Jumping the Gun on Artwalk Culver City
I am happy to see that the City of Culver City will be presenting the fourth annual Artwalk Culver City on Saturday, May 30th. I hope this event continues on into perpetuity. If you have never done it, I recommend participating... at least once. However, I won't be going on the walk.
Last Saturday, May 16, I joined some other members of the Culver City Art Group to jump the gun and do our own version of the walk... sans all the crowds and inherent noise.
We visited about a dozen galleries on La Cienega and Washington Blvds. (For map of the galleries, click here.) There were four of us, which was the perfect number to move relatively quickly but also enjoy a smattering of differing opinions.
As always with art, some of it did not appeal to me at all (this is art?), some crept up on me after looking at it for a while, some I fell in love with immediately, some I felt the need to figure out or investigate, some I was disgusted with, some was sweet and whimsical... so many diverse emotions and reactions.
After approximately three hours of looking, feeling, and walking, I think we were all drained both psychically and physically. Over the week since, I have been hit by images and sensations relating to the artwork at odd times. Some pieces I would like to inspect again, some I wonder why those particular pieces bother me so much. It would be interesting, as an exercise, to retrace my footsteps and discover whether or not I have the same feelings the second time. But the galleries have moved on with new exhibits and I wouldn't make the time anyway.
Viewing art is always so much more pleasant when there are few other people around. Although I like to support friends and be up on what is new, I am beginning to dislike artist receptions and gallery openings. In fact, I don't enjoy anything anymore where there are crowds of people.
For example, viewing the Pompeii exhibit at LACMA on a members' only day saw an acceptable number of people in attendance. I wonder what it will be like the next time I go. I remember having to push and shove my way through the Tut exhibit several years ago. I was able to see it three times, and each time it was worse. Once there was even a screaming baby following us from room to room!
So, while I hope the Artwalk Culver City will be as well-attended as ever, that Culver City will make lots of money from it, and that thousands of people will enjoy it, I'm glad I won't have to be there jostling for position in front of a painting for a few seconds before somebody's elbow intrudes on my view. Or, probably, I am missing the point, and actually viewing the art isn't the purpose at all!

It's Contemporary. It's Art. And....
...it's fun!
Lest you should believe from recent postings I do not appreciate "contemporary art" I am happy to bring glad tidings. It was a balmy Culver City evening this past Saturday as BG and I devoured a scrumptious dinner at Tender Greens, proving that while Culver City has recently been invaded by trendy, expensive restaurants, there is at least one trendy, reasonably-priced restaurant in their midst. I've eaten there numerous times and never been disappointed. I always order the tuna ahi plate but next time I promise to be more adventurous. Oh, and as this blog is about art, I should say that the plate is definitely a piece of artwork. And all for ten bucks!
As it was a truly pleasant evening weather-wise we decided to walk the 1.5 miles along Washington Boulevard to the Corey Helford Gallery which was hosting an opening evening reception for "Vanity Bonfire," works by Sean Christopher. Now, I don't "get" a lot of contemporary art as those of you following my blog know by now. But I do expect it to be artistic, imaginative, creative and thoughtful. Christopher's art falls into all four categories. Do I get it? Not really. Do I love it? Not really. Would I buy it if I had the money? Not at all. But do I respect it? Yes. Do I call it art? Most definitely. But is it "good?" I don't have a clue and I don't care.
If I can remember the artist's statement that I read at the exhibit, he says he is juxtaposing elements you would not normally see together: matchsticks, shoes, cherries... so you are surprised when you see them. The gallery describes his work as "a world of hidden meanings, symbols and metaphors." I would describe it as intriguing. I don't understand it but it makes me think about what is going through the artist's mind when he is putting this all together.
And as BG remarked, the Corey Helford always puts on a good show. For this reception each table in the hosted bar area was decked out with a decorated shoe.
Altogether, a nice evening in our little ole town!

Culver City Art Group Walks the Culver City Art Galleries

Seven members of the Culver City Art Group met at The LAB 101 gallery on March 17 for an informal walk along Washington Blvd and La Cienega to visit the art galleries that have popped up in the last couple of years. (Much has been written about this area recently, so I won't go into that, but a good article can be found here if you are so inclined: Art of the new. How a previously industrial area in Culver City morphed into the latest gallery hotspot.)

I was still feeling a little woozy from oral surgery a couple of days before, but decided to go anyway, rather than spend the day on the sofa. Whenever I push myself to do something I have made a commitment to do, I always feel better that at least I gave it a try! And this try turned into visiting at least 15 galleries along Washington Blvd. and La Cienega Blvd. The thing I enjoy about visiting galleries is not the satisfaction of seeing a lot of artwork that I necessarily love and admire, it is more the variety of creativity on view.

At Lab 101 I was fascinated by the work of Andy Howell. I am always attracted to collages and I liked the juxtaposition of grotesque faces with the fancifully-patterned backgrounds in the exhibition “I Wish I Was Here.”

At Corey Helford the walls of the showroom were eerily decorated with rubbery arms extending out of swooping black drapes. This was appropriate for the David Stoupakis exhibit, "Sheep Will Follow." Paintings of dead children or just ghastly dolls? Creepy in a wonderfully amusing way. And beautifully framed. I am always aware of the choices of framing, as the right or wrong decision can enhance or detract dramatically from a piece.
We visited a few more galleries with nothing particularly interesting to me (which doesn't mean it wouldn't strike someone else's fancy).

Then at d.e.n. contemporary, Carlos Estrada-Vega's "About 4,000 Paintings" caught my attention. Each painting is comprised of tens to hundreds of individual squares or rectangles of varying depths, made of different colors and hues from his own mixture of limestone dust and pigment. At first it seems like a simple concept, one of those, "why didn't I think of that," ideas. But really quite complicated when you look at each piece closely.

At Blum & Poe, we walked into Sam Durant’s “Scenes From the Pilgrim Story: Myths, Massacres and Monuments.” Yep, that’s right. We couldn’t decide if it had been stolen from the Natural History Museum, was a put on, or somebody was serious about it being a work of art. Think a 70s presentation of what it meant to be a Pilgrim in wall plaques and vignettes, and you got it. Well, at least I remembered it.

At the George Billis Gallery, I was particularly struck by one painting of a 76 gas station with a dried-up palm tree in the foreground and a dinosaur in the background, everything suffocating in thick brown smog. Unfortunately there is no artist attribution on the website so I will never know who painted it. Interestingly, as a nod to the sudden hipness of Culver City, they have their address listed as Culver City with an LA address. Although the galleries along La Cienega are actually located in the city of Los Angeles, it is now considered part of the “cool” Culver City gallery neighborhood.

I believe it was about here the lack of Vicodin and antibiotics caught up with me. End of tour, to be completed another day.

I would encourage anybody who is an artist or has an interest in art to make the effort to stroll around current art galleries, whether it be in Culver City, the Melrose area in West Hollywood, downtown LA, etc. Take a friend and have a conversation about the art you are seeing… good or bad, it’s always interesting and stimulating.

(All photos on this blog copyright roslyn m wilkins and not to be used without permission.)