Blog

IN YOUR FACE: HOW ARTISTS TRANSFORMED LA’S URBAN LANDSCAPE AN INSTALLATION IN 3 MOVEMENTS

Artwork, photos and ephemera documenting the anti-establishment art scene in the 80’s in downtown LA, focusing on the Art Dock, the Atomic Cafe, the American Hotel and the faces and walls of the Arts District, featuring work by Carlton Davis, Ed Glendinning, Irving Greines and Stephen Seemayer.

There was a an explosion of creative activity in downtown Los Angeles in the 70’s and 80’s when hundreds of artists colonized the empty warehouses and abandoned factory spaces in the eastern section of the urban center, extending into the area by the LA River now known as the Arts District.  Street installations, performance art and innovative exhibitions in adapted spaces enlivened the blighted streets and paved the way (regrettably, some might say) for the renaissance of downtown that continues to this day.  Artists such as Skip Arnold, Bob & Bob, John Baldessari, George Herms, Paul McCarthy, Llyn Foulkes (to name just a few) benefited from the vigor and vitality of a pioneering community of artists who eschewed traditional gallery venues for non-traditional exhibition space, organized guerilla-style in warehouse spaces, on the street and in your face.                                                                  Jonathan Jerald  

Richard Kessler – “This is Not a Urinal”

  New works by L.A. artist Richard Kessler, whose works evoke a sensuous urban  culture of dead palms, aging signage, hot metal and playful objects crammed into a seedy landscape of dramatically angled planes. There will be wine.   District Gallery   7:00pm - 10:00pm...

History 101 – Works by Marc Kreisel