LA ARTS DISTRICT SANS ARTISTS

LA, LA, our art scene is changing so rapidly. On a recent visit to the Arts District for a preview at Hauser & Wirth, I was struck by how tidy the neighborhood is looking these days. When that gallery opened two-and-a-half years ago, there were still derelict storefronts and encampments of street people nearby. And yes, there’s still a big building across the street from HW that’s in need of TLC, but it’s a matter of time before it is transformed into something chic and expensive. Because renovated residential buildings and swank boutiques are all around us.

Further south, on the edge of the Arts District, the Santa Fe Art Colony, one of the city’s first and largest artist live/work communities, is fading into the sunset. It’s the same sad urban-renewal story again, for artists made the area cool but now it’s too expensive for them to live there. Established in 1986, the Colony was created when the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA) provided low-interest renovation loans to the owners of a former clothing factory in exchange for rent-restricted spaces for artists. Over the years the Colony has been the site of many an art crawl and exhibition, and housed such artists as Kim Abeles and Sam Durant (who have both moved on). The agreement was for 30 years, then extended one year, but this year new owners, the Miami-based Fifteen Group, took control. On Sept. 1 they served notice for 12 “market-rate” units, pushing up rents by up to 80%.

Lisa Adams, photo by Lynda Burdick.

Painter Lisa Adams was one resident served notice—they were slapped with an increase of 60% with a two-month notice. While the rent hike was bad enough, Adams says, “The main reason we didn’t stay was because of a 49-page contract for a one-year lease with what my flatmate calls draconian terms. We decided we weren’t going to live under those terms.” They managed to find a loft space in the Arts District about the same size, around 1600 square feet—and for less money, in a building run by Peterson and Tansey. “We started looking immediately when we got that notice, we looked at several places, and I happened to know John Peterson.” As of writing, seven of those market-rate tenants have vacated, and two are looking to do so.

Meanwhile, the other 42 units at the SFAC are still “rent-restricted” until next year. The Fifteen Group told Sylvia Tidwell, head of the SFAC tenants association, that upgrades like central air and better kitchens and outdoor fire pits are planned, but so far none of these have taken place. Artists are understandably concerned about being able to stay, or of having the same community they’ve enjoyed all these years. One white knight midst all this upheaval has been the Metabolic Studio—in November they announced a grant “to support its efforts to preserve the Santa Fe Art Colony as an affordable live-work artists’ community and cultural asset of the City of Los Angeles.” Stayed tuned!

LACE 40th Anniversary Celebration, Micol Hebron center, Back row: Glenn Phillips from The Getty, Jeff Cain, Cassils, Austin Young from Fallen Fruit, Beatriz Cortez, Sarah Russin, photo by Beatriz Moreno,@missinglewood.

LACE 40TH ANNIVERSARY

There’s something to be said for institutional longevity—it preserves a memory of how this city has been an incubator for contemporary innovation for a pretty long time. On December 10 Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) celebrated its 40th anniversary with a well-attended party—and a panel discussion with administrators, curators and artists who have worked with the art institution over the years. Founded by artists in 1978, LACE has presented the work of more than 5,000 artists, with early support for Mike Kelley, John Baldessari, Bill Viola, Adrian Piper and Gronk, among others.

In 1993 they moved to their current Hollywood Boulevard location with the help of the CRA (yes, the CRA mentioned above). Today they continue to be artist-centric and to champion innovations in art-making and social engagement. The talk started with Harry Gamboa, Jr, one of the founders, and included former directors Marc Pally, Joy Silverman, and Irene Tsatsos, concluding with artist Micol Hebron. “The highlights were the people we worked with,” said Bridget DuLong, who was managing director for a dozen years, starting in 1995. Since 2014 LACE has been under the able leadership of Sarah Russin, who said, “I was really excited to see a multi-generational group of people attending, from CalArts students to people in their 80s, people who care about what LACE is.”

ART FAIRS

Okay, the big Frieze is coming! Over 70 international galleries will be joining the art fair (Feb. 15–17) taking place at Paramount Studio on Melrose Avenue, and the back lot with its New York rowhouse set will be taken up by a series of art installations, curated by Ali Subotnick. Frieze Projects’ artists have just been announced and include Lisa Anne Auerbach, Sarah Cain, Catharine Czudej, Karon Davis, Cayetano Ferrer, Hannah Greely, Trulee Hall, Patrick Jackson, Barbara Kruger, Paul McCarthy, Kori Newkirk and Tino Sehgal. Check out how you can get there—www.frieze.com/fairs/frieze-los-angeles/visitor-information.

And don’t forget that we have also the L A Art Show (Jan. 23–27, LA Convention Center); Photo LA (Jan. 31–Feb. 3, Barker Hangar in Santa Monica); then Art Los Angeles Contemporary (Feb. 13–17 at Barker Hangar) overlaps with Frieze L.A.

COMINGS & GOINGS

Damage and deaths are still being assessed in the recent Woolsey Fire, which burned through 97,000 acres and destroying about 1,650 structures in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Among those struck by this tragedy was artist Lita Albuquerque, whose home and studio burned to the ground, and lost artwork and archives from the last 30 years. Her children have set up a GoFundMe campaign to help her rebuild—www.gofundme.com/woolsey-fire-albuquerque-studio-recovery-fund. It’s heartening to see that other artists are currently some of the top contributors, including Astrid Preston, Laura Owens, Glenn Kaino and Suzanne Lacy.

More out-of-town galleries get themselves an LA toe-hold. Maddox Gallery has set up shop in West Hollywood and had a formal opening in mid-October. Their flagship gallery is on Maddox Street, hence the name, in the heart of tony Mayfair in London, and they boast three other galleries in that city. In December 2017 they opened their first international gallery in the ski resort of Gstaad, Switzerland, and LA is their newest branch. What I find interesting is that they skipped New York in their leap across the Atlantic Ocean—New York is saturated with galleries, and maybe there’s a viable collecting base here on the Left Coast, after all. Maddox deals in works by Banksy, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and reps such artists as Bradley Theodore, RETNA and Michael Moebius. (Yep, heavy on the chaps.)

While another homegrown gallery bites the dust. Or sort of. JAUS announced that it will close in December with a show by Julie Orser, but that director Ichiro Irie “will continue nomadic and online activities as an independent curator, as JAUS, and as a member of the curatorial collective QiPO,” says the press release.

Editor’s Note: Congratulations to Artillery contributor Yxta Maya Murray for being a recipient of The Creative Capital Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program, 2018.