Photo Credit: Asian Art Works
The LA Art Show is going international: with its most international list of exhibitors and programming to date—more than 90 galleries from over 18 countries including China, Czechoslovakia, France, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom—and a larger group of corporate and media partners, including the China Cultural Media Group, the exhibition is expanding its international reach across all platforms with a haute roster of new exhibitions and programs curated by major local and international museums and arts organizations.
This year, the fair will also place a special focus on Latin American and Latino art to coincide with The Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, the follow-up to the institution’s city-wide 2011-2012 initiative, whose focus will also be to place those same regional and ethnic art communities in dialogue with various cultural institutions across Southern California in 2017-18.
“When I started the fair 22 years ago my original intention was to bring the international art world to Los Angeles,” says Kim Martindale, the show’s producer. “In the last few years, however, with all the institutional heft emanating from Los Angeles, I now hope to showcase the city and its art community to the world.”
Photo Credit: Cmay Gallery
In partnership with international galleries and LA’s most prestigious art institutions, the fair’s expanded, international curatorial team is addressing emerging art market trends while bringing a new audience to the fair and the city of Los Angeles. Highlights include:
*A Conversation on Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a Dialogs LA panel conversation organized with the Getty, that will address its upcoming initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA.
*Behind The Wall: Detrás del Muro, a talk about the socio-cultural and democratic project addressing notions of freedom, conceived during the 2015 Havana Biennial, with a presentation of new artist projects for the 2018 edition.
*Dansaekhwa III: Formation and Recurrence, an exhibition curated by Seoul’s SM Fine Art Gallery, which will feature the most iconic works from two of the genre’s minimalist masters: the multilayered monochromes of Kim Tae-Ho and the iconic water drop paintings of Kim Tschang-Yeul, who has been painting this fluid life force for more than four decades.
*Contemporary Ink Art is featured at the Show by a multitude of partners, speaking to its current popularity. The Mood of Ink, a curated exhibition presented by the private Beijing museum East Art Center, features a group of emerging and established Chinese artists including, Bian Hong, Chen Honghan, Fan Peng, Li Hongzhi and Yuan Fuguo, whose work focuses on the abstract expression of ink art; Cospace will present Water & Wind, an exhibition of Hai Pai paintings from Shanghai School featuring artists Chen Jiu, Qiu Deshu; and the Chinese Cultural Media Group presents a group exhibition of ink paintings including leading artists Li Gang and Wang Fei, as part of the National Exhibition of China, a joint endeavor organized by CCMG (Beijing) and National Base for International Cultural Trade (Shanghai).
*In My Floating World, an installation by Dominican-born artist Scherezade Garcia curated by Tatiana Flores and presented at the Show by the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA).
*Cauce/Riverbed a performance piece by Cuban performance artist Carlos Martiel, that exposes the nature of undocumented immigration and shows how it impacts the lives of some eleven million individuals and their families.
*Violent Times a staged performance by LA-based artist Melanie Pullen, exploring the ceremonial aspect of violence and how we dress for war.
*Deep Blue: Underwater, an immersive installation by Chilean artist Norton Maza, that seeks to connect all the waters that people from all over the world have crossed since immemorial times in search of security and better lives.
*Talking Head Transmitters by Eugenia Vargas-Pereira, part of Deconstructing Liberty: A Destiny Manifested a survey exhibition at Anaheim’s Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center curated by Marisa Caichiolo, examining different aspects as patriotism, community, citizenship, the pursuit of happiness, freedom, equal rights, and activism via installations, videos, paintings, photography and performances by Latin artists from Brazil to Cuba.
*Submerge, a laser installation by Marc Brickman, world renowned visual light artist and the artist-in residence for Empire State Building since 2012. He has worked with Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Cirque du Soleil (Viva Elvis), David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Bruce Springsteen, and on the films Running Man, Minority Report, and A-I. The installation, presented by the gallery Art All Ways will feature a radiating line drawing that becomes weightless architecture for viewers to travel within.
The LA Art Show runs from Jan 11-15 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
