It’s hard to recall the last time we walked into a gallery not located in someone’s college apartment that smelled so strongly of weed. That is precisely when we remembered that we weren’t at just any gallery. We were at Dem Passwords. A particularly unique gallery owned by Sebastian Demian and Ethan Higbee, the space was recently cited for being the L.A. art world’s link between contemporary art and something a lot weirder. Rest assured the description holds true.  

We arrived at the abandoned King Hing Theatre for Lee “Scratch” Perry’s “Judgement Repentance God Order” and were greeted by Lee himself, wearing paisley leggings, the freshest turquoise overcoat adorned with neon multicolored feathers, patches, more jewelry than five of us combined will ever own—and a hat completely covered in gilded rhinestones, naturally. Lee is a character. He is a well-known Jamaican music producer, one of the pioneers in the development of dub music, and as it turns out, an artist. Needless to say he has a bit of a cult following, all of whom seemed to be in attendance.

This was a B-side art opening. It was rebellious, untamed and raw.  Amid the growing blue-chip galleries in LA, it’s refreshing to see spaces where artists still get to color outside the lines (seriously way outside) and where for once you don’t recognize every single person in line for a Tecate. Sometimes you just need to watch an 80-year old legend enact an LSD trip onto a series of collages in Chinatown at 7 p.m. on a Thursday to remember that sometimes art can be art for arts sake and that’s okay too.