From the moment you approach Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport, something special is happening for the third edition of ALAC.
It’s called “Disappearing Environments,” an installation work by artist Judy Chicago, and it’s a huge crowd pleaser. It’s made of pyramids of dry ice that create shrouds of clouds that people are posing in for countless photos. It was lit up with a flare performance at dusk on opening night of the show Thursday, and will be in place until it all 25 tons disappear into nothingness. The show runs through Sunday.
Inside, you’ll find a stellar collection of nearly 60 galleries from places are far-flung as Seoul, with a strong representation from Los Angeles and New York, of course. There are also seven independent publishers amongs the exhibitors.
The aisles were packed Thursday night, and lines for the bar stretched way longer than they should, but didn’t seem to damper artistic spirits.
We were particularly taken with a coffee table made of a broken big screen TV mounted on orange Home Depot buckets by New York-based performance artists Rancourt/Yatsuk displayed at Kate Werble gallery, located in NYC’s SoHo. For $3,500, an amazing conversation piece. Talk about re-using and re-purposing, this was fantastic.
Another piece that really grabbed us was an installation called “Rape of the Mirror” by Samara Golden, displayed at Night Gallery, which is LA-based. Alas, the artwork–a bedroom suite with a large, cracked mirror across the bed had already been sold, for $3,500, according to the gallery.
Gallery owner Patrick Lee of Seoul’s One and J. Gallery was showing works of glossy color photography and said he and his business partner love being at the ALAC show. Mexico City’s Brett Schultz, director of Yautepec Gallery, was also jazzed about exhibiting at Barker.
More info: www.artlosangelesfair.com
