I was going to make fun of The Pit’s group show “Vision Valley” at the Brand Library for being a “biennial,”  since everything is a biennial these days, until I actually read the press release (whoops) and realized that they were making fun of this exact thing themselves. According to organizers of this exhibition, The Pit’s directors Adam D. Miller and Devon Oder, this will be the first and only Glendale, California biennial.

Gallerygoers with peep show

That’s an unfortunate fact actually, since the show of 30 or so artists was rather impressive, especially given that almost all of them work or live in or around Glendale, or the San Fernando Valley as it were. Jokes aside, the group show including stalwarts such as Lari Pittman, Roy Dowell, Kerry Tribe and uh, old-school photographer Edward Weston (apparently owning a studio in Glendale in 1910) had an element missing from many art shows—the element of play. From a brilliant video peep show by Olivia Mole, to kitsch sculptures encapsulated in glass by Mungo Thomson, much of the artists seemed to sidestep the art-world downfall of stuffiness, thus making their artworks have an effortless “cool” factor.

Kathleen Ryan, Hollow Song, 2015

The opening itself had all of the aspects of a great party, that is, except for the bar attendant serving thimble-sized servings of wine. Look, I get it. People love to drink at these things, and we all know nobody is actually buying the art. Still, I think the Brand can find it in their budget somewhere to serve more than 2-ounce pours of a wine beverage (full disclosure, this writer moonlights as a bartender).

Mike Mollett pondering glass sculptures by Mungo Thomson.

As the DJ spun classic hip hits like a Tribe’s Low End Theory, we ran into the retired art-world doyenne, Rosamund Felsen, which rumor says might open a gallery. We also ran into Mike Mollett, who dished about the closure of DTLA gallery CB1 with a possible pending lawsuit. Finally the conversation drifted to Mike Kelley, as it always does (see my Top 10 things you overhear at LA Galleries list), and we passed Connie Samaras on our way out. Scribe Andrew Berardini made an appearance, and I would have stuck around longer had the wine and cheese been flowing, but like the biennial, there’s only enough for one round.