CALENDAR CALL: A NEW YEAR OF UNMISSABLE ART HAPPENINGS
Judy Chicago, Disappearing Environments at the entrance to Art Los Angeles Contemporary, 2012
Some people may think there are “no seasons” in Los Angeles, but in the art world there are particular times abuzz with activity, and early spring is one of them. With 2014 just around the corner, this is the perfect time to start marking your calendar with essential fairs and events taking place in the new year—particularly if you’re focused on starting an art or book collection.
Art Los Angeles Contemporary (ALAC) returns to Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, January 31 to Feburary 4. In its fifth year, ALAC offers an opportunity to learn about an international array of established and emerging galleries and get to know local players from Los Angeles, all conveniently located under one roof. I recommend showing up on Friday, when the fair is at its quietest, to introduce yourself to dealers and spend some time browsing at the Artbook/DAP booth—an essential part of the world’s best art fairs.
Across town that same weekend, Printed Matter’s L.A. Art Book Fair takes over the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, bringing artists, publishers, and art bookworms together for a more casual, paper-centered experience. Last year’s installment was wildly popular, no doubt because the fair celebrates a medium near and dear to many facets of L.A.’s art community. The next week, on February 8, LA Print: Edition 4 will offer a one-day education in all things works on paper. Hosted by LACMA’s Prints and Drawings Council, this annual event will expose you to experts in a field that many see as the gateway to collecting art.
Artbook D.A.P. at Paris Photo Los Angeles.
Originally posted on www.style.com
Paris Photo, which debuted in Los Angeles last year and returns the weekend of April 25, addresses another of the city’s stereotypes: that the art and film worlds in L.A. don’t overlap. The fair sets up shop at Paramount Studios, where dealers install photo-based work from around the world in the studio’s soundstages and replica “storefronts.” It’s refreshing to experience art this way, along with the fair’s rigorous presentation of publications and programs, and then to take a break at a food truck parked right on the lot.
While Paris comes to Hollywood that weekend, London comes to Santa Monica with the West Coast premiere of the Pavilion of Art and Design (PAD). Regulars of the Frieze London art fair are familiar with PAD, a cozy affair that integrates art and design objects and should be especially palatable to L.A.’s interior design crowd.
Whether you make it to one or all of these events, traversing Los Angeles to visit (and shop for) art is a way to experience a new dimension of the city—and to bring some of it home with you.
Paris Photo Los Angeles at Paramount Pictures Studios, 2013.
Photos: Scott Mayoral; Courtesy of Artbook D.A.P.; Courtesy of Paramount Picture Studios
