Alternative Art Spaces

I have been watching an earlier released video on alternative art spaces in Los Angeles on the Hammer Museum website.  Here is a link to part 1 (part 2 consisted mostly of questions from the audience and was not interesting):  http://hammer.ucla.edu/watchlisten/watchlisten/show_id/260267/show_type/video?browse=none&category=0&search=art space

Yoshua Okon is involved with SOMA in Mexico City which is like an open non-certified art school with artist residencies where the artist teaches and hangs out without making work and pays 1/2 their own cost - so like an inexpensive art vacation where you get to meet artists of Mexico in a mellow environment.  He said that most artists in Mexico do not get MFAs and many are not formally trained - which in my mind harkens back to pre-US-GI bill which gave members of most classes (men) the chance to study in Universities on grants - so many more people were able to study art formally, so today it is taken for granted that an artist needs to go to art school and get an MFA to be certified officially.  Mr. Okon is very heart-felt in his desire to express the need for community and communication in the artist community.  A lovely idea.  I can feel the quiet of the location, the wind in the trees, the birds singing outside while sunlight streams in through the windows and I sit in the studio in the morning working on a small collage or a simple musical composition waiting for lunchtime to bring visitors to the courtyard where I can hang out drinking an iced coffee and discussing civilized living and uncivilized oppressions.  A wonderfully romantic situation.

Daniel Joseph Martinez was involved with Deep River, an unaffiliated art space without nonprofit status that was personally funded by him and his friends in the 90s(?).  Mr. Martinez extolled the virtues of running an art space that did use money or outside imposed requirements as qualifiers for the work that was shown inside the space.  The art exhibited or performances presented were presented based on the space providers definition of art work.  So the work was chosen on art parameters and not on meeting family friendly or city building requirements; rather, simply to explore ideas about art.  He now teaches as UC Irvine.  Mr. Martinez spoke about the LA alternative artworld prior to the 90s when money became the driving force.  He has a good sense of history and contextualizing the driving force behind art exhibitions in LA over the past few decades.  He would make a great dinner companion to discuss what has been going on in the art world since the 70s and where we take our work within this context.

Mark Allen runs Machine Project on Sunset in Echo Park which looks like it has grown out of the idea of having a community center but with really interesting workshops and events.  This space is great model for what should be going on in all of those empty but terrific community spaces in parks throughout cities.  They hold events that attract 20-somethings, kids, parents, all-ages.  The work is always playful and intelligent.  I don't want to even describe the work because it would lessen its specialness; you just have to watch his portion on the video. 

Julie Deamer of Outpost was interesting in her description of San Francisco art vs. Los Angeles art as she described LA art as being more pragmatic and slick whereas SF art is more homemade and not meant to be precious.  She brought in artists from New Zealand and other countries to make art here that was responsive to their reaction to this culture and having that new set of eyes is interesting.

Lauri Firstenberg runs LAXArt in Culver City and the work there seems very pedestrian compared to the other art spaces as it deals with didactic text that spouts platitudes and presents itself as so much better than the people who live around the space.  It is way too academically influenced and feels like a balloon that has puffed itself up - with slickness and self-importance - so you can't wait for next week when air seeps out and it is only a wad of used rubber.  But Ms. Firstenberg seems very nice and earnest; she just needs to take a trip elsewhere and get her hands in the dirt and shake her head free of the schoolhouse babbelling.