DAZED
Best New Galleries to Seek Out in LA
September 2015
The ever-unique environment for creativity has some new galleries on the scene – see what you’re missing out on here
The development of LA’s real estate has renewed a global interest in Los Angeles. The bombast has slayed cheap rents and the feeling of dropping off the radar there – but it hasn’t done much to put pressure on addressing the problem of the city’s perennially poor. One example is the notorious Skid Row, in gentrifying Downtown LA, with an estimated (according to an LA Chamber report) community of between 8-11,000 chronically homeless people.
So what is the irresistible attraction for creatives in this hyperbolic city today? In spite of the rotten political infrastructures below the development of real estate in some of its poorest neighbourhoods, there are positive changes taking place in the LA art scene. More than 50 galleries have opened here in the last two years, and the city just got its first dedicated critical platform: Contemporary Art Review LA, launched in May as an online journal and quarterly publication. Bringing together galleries, artists and critics based in Los Angeles, it’s another important step in shaping the art coming out of LA into an autonomous scene.
Riffing on a mix of escapism, indulgence, weed and desert heat, Los Angeles has always been a unique environment for creativity, but in reference to the recent migration of new gallery spaces to the east of the city, here’s some of our favourite places to experience what is making LA stand out now.
Bridging the gap between contemporary arts, visual culture and street wear retail, with the preternatural feel of a pop-up, Slow Culture definitely has a certain demographic in mind, but they’re on top of their game in executing it. Since they opened in Highland Park in August 2013, they run a lot of group presentations and brand collaborations, with a few regular appearances from artists such as Jay Howell, Ryan De La Hoz, Eric McHenry and Aryo Tohdjojo. Their current exhibition is another collab, this time with collective Brain Dead – a glow-in-the-dark group show that includes UK-based Russell Maurice and Daniel Sparkes.
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