Arts & Culture
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It is said that all is fair in love and war, but in the world of art fairs, it can be quite cut throat. Art collectors and dealers are aware that London has the Frieze Art Fair, New York the Armory Show, and Miami, the Art Basel Miami Beach fair, and with the launching of Art Platform – Los Angeles, a contemporary and modern art fair on the heels of the Getty Foundation’s lofty museum-wide extravaganza “Pacific Standard Time,” L.A. is stepping into the world-class contemporary art fair ring looking to land a knockout punch.
“Pacific Standard Time,” which began a decade ago as a joint initiative between the Getty Foundation and the Getty Research Institute to recover the historical record of art in Southern California, is a massive collaboration that will involve more than 60 cultural institutions organizing shows and events to celebrate the L.A. art scene from 1945-1980. The huge undertaking, involving museums throughout Southern California featuring the work of roughly 750 artists, designers, and architects, will run from October 1 through May 6, 2012.
According to Andrew Perchuk, deputy director of the Getty Research Institute, the project has become more than they ever envisioned.
“We would have been very happy with just ten to fifteen exhibitions,” Perchuk said. “We thought that was very ambitious.”
The Art Platform - Los Angeles opening event on September 30 will kickoff the massive region-wide initiative that is “Pacific Standard Time.” Taking place in the 724,000 square feet L.A. Mart (located at 1933 S. Broadway), Art Platform – Los Angeles aims to showcase the rich and vibrant cultural landscape of Southern California and underscore Los Angeles’ influential position within the contemporary art world.
“In my professional career here in L.A., I’ve never seen anything lining up like what we have lined up for the fall of this year,” said Adam Gross, executive director, Art Platform - Los Angeles. “When I think about other large cities, like London, New York, and Paris, for example, what we’re doing is absolutely on par, if not even greater in a civic sense than some of the biggest festivals and events in some of these other large cities. It has been pretty much regarded that Los Angeles is the last place in the Western world where there is a critical mass of cultural events and non-profits and museums and activities and an allure to potentially create another one of these destination art fairs.”
Art Platform - Los Angeles, created by the MMPI Art Group, will team with a number of local galleries, including Ace Gallery, ACME, David Klein Gallery, and Michael Kohn Gallery; offer a sneaker series; panel discussions; and include 20 non profits creating installations, and a video lounge. In the spirit of collaboration that “Pacific Standard Time” seeks to create, Art Platform - Los Angeles will also be working with MOCA, LACMA and The Hammer Museum during its kickoff weekend, in addition to handling the VIP list for “Pacific Standard Time.”
The collaboration of local institutions is also something that greatly pleased the “Pacific Standard Time” organizers.
“Los Angeles is much more collaborative than New York, where it is pretty hard to imagine MOMA and The Met ever collaborating,” Perchuk explained. “This has never happened on this scale. Very often these big projects have a top-down approach, but this bubbled up underneath. All these exhibitions are something [these museums] really want to do.”
The Art Platform - Los Angeles weekend fair will host approximately 50 events, including 30 private collector home tours. Attendees can see 80 installations of works for sale, as well as the work of over 100 artists and get a sense of what’s going on in Los Angeles art scene.
“I consider Los Angeles one of the great art production capitals, meaning that there are more great and important artists doing important work than most other metropolises in the world,” Gross said. “By creating enough activity in the downtown area on that Friday, September 30, what we do is really help ensure, both internationally and locally, that L.A. is the place to be that entire weekend, and specifically that Friday night.”
