Many years ago, I visited the Vatican. (Bear with me… This IS a story about LA…I’ll get to it….) While standing among the hoards of people waiting for the “pickpocket express,” otherwise known as bus number 64, I was checking out the postcard stand. One of the postcards featured an image from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling of God and Adam’s hands reaching for one another. I overheard the student next to me say to her friend, “I don’t get it – they’re just fingers!”
Now, whether you know the work or the history or care either way, the point is that not everyone inherently “gets” art. That said, most of us know what kind of art we like or don’t like. So when I was invited on a private curated tour by Gallery Row founder Nic Cha Kim this past weekend to experience the first Art Weekend LA, I went in with an open mind, knowing that contemporary art isn’t something I always understand. My taste in art happens to be more in the realm of fingers painted on ceilings.
But what I learned through the tour was that Art Weekend LA is vastly more interesting than just the art, contemporary or otherwise. It’s about the people – the creators, the artists, the visitors, the gallery owners, the street vendors – and the politics.
As we walked gallery to gallery, some on the official guide map and some off the beaten path, the stories got more and more interesting and I found myself alongside some fantastic people, including Tim McNeal, Vice President of Talent Development and Diversity at ABC/Disney, a writer for the FOX hit series “House,” and various entertainment/theatre/creative-types. Together, we were in the middle of what could be LA’s next reality show, or at the very least, a Bravo docu-drama.
Tags: Art, Art Walk, Art Weekend, Downtown, Events, Los Angeles, Pacific Punch
Posted in Features, Pacific Punch |
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