New Season in Culver City

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Communal openings do bring out the crowds. On an evening when frost warnings were posted, LA’s art world denizens came out in serious numbers to attend dozens of galleries in the La Cienega/Washington vortex.

Roberts and Tilton

It must be said from the onset, openings are probably the worst possible time to actually view art. This malady was made all the worse by the crowds who blocked any clear view of the work on the walls. It’s a curious Catch-22. Seeing all those folks filing in and out of galleries does make it appear that Fine Art has achieved some critical mass. But it a stretch to think that much serious or even attentive aesthetic viewing was being done.

Honer Fraser

So it’s a block party on one of the coldest nights in recent memory. By far the most crowded scene was Roberts and Tilton which was wall to wall with conversationalists. Ed Templeton’s photographs document Huntington Beach and have a hipster vibe that belies his skateboard roots.

LAX Art

Angles Gallery cerebral fare left viewers dazed and speechless. The Walter Niedermeier photographs continue to be haunting in their minimal aesthetic. Paul Kopeikin‘s exhibition of Kahn und Selesnick had several whipping out their eyephones.

 

Paul Kopeikin

Travis Collinson’s drawings and paintings at Maloney Fine Art were not overrun but should have been since their quality and haunting nature recalled the talents of a young Lucien Freud.

 

Blue McRight, 2010, Oil on Paper, 6 x 9 inches at Samuel Freeman

Oil paintings on paper by Blue McRight became the grace note of the evening. The exhibition at Samuel Freeman was not only handsomely installed but the intimate works on papers stole the artistic offerings of the entire evening.

Cherry & Martin

A pretty wonderful disco room at Luis de Jesus made me want to ditch the art scene and go dancing. The installation was part of an ambitious exhibition by Martin Durazo.

 

Luis de Jesus

A couple of beers and 19 galleries later, people still seemed to be pouring into the area even while several galleries were trying to close. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even make it to Washington Avenue west of La Cienega. There’s another dozen in that direction! Welcome to 2013 y’all. Art’s da thing!

 

 

 

-Mario M. Muller, January 13th, 2013

Western Projects

also by Mario M. Muller

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