For Immediate Release: January 31, 2018

Transcription

1 For Immediate Release: January 31, 2018 LEONARDO DICAPRIO, CHEECH MARIN, TIMOTHY OLYPHANT, JOHN C. REILLY, HANNAH SIMONE AMONG HOLLYWOOD ART PATRONS AT 2018 ART LOS ANGELES CONTEMPORARY ALAC MUSIC SERIES AT ZEBULON WITH INDIE ROCK FAVORITE CAT POWER AND LOS ANGELES UNDERGROUND HIP-HOP LEGENDS FREESTYLE FELLOWSHIP; ROSSON CROW, HAAS BROTHERS, CHANNING HANSEN AND RY ROCKLEN HEADLINED ARTIST-LED WORKSHOP FOR KIDS BY COACHART ALAC NINTH EDITION REPORTS EXCEPTIONAL SALES AND FEATURED DIVERSE, PROGRESSIVE SELECTION OF EXHIBITORS AND ARTISTS FROM LOS ANGELES, LATIN AMERICA AND EUROPE Photo: Michael Underwood LOS ANGELES The global contemporary art scene descended into Los Angeles during Art Los Angeles Contemporary (ALAC) with cutting-edge galleries, collectors and major figures from the entertainment and creative fields. Running from January 25 to January 28, the fair ended its ninth edition with reports of sold-out booths and otherwise strong sales performance matched with quality presentations and steadfast interest from collectors, bringing in over 16,000 visitors total. The fair will return for its tenth edition January 24 to 27, 2019.

2 The fair brought in 68 local and international exhibitors that brought in a range of works, spanning small and large-scale sculpture, painting, installation and video pieces from both emerging and established artists. Tim Fleming is owner and director of Fair Grounds Associates, producers of Art Los Angeles Contemporary and the publisher of Art Los Angeles Reader, the platform for established and emerging voices in art criticism. The ninth year also featured the launch of the ALAC Music Series at Zebulon, which presented concerts and live music performances following the first two nights of the fair, marking the first time ALAC has expanded its public programming off-site as a direct continuation of the day s activities in a move towards greater community engagement. On Thursday, the official ALAC After Party brought to the stage the singer-songwriter Cat Power who delivered an intimate, thoughtful performance following the buzz of opening night events. Her set list featured classic songs from her repertoire that captivated the group of artists, gallerists and fair visitors that were in attendance at the concert venue. Friday evening s headlining performance by seminal Los Angeles hip-hop group Freestyle Fellowship presented an energetic conclusion to that day s events. Each member demonstrated their mastery of freestyle verse and rhymes, keeping the sold-out venue buoyant throughout the rest of the evening. John Rubeli, a host committee member and collector commented, ALAC looks to create a global art world environment that affords any Angeleno a chance to get a sampling of what emerging art curators, institutions and collectors are paying attention to. In addition, there were installations by established artists such as Betty Woodman, Allan Ruppersberg and Tony Marsh that give necessary historic weight to the fair. This year s focus on diversity and gender equality was quite noticeable. Fair Highlights Highlights of the fair included diverse presentations, such as Trenton Doyle Hancock at Shulamit Nazarian, a solo booth of work by late female artist Betty Woodman at David Kordansky Gallery, and a sprawling solo presentation by FriendsWithYou at The Pit. On Saturday, Carmina Escobar hosted a performance piece Passing Through Dimensions that offered fair guests the opportunity to turn the Art Los Angeles Reader into a musical instrumental resembling a megaphone and saw them explore the space of the Barker Hangar using their voices. On Sunday, CoachArt took over the ALAC Theatre with an allages workshop led by local artists including The Haas Brothers, Channing Hansen, Rosson Crow and Ry Rocklen, solidifying links between ALAC and community arts advocacy organizations and non-profits. Throughout the fair weekend, the organic juice bar Tropics served a selection of their freshly made juices on a specifically designed Juice Bar / Skate Ramp installation and Chef Alisa Reynolds offered her unique take on Southern soul food cooking through her restaurant My Two Cents. The VIP program solidified links between fair guests and artists, collectors, and local institutions. A featured event was a tour of Cheech Marin s private collection, which focuses on Chicano and other artists of color. I was impressed by the diversity of artists, commented Marin on this year s fair, especially the representation of solid works by Chicano artists at the fair this year such as Lilian Martinez. Opening Night and Fair Attendance Overall the fair brought in large streams of crowds throughout the VIP Preview on January 25 and through its three public days. Amongst fair visitors were diverse leaders in creative fields, celebrities and other notable attendees from Los Angeles and abroad. These included actors, producers, agents and musicians Christopher Abbott, Justine Bateman, Blake Byrne, Dana Delaney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lisa Edelstein, Jónsi of Sigur Rós, Cheech Marin, T. Kelly Mason, Tatum O Neal, Timothy Olyphant, Thao

3 Nguyen, John C. Reilly, Ashley Rochester, Kelly Rowland, Alia Shawkat, Hannah Simone, C. R. Stecyk III, Eric Wareheim and Tallulah and Scout Willis. Artists in attendance throughout the run of the fair included Lita Albuquerque, Edgar Arceneaux, Sarah Caine, Rosson Crow, Gracie DeVito, Roy Dowell, Emilie Halpern, The Haas Brothers, Carmina Escobar, Ben Fain, Piero Golia, Joe Goode, Alexandra Grant, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Charles Hollis Jones, Shio Kusaka, Dan Levenson, Carter Mull, Jon Pylypchuk, Kenny Scharf, Jim Shaw, Ry Rocklen, Samantha Thomas, Jeffrey Vallance, Andrew Norman Wilson, Julian Wasser, Jonas Wood, amongst many others. Major collectors in attendance included Irving Blum, Tim Blum, JF Chen, Kyle DeWoody, Cliff and Mandy Einstein, Lauri Firstenberg, Mark Fluent, Irwin Gold, Kenny Goss, Santiago Rumney Guggenheim, Ron Handler, Michael and Susan Hort, Linda Janger, Marija Karan, Caryn and Ken Kleinberg, Michael Kohn, Steve and Krista Levitan, Kai Loebach, Stavros Merjos, Joy Monkarsh, Craig Jacobson, Jeffrey Poe, Josh Roth, John Rubeli, Michael Schweitzer, Hedi Slimane, Dean Valentine and Kulapat Yantrasast. Museum Groups Institutional groups from California African American Museum, Desert X, The Getty, the Hammer, LACMA, MOCA, Marciano Art Foundation, Santa Barbara Museum of Art and The Underground Museum attended the fair, with specific appearances by curators and institutional directors George Davis and Naima J. Keith of the California African American Museum; Amanda Hunt, Matthew Schum and Neville Wakefield of Desert X; Bettina Korek of ForYourArt; Virginia Heckert of The Getty; Anne Ellegood of The Hammer Museum; Christine Kim and Rebecca Morse of LACMA; Catherine Taft and Hamza Walker of LAXART; Jamie G. Manné of the Marciano Art Foundation and Megan Steinman of The Underground Museum. Exhibitors The ninth edition of the fair featured galleries drawn from a diversity of geographic regions, with a large contingent of new and returning galleries from Asia, Latin America and Europe. These included Instituto de Visión, Bogota, with a group presentation including Carmen Argote, Luis Ernesto Arocha, Pía Camil, Manuela Viera-Gallo and Sebastián Fierro; LAZY Mike, Moscow; Revolver Galería, Lima / Buenos Aires; and Vermelho, São Paulo. Director Jan Fjeld of Vermehlo commented about the gallery s return appearance at the fair, ALAC provides us an important opportunity to present Brazilian and other Latin American artists that may not otherwise be exhibited or shown in L.A. Shane Campbell Gallery, from Chicago, presented a solo booth of work by the celebrated underground painter David Leggett, who recently moved to Los Angeles. We felt that Art Los Angeles Contemporary provided a strong opportunity to bring David Leggett's paintings and drawings to a new audience in Los Angeles, said Director John Schmid. The solo presentation attracted known collectors and curatorial figures as well as viewers unfamiliar with the work. Local galleries also reported a heightened sense of collector interest that ran throughout the opening and all public days of the fair. Shulamit Nazarian s solo presentation by the Houston-based painter Trenton Doyle Hancock received heavy collector and public interest. Many great collectors came through the fair and new works sold to private collections both before and throughout the fair week. We were also very happy to see curators from all of L.A. s major institutions spending time in the booth, said Senior Director Seth Curcio.

4 Night Gallery experienced brisk sales on opening night for their group presentation of Josh Callaghan, Cameron Crone, Derek Fordjour and Claire Tabouret. Gallery owner and director Davida Nemeroff said, We had a very successful opening night and were able to sell most of the booth with works ranging from $3,000 to $42,000." François Ghebaly, with works by local artists including Kelly Akashi, Sayre Gomez and Patrick Jackson, did particularly well. We sold out our booth including a Sayre Gomez new window painting Hop Louie for $45,000 to a prominent local collector during the preview, a group of Kelly Akashi sculptures and photograms ranging between $4,000 and $25,000; and a dozen ceramics by Patrick Jackson priced between $2,000 and 5,000, reported owner Ghebaly. Honor Fraser also reported strong sales in their solo booth by the Los Angeles-based artist Kenny Scharf, whose presentation comprised work on canvas as well as paintings applied to found objects. Associate Director Eden Phair spoke to the integration of their presentation and the fair s VIP Program, As part of the gallery's solo presentation this year of new works by Kenny Scharf, we had the pleasure of working with the fair's VIP team to offer a tour at his studio to highlight his working process. We placed more than half of the booth with private collections, and the response to Kenny's work was incredibly enthusiastic. Luis de Jesus reported similar collector enthusiasm. Booth activity was non-stop from the opening minutes on, said gallery owner Luis de Jesus. Federico Solmi's mesmerizing animated videos were a hit and we sold out of all Josh Reames paintings that were exhibited for the fair s opening night. Some commented on how risky and bold it was to exhibit large, politically-charged works. We are pleased to report that everyone embraced the booth installation and we are excited that everything was well received. At Nicodim Gallery, the two-person presentation of works by painter Robert Yarber and Simphiwe Ndzube quickly sold out following the opening night VIP Preview. ALAC demonstrated the perfect opportunity to reintroduce Yarber, a historical artist who has become embraced by the Los Angeles art community as best represented through the forum that the fair brings together, said gallery director Ben Lee Ritchie Handler. We find that every year attendees to ALAC are legitimately interested and engaged and we are looking forward to the tenth iteration of the fair in Freeways In the Freeways section, returning now for its third year, eight young exhibitors presented new works to the Los Angeles art community, including a solo presentation by the German painter Hans-Jörg Mayer at the new Chicago gallery M. LeBlanc, works by Guy Yanai at the booth of Galerie Derouillon as well as works by Dustin Metz and Franklin Williams in Parker Gallery s booth. Benjamin Derouillon of Galerie Derouillon commented, It was our first year at the fair and we sold out all of our works by the painter Guy Yanai. ALAC Music Series In addition to the on-site programming and events hosted at the Barker Hangar, ALAC celebrated the debut of the ALAC Music Series for the ninth edition of the fair. In partnership with Zebulon, located in Los Angeles Frogtown neighborhood, ALAC hosted special performances following the conclusion of the VIP Preview and Opening Night Reception on Thursday night and the first public day of the fair on Friday. The ALAC Music Series is a newly-launched initiative of Art Los Angeles Contemporary in partnership with Zebulon, bringing music and art together for the fair s broad audience in Los Angeles. Over the

5 coming months there will be additional performances and concerts announced to the public as part of the series. PRESS CONTACTS Rachel Joelson & Darius Sabbaghzadeh THIRD EYE Kelly Kimball k2pr GENERAL INFORMATION Art Los Angeles Contemporary, January 25-28, 2018 The Barker Hangar, Santa Monica Produced by Fair Grounds Associates