Welcome to Los Angeles, L.A. Art Show!
Karl Benjamin's "Red,Blue, Pink Symmetry" (1958). Courtesy of Louis Stern Fine Arts.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — After 13 years in Pasadena and Santa Monica, the Los Angeles Art Show is finally coming to Los Angeles.
The Fine Art Dealers Association’s L.A. Art Show runs from January 21 through 25 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, doubling the size from its recent incarnation at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica.
For artists and buyers, the location may be timely choice for those who market art, either for themselves or by representing others. “It’s time to be seen and known,” said publicist Treanne Gome, adding that the number of vendors stayed on track despite economics.
Organizers say that the L.A. Art Show is the 5th largest event of its kind in the country. The 2008 exhibition attracted more than 30,000 visitors and created several million dollars in art sales. The Downtown location offers a new proximity to hotels and dining, with convenient transportation to the airports.
Of course, it's the quality of a show that sells, and the programming look promising. January 23 is The Art Of Fashion and the symposia series over the course of the art fair includes "Collecting: A Passion of a lifetime" with Hannah S. Kully and Dr Richard Simms, "The Latin American Art Scene in the 21st Century" with MOLAA’s Alex Slato and museum curator Idurre Alonso, and “East Meets West: The Rise of Contemporary Asian Art” Panel Discussion with Curator Jeff Kelley, Curator/Gallerist Chip Tom, Art Dealer, Karon Morono, and Critic Scarlet Chen.
The list of galleries slated to be present is extensive, with Downtown representatives including Bert Green Fine Art, Pharmaka Art and Edgar Varella Fine Art.
L.A. Art Fair / Opening Night Gala V.I.P. Preview Wed. January 21, 6pm / Opening Night Gala - Wed. January 21, 7-10:30pm / General Show Hours Thurs. January 22, 11am-8pm; Fri. January 23, 11am- 8pm; Sat. January 24, 11am-8pm; Sun. January 25, 11am- 5pm
Haven on January 16, 2009, at 10:51AM – #1
Excellent news - so good to hear that it will be downtown instead of Santa Monica - there was nothing right around (restaurants, places to hang out) the location in Santa Monica. At the convention center its right next to all of Nokia plazas restaurants, shows, etc, and not a far walk to all the downtown galleries. It would be nice if there were dash service from the convention center/Nokia to near gallery row/OBD. (it would be nice if that were a permanent route actually - wasnt that a plan at some point?)
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on January 16, 2009, at 10:55AM – #2
Haven: During the daytime it's actually a pretty easy walk to head east to catch the DASH D at Hill / 12th (four or five blocks from the Convention Center). That'll take you right up to Gallery Row.
CaliforniaGreen on January 16, 2009, at 11:17AM – #3
This expo coincides with the Go Green Expo, which is at LA Convention Center from Jan 23-25 (my company is exhibiting at it, and I've learned to look up what else will be happening just to chack out the traffic), plus the LA Fitness Expo Jan 24 to 25, it is going to be a very very busy weekend.