped build this. Being local made the L.A. Art Show a natural choice for our return to the art fair circuit. We’ll be participating in the Littletopia wing of new galleries, which–as a gallery with an uninterrupted 28-year history, is certainly a little ironic.

The best part of returning to the fairs after a long absence is impacting the expectations of people who lost track of our program. We’ve always taken chances and the L.A. Art Show will be no exception.

Expect a some shocks and surprises, as well as delight and disturbances from Littletopia,which is sure to be a high point (and party gallery central) at the LA Art Show