This weekend, The LA Art Show wrapped its second live event in just 6 months, establishing a return to normal and reuniting the Los Angeles art community under the LA Convention Center roof. Galleries, art dealers, curators, collectors, and art lovers came together to safely explore themes of environmental impact and new technologies, engaging in masked discussions.
VIDEO:
VIRTUAL TOUR:
https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=gHWSqwYMAn6
Returning director Kassandra Voyagis was able to create an intimate experience despite the large space. With 20% higher attendance than the summer show, bringing the total attendees to roughly 45,000 people, the show was a great success for visitors and galleries alike.
The event kicked off with a successful VIP opening night. The celebration was hosted by model and actress Kaia Gerber in conjunction with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for a celebration of art and charitable components. From the red carpet to the pink walls of the VIP area and plenty in between, the night was vibrant, leading into a wonderful weekend of enthusiasm and sales.
Many galleries had quite a bit of success. Among the highest selling galleries, Mizuma Gallery, Melissa Morgan, J&J Art, Pigment Gallery, Arcadia Contemporary, Beatriz Esquerra Arte, and Simard Bilodeau Contemporary all had incredible sales. In fact, for Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery and Abend Gallery this was a truly record-breaking year, marking the best year yet for the longtime participants.
As the first live show to join the NFT craze, introducing attendees to the incredible trend in digital art, the LA Art Show has established a reputation for leading the pack. This year was no exception. The LA Art Show continues to be on trend with NFTs, making sure the contemporary art conversation is comprehensive. This year included a preview of Little Beasts by artist Johnny ‘KMNDZ” Rodriguez, presented by Merry Karnowsky of KP Projects, in partnership with LGND, the return of Vellum LA, Los Angeles’s premier art gallery for NFT-backed digital art, with their latest show Elsewhere is a Negative Mirror which simultaneously debuted as an in-person NFT exhibition at the LA Art Show and at Vellum LA gallery, and specially displayed NFTs from Fabrik Projects.
With the NFT conversation comes a conversation about environmental conservation, the other focus of the show. Unifying the show’s themes of environmentally-driven discussions and new technologies, Arts Help presented Conscious Crypto Creator: ICEBERGS. The Conscious Crypto Creator, aka CCC, is a global movement developed by Arts Help to empower artists to use their art in the fight for transparency and sustainable crypto-validation practices. ICEBERGS highlighted the impact of our daily decisions on the melting of polar ice caps.
Environmental conversations percolated throughout the show with DIVERSEartLA’s ecological lens. Curated by Marisa Caichiolo, this year’s edition examined not just how the environment is represented in art, but how humanity’s place in the world is depicted.
Furthering the climate change perspective Kelly Sueda Fine Art represented artist Taiji Terasaki, bringing his wide range of masterful artworks at this year’s LA Art show including video NFTs, metal weavings, “mist media” photography, and an interactive live mist installation.
The show was undoubtedly a success, spanning five days and over 200,000 combined square feet. While the space and time is vast, the show manages to foster an unparalleled sense of community.
DIVERSEartLA 2022 Highlights
Dox Contemporary-Prague, the Czech Center New York, and Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles present “THE SIGN,” a site specific installation by Swen Leer. We, as a society, obey highway signs and take their truth for granted. The installation The Sign plugs into this a-priori factuality by mimicking the iconic freeway signage, while communicating an unexpected message that calls to mind the cost of our economical growth and its toll on our planet: “Your children WILL hate you – eventually.”
MUSA, Museum of the Arts of the University of Guadalajara, and MCA Museum of Environmental Science present “THE OTHER WATERFALL & CHAPALA ALSO DROPS ITSELF” by Claudia Rodriguez, both of which reflect the contamination and lack of water that has affected the state of Jalisco, Mexico in the last decades.
MUMBAT Museum of Fine Arts of Tandil and the Museum of Nature and Science Antonio Serrano of Entre Rios Argentina present “THE EARTH’S FRUITS” by Guillermo Anselmo Vezzosi curated by Indiana Gnocchini which is a scientific research project whose ideology culminates with an installation work of a specific ephemeral site, where the waste that takes on a second life is dignified.
The Museum of Nature of Cantabria Spain contributes with “Our turn to change” by Andrea Juan and Gabriel Penedo Diego, a video-installation. The video installation appeals to the viewer, through images, to awaken to an increasingly worrying reality. Drop by drop, large amounts of ice are lost every second. The Arctic is at minimum levels, Antarctica has lost ice shelves, glaciers have retracted and the oceans levels continue to rise.
“Recognizing Skid Row As A Neighborhood:Skid Row Cooling Resources,” curated by Tom Grode highlights that Skid Row is a dynamic, primarily African American, residential neighborhood, not a problem to be fixed. The brutal heat waves of September 2020 created Skid Row Cooling Resources, a collaborative planning effort and think tank to ensure the summer of 2021 and beyond was better for Skid Row residents. Skid Row is a unique Urban Heat Island in the larger Heat Island of Downtown Los Angeles.
TAM Torrance Art Museum presents “Memorial to the Future,” a collaborative art work concerning Climate Change 2022, curated by Max Presneill. Using Brutalist architecture as a reference point that encapsulates both the idealism and abject failure of this model, the collaborations, via photograph and video, highlight the need for immediate action. They do this not by way of propaganda, but rather via a diversity of photographic concerns that by physical proximity in their installation on a single structure, bring together various viewpoints and interpretations of warning, of caution, of danger in respect of our environment, nature and climate.
The Environmental Digital Experience by A.Ordoñez delivered by Raubtier Productions & Unicus and curated by Marisa Caichiolo, an immersive experience that shows the viewers a range of climate phenomena, ending on the positive growth of new flora.