LA Art Show 2016 Recap

Alexandra Gestin, aka Gestin

Los Angeles welcomed LA Art Show in its 21st installment over the weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Between January 27th through the 31st, attendees showed up to the fair in record numbers, some reporting over 65,000 visitors, with opening night proceeds benefiting the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For the 21st annual edition of the show, covered here in previous years, there was a strong mix of international exhibitors alongside local galleries throughout the halls and “Littletopia” section, including annual players Thinkspace, Copro Gallery, Gregorio Escalante Gallery, who had pieces on display throughout the fair, including Robert Xavier Burden’s pricey $200,000 “20th Century Space Opera” painting inspired by Star Wars figurines, and La Luz de Jesus Gallery, with an interactive preview of Scott Hove’s new and upcoming Cakeland experience.

Rafael Barrios

Kazuhiro Tsuji

With many exhibitors just coming off of the Miami Beach fairs, we also ran into some familiar yet unforgettable staples like Desire Obtain Cherish’s obese teddy bear which was first to greet visitors into the convention center and Kazuhiro Tsuji’s hyper-realistic bust of “Frida” that debuted at SCOPE Miami Beach. The fair also boasts one of the world’s largest groupings of Chinese, Korean and Japanese galleries, where a highlight was S.E.A Gallery’s exhibition of new Hiroshi Mori works, whose golden paintings fuse modern Japanese pop culture like anime and mange together with classical, religious scenery, like Fra Angelico’s “Annunciation”.

Hiroshi Mori

Other must-sees included Smash Gallery’s booth, where we found dynamic and abstract oil portraits by Meredith Marsone, Mara Light, and Zin Lim, Timothy Yarger’s booth, which immersed visitors in a cardboard installation featuring the sets of Cristobal Valecillos’s photography works, and Arcadia Contemporary’s booth, which presented new works by artists like Aron Wiesenfeld, Brad Kunkle, and Stephen Mackey, with a spotlight on the colorful and figurative acrylic paintings of Michael Lukasiewicz. For all of these and more that caught our eye, check out our photos below- and stay tuned for our coverage from the “Littletopia” galleries.

Cristobal Valecillos