Sixty Los Angeles galleries are collaborating on a new digital sales platform. Artists donate their creations to benefit the Venice Family Clinic. And you can support your local independent theater by streaming the new documentary, " Beyond the Visible ," at home.
Art fundraiser for the Venice Family Clinic
Johan Andersson, Frontline (2019). Flatbed 12-ounce canvas print, 44 x 36 inches. Artist Proof 1/3. Image courtesy of the artist.
This year, the annual Venice Family Clinic Art Walk and Auction goes digital. Since it began in 1979, the auction has raised more than $23 million for the Venice Family Clinic , which provides essential health care and mental health support for 28,000 people across Los Angeles. The clinic is supporting people who are vulnerable to COVID-19, many of whom live below the poverty line.
This year’s fundraiser will include a digital auction, which will be hosted via Artsy on May 3-19. The participating artists include John Baldessari, Billy Al Bengston, Zoe Crosher, Channing Hansen, and Analia Saban. The curatorial committee will also host virtual talks and lectures related to the artists in the auction. Presenters include Tessa Blumenberg, Jonathan T.D. Neil, and Jori Finkel.
Greater LA: For 50 years, Venice Family Clinic serves Angelenos who can’t afford basic healthcare
L.A. galleries band together to form a new sales platform
The home page of galleryplatform.la. Credit: Gallery Association Los Angeles.
As galleries struggle to pay rent , museums lay off staff, and the art world adjusts to digital exhibitions, a collaborative venture offers a glimmer of hope.
Gallery Platform LA is a new initiative involving 60 local galleries of different scales and budgets. This collaborative venture is an important acknowledgment that small and mid-sized galleries play a vital role in the arts ecosystem, giving artists their first exhibitions.
This platform, initiated by Jeffrey Deitch, will launch on May 15 and include a rotation of 10 exhibitions each week on the website. That means each participant will show a new selection every six weeks (a traditional gallery timeline for an exhibition). The platform will run an Instagram account featuring artist and gallerist interviews.
Participating galleries are also forming Gallery Association Los Angeles (GALA), which will act as an art dealer’s association. The group will continue to collaborate (post-quarantine) to create resources like gallery maps and coordinated exhibition schedules.
Stream the much anticipated documentary about Hilma af Klint
A scene from Beyond the Visible , a film by Halina Dyrschka. Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films.
Hilma af Klint is known for intuitive abstraction, though she worked in relative obscurity throughout her lifetime. When her posthumous retrospective exhibited at the Guggenheim last year, it broke records for attendance and catalogue sales. The widely praised exhibition traveled the world but skipped Los Angeles.
A new documentary, " Beyond the Visible ," premiered last week and delves into af Klint’s remarkable life, spirituality, and singular vision. The film posits af Klint as the inventor of abstraction, beating Wassily Kandinsky to the punch by a couple of decades.
The film celebrates and argues for af Klint’s place within art history. It also pokes holes in how art history is made (mostly by men), and what happens when we are presented with an alternative history that upends our well-trodden timelines.
The film is being streamed through Kino Marquee , which lets viewers rent and stream arthouse films at home while supporting local independent theaters. For Angelenos, that means your streaming will benefit the Laemmle Theatre, which has locations in Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Glendale, and more.
Make bubble prints at home
Bubble Print craft. Image courtesy of Craft Contemporary.
This week’s at-home craft comes from the Craft Contemporary, which has been posting do-it-yourself projects on their website each week.
Materials
- Mixed media paper or watercolor paper
- Tempera paint (water-based paint)
- Dish soap
- Straws
- Cups
Instructions
- Stir together each paint color in a separate cup, and add dish soap in a 1:1 ratio. Add a splash of water to mix.
- Using a straw, gently blow bubbles until they reach the top of the cup.
- Once bubbles begin to mushroom over the cup edges, stop. Remove straw.
- Place paper over the bubbles to create an imprint.
- Choose your next color and repeat.
Tips
If there are bubbles left on your paper, don’t touch them. Let them dry out or pop on their own, and you’ll get better imprints.