DTLA LIFE MAG ®
GRAND PARK N.Y.E.L.A & WINTER BLOW FIGat7’s SANTA SOHO WAREHOUSE THE HOXTON MAYFAIR HOTEL NYE ROW HOLIDAY SEASON POP EXPRESSIONISM
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS HANUKKAH CHRISTMAS ROHATSU NEW YEAR 2020
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Cover Photo Courtesy of Grand Park & The Music Center
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DTLA LIFE MAG | #41 CREATIVE DIRECTOR Alexandre LiMandri alex@dtlalifemag.com DRE 01822666 (213) 447 4080
Contributing Editors Jim White | Community jim@dtlalifemag.com Kerstin Klein | Lifestyle jim@dtlalifemag.com Josue Ortega | Real Estate jim@dtlalifemag.com HOLIDAY ISSUE #41 | DEC 2019
dtlalifemag.com (888) 788 DTLA (3852)
DTLA LIFE | Magazine! ® is a registered Trademark All Rights Reserved. Broker/Agent does not guarantee the accuracy of the square footage, lot size or other information concerning the conditions or features of the property provided by the seller or obtained from Public Records or other sources. Buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of all information through personal inspection and with appropriate professionals. MLSPLUS™ Copyright © 2019 by TheMLS™. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Presented by: Alex LiMandri DRE#: 01822666 | DTLA LIFE is powered by URBAN RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGE, Inc DRE# 02072044: & its Broker Alexandre LiMandri. DTLA LIFE MAG is an independant entity that is not intended to be representing properties. DTLA LIFE MAG is only reporting information provided by diferent parties for marketing purposes. We are not responsible for any information we publish on behalf of the businesses represented.
Downtown LA always brings fantastic experiences during the holidays. Here at DTLA LIFE, we want to wish our local and extended family Happy Holidays. As we end this year, let’s think about all the less fortunate people that don’t have homes and are alone during this season. Let’s make sure we wish them luck and that they will find a roof soon. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
ALEX LIMANDRI 213.447.4080
alex@dtlalife.com www.dtlalife.com
VOTED 2019
2018, 2017, 2011
BEST REAL ESTA residential AGE Alexandre LiMandri CREATIVE DIRECTOR Broker | DRE 01822666
DTLA LIFE (888) 788 DTLA (3852) alex@dtlalife.com dtlalife.com
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DTLA LIFE is proud to again have partnered with the United Way HomeWalk Team and the Los Angeles RAM’s on Sunday, May 18th, 2019, in Grand Park, in support of housing solutions to help end our homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. The event was a huge success! We wish to thank YOU and all of our incredible Partner/ Sponsors who helped make this the most successful HomewWalk ever. Thanks to you and the thousands of supporters who rallied together with the Los Angeles Rams at United Way’s 12th annual HomeWalk, we unlocked the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Match Challenge raising over $1.1 million.
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Those funds will help further our goal of ending homelessness for good by supporting our most vulnerable neighbors move off of the streets and into the stability of a home. We came out as champions for our homeless neighbors, and we cannot say thank you enough. We also want to recognize all of the incredible teams, who showed up in force, you can find out all about them by visiting https:// homewalk.unitedwayla.org/en/about/sponsors/#sponsorrequest.
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We believe that HOMES end HOMELESSNESS. Please help us continue the fight by becoming an advocate for our homeless neighbors. With Everyone In, we’re committed to ending homelessness and ensuring longterm solutions. Please visit https://everyoneinla.org/ to learn more about who’s helping and how you can get involved.
dtla LIFE al
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DTLA LIFE is committed to maintaining Downtown LA’s ongoing sense of community amid profound changes that have come with billions of dollars in redevelopment Investment, also, by being philanthropically supportive of important civic and political issues. A percentage of our real estate sales go to support this great cause. Thank you for your ongoing support, Alex LiMandri & Jim White DTLA LIFE Founders DRE # 02072044
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Photos Courtesy of Grand Park & The Music Center
GRAND PARK WINTER BLOW
Expanded across Grand Avenue to include the newly renovated Music Center Plaza, Grand Park’s Winter Glow returns for its second annual nighttime public art display, offering an immersive experience that spans two county locations this holiday season across Grand Avenue to include the newly renovated Music Center Plaza. With double the amount of lighting experiences from the inaugural event in 2018, Grand Park’s Winter Glow will feature installations by L.A.-based artists from across the county, including multimedia artists Cassandra Carillo, Carlos G. Rodas, and Aphidoidea, among others. When the days darken, the park celebrates light as a giver of warmth, a source of beauty, and the critical component to bringing people together during the fall and winter months. Each artist will design and install magical light attractions for the public to enjoy as they stroll through Grand Park and The Music Center Plaza. Familiar pathways and historic fountains will be transformed into exciting new discoveries with the latest in light and projection technology as well as traditional holiday décor, including the L.A. County Christmas Tree, the Grand Park pink light tree, and the Grand Park menorah. Some of the curated large-scale installations will be hands-on and interactive as additional complimentary light displays
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Photos Courtesy of Grand Park & The Music Center
make Hope Street to Hill Street “glow” in the winter sky. Grand Park’s Winter Glow opens a trialogue—a conversation between art, people, and space that offers a non- traditional approach to a public art exhibition and the park-goer experience. In this interconnectivity, guests and families can share thoughts, identity, and space, making new holiday memories as they stroll through an illuminated and interactive art installation. The only free exhibit of its kind in the area is open to the public until December 25, 2019, offering park-goers the opportunity to gather and celebrate the wonder and magic of art as it illuminates Downtown L.A.
GRAND PARK WINTER BLOW grandparkla.org/event /grand-parks-winter-glow-2019
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FIGat7TH Holiday spirit
Photos Courtesy of FIGat7TH
Photos Courtesy of FIGat7TH
The best Downtown L.A.’s shopping destination highlights a magical decor. In December, FIGat7TH embraces the holiday spirit with extensive decoration for all of us to enjoy while we shop, eat or drive by on Figueroa and 7th Streets. This year, you will find a gigantic Christmas tree topping the property embellished by lights and a multitude of beautiful Hannukah and Christmas decorations. And Kids were able to take selfies with Santa.
FIGat7TH HOLIDAY SPIRIT figat7th.com
Photos Courtesy of Brokkfields
GRAND PARK N.Y.E.L.A. Photos Courtesy of The Music Center & Grand Park
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For the past seventh year, Grand Park and The Music Center’s N.Y.E.L.A. is the place to come together and ring in the new year with live music, food, photo booths, and amazing projection-art on the beautiful City Hall! The event will begin at 8pm on December 31 with Projections and music run all night. This year you will experience some of L.A.’s best on two music stages: The Countdown Stage, Located at Grand Park’s Event Lawn near City Hall & Spring Street Hosted By Pili Montilla; and the Get Down Stage, Located at Grand Park’s Performance Lawn between Grand Avenue and Hill. So, Look up! All eyes will be on our beautiful City Hall to ring in the new year, the D.T.L.A. way! A unique civic celebration, Grand Park + The Music Center’s N.Y.E.L.A, is recognized internationally alongside major New Year’s Eve celebrations and is Los Angeles’ go-to, family-friendly gathering place where Southern Californians and visitors from across the globe will celebrate and welcome 2020. The party will cover 90 acres, from Grand Avenue to City Hall (Spring Street) and from Temple Street to 2nd Street. More than 50,000 people are expected to attend. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
N.Y.E.L.A. GRAND PARK 2020 grandparkla.org
Photos Courtesy of The Music Center & Grand Park
SOHO WAREHOUSE
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Photos Courtesy of Soho House
Photos Courtesy of Soho House
First, we heard a rumor: The very select, ultra-chic Soho House members-only club is going to open in Downtown Los Angeles. Then, Westiders were laughing and thought we, Downtown optimists, were nuts. And now, the third outpost on the West Coast from Soho House & Co, the SOHO WAREHOUSE, has opened at 1,000 South Santa Fe Avenue in the art-district. Not many people can tell you yet what to expect due to their long and rigorous membership policy, but DTLA LIFE MAG had access to give you an exclusive tour of the most exciting project opening in Downtown L.A. yet. Designed for the eastside of L.A.’s creative community only, Soho Warehouse rehabilitates a 1916’ seven-story former warehouse building. The club is the largest property in North America and is the first on the West Coast to include a Hotel, a rooftop pool, and Soho Active gym, in addition to a garden restaurant and club spaces for eating, drinking, meeting and socializing. For those who never heard of Soho House, it was established in 1995 by Founder and CEO Nick Jones. It began as a private members’ club for those in the film, media, and creative industries. The brand has gradually expanded its offerings to include restaurants, cinemas, spas, and hotels. At the 25 locations worldwide, the ethos of the Houses remains the same: to create a comfortable home away from home for a community of like-minded members and guests. Soho House currently has eight locations within the United States, including New York’s Meatpacking District, Lower East Side, and Dumbo, as well as Chicago, Miami Beach, West Hollywood, Malibu, and now downtown L.A. For the international travelers, locations includes; Toronto in Canada, Mumbai in India, Hong Kong, six in Europe, and nine in the United Kingdom. To become part of this worldwide creative community, visit sohowarehouse.com/membership and find out the several membership options. For those who cannot wait, or to do a test run, Soho Warehouse’s 48 bedrooms are open to non-members to stay. Bedroom starting at $190 per night options range from Cosy to Large in size and feature original exposed brickwork and 1970s-style furnishings inspired by the property’s history as a former recording space. Bedrooms also offer rainfall showers, king-sized beds, bespoke furniture, minibars, flatscreen T.V.s, and full-sized Cowshed products in the bathrooms. If you are looking for a more extended stay or more
Photos Courtesy of Soho House
space, Large bedrooms feature a kitchenette, six-person dining table, guest powder room, walk-in closet, and free-standing tub, among other amenities.
On the ground level of Soho Warehouse, you will find The Garden, an indoor/outdoor restaurant serving a Mediterranean and Italian inspired menu. Designed to celebrate its original architecture from the 1970s, The Garden features exposed wood beams and paneling, alongside a jewel box glass kitchen, skylights, and cobblestone flooring.
The most distinct amenity offered to bedroom guests is their temporary membership to the House. Bedroom bookings provide access to all of the Soho Warehouse’s member spaces, events, programming, and more. The space spills out into a lush outdoor area with olive trees, winding jasmine, and Soho Warehouse also offers Soho House’s comfortable seating that stretches over first U.S. in-room shopping experience, the property’s original loading dock. And featuring an exclusive capsule collection exclusively on the west coast, the ground between luxury and streetwear retailer level also features Soho Active, a split-levSSENSE and downtown LA-based design- el gym offering multi-functional equipment er Rhude, as well as an in-room assort- and a schedule of classes, plus changing ment of other brands curated by SSENSE rooms, sauna, and steam. for Soho Warehouse guests. The Downtown Warehouse takes its own On the seventh-floor rooftop, you will en- distinct look that draws inspiration from the joy an indoor Roof Bar with plush seating local downtown L.A. area and the buildand lounge space as well as an outdoor ing’s historical roots. Staying true to the Roof Terrace with tables and couches for original design, all exposed brick walls, inmembers to work, meet and eat by day, or cluding graffiti-tagged before Soho House gather for cocktails or dinner at night. took over the venue, remain untouched. The rooftop also offers a fifty-foot pool and sun deck with day beds, chaise lounges, and tiered levels for communal seating – all with panoramic views overlooking downtown L.A. and beyond.
Much of the furniture nods to two major design movements that coincide with the life of the building – fusing art deco elements from the original construction in 1916 with seventies-style furnishings inspired by the property’s time as a recording space.
The sixth floor features several distinct club spaces. House Kitchen, an open kitchen Warehouse’s 48 bedrooms recall artist restaurant, wraparound banquet seating, lofts with high ceilings and natural light. As and vintage tables for meeting and eating. in many Soho Houses, the furniture in the bedrooms and club spaces is an eclectic Club Bar is anchored by a thirty-foot rain- mix of vintage, custom, and found pieces. bow mosaic stone bar, twenty leather stools for all-day eating, and drinking. Artwork plays an integral role in the overall design and is curated to represent and celSitting Room is featuring a comfortable ebrate the local art community. The team space with lounge chairs, sofas, and vin- collaborated with L.A. artists and local tage tables for working, socializing, or DTLA galleries, whose works are seameating. Drawing Room is home to mem- lessly weaved throughout the property. ber events and an extension of the Sitting In particular, Soho Warehouse features Room with lounge seating, a bar, and a the two most significant wall-based works metallic-glazed fireplace. found anywhere in the global collection,
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Photos Courtesy of Soho House
and both done by DTLA-based artists: a stairwell-based wallpaper installation by Genevieve Gaignard and an 18-by-6-foot acrylic on canvas mural by Paul Davies. The rooftop lounge chairs are also outfitted with a custom print from L.A. artist and illustrator Ethan Lipsitz on eco-friendly hemp textiles. Finally, located right outside reception, the building’s original loading dock door features a mural from DTLA-based street artist Shepard Fairey. Soho Warehouse does not disappoint. It is the ultimate home away from home for creative people wishing for an extraordinary experience and develops their sense and connections.
SOHO WAREHOUSE sohowarehouse.com
THE HOXTON HOTEL
Photos Courtesy of The Hoxton Hotel Downtown LA.
Unless you are an expert traveler, staying in hotels in Europe and around the world, you probably never heard of THE HOXTON hotel brand. The first of the series opened in East-London in 2006. Eight years later, in 2014, the founders decided to expand with a second hotel in the London Neighborhood of Holborn. Following the success of their properties in the U.K., they start their international expansion strategy by opening new hotels in Amsterdam, Paris, and finally, the United States with Hotels in New York, Portland, Chicago, and now in Downtown Los Angeles. The Hoxton, Downtown LA, a 174 bedrooms new boutique-like hotel, breathes new life into the 1922 building, formerly known as the Los Angeles Railway Building in. Once headquarters to the L.A. Railway Authority, it also later housed a garment manufacturer, candy shop and more. Located Located on the corner of 11th Street and Broadway, The Hoxton, Downtown LA features welcoming communal spaces, bars, restaurants, and a rooftop pool, set against striking views of the L.A. skyline. The 174 bedrooms designed by Ennismore Design Studio come in four categories: Snug, Cosy, Roomy ad Biggy. The bedroom design was strongly influenced by the Beaux-Arts architecture of the building and its urban surroundings. French principles can be found in the wall paneling, chevron flooring, and burl timber, and a nod to Mexico can be found in the rug patterns and handmade bathroom tiles. Local artwork, retro telephones, Marshall radios, and artisan ceramics from East London add a pleasant retro-chic modern atmosphere. Every bedroom comes with the usual ‘Hox perks’: complimentary fresh milk and WiFi, one hour of free calls to anywhere in the world, a mini-fridge, local products at supermarket prices from the reception shop, and a daily breakfast bag delivered to the room. The lobby-floor restaurant Sibling Rival, is an all-day modern diner offering innovative takes on American classics and seasonal California produce. Customers can look forward to indulgent dishes such as Disco Tots (crispy potatoes, house hot sauce, lemon
Photos Courtesy of The Hoxton Hotel Downtown LA.
Photos Courtesy of The Hoxton Hotel Downtown LA.
crème-fraiche, bacon, green mole and radish), and Ranch Fried Chicken served with smashed garlic potatoes and chicken gravy. The ground floor is also home to the lobby’s coffee bar with coffee by local roastery Tectonic Coffee, homemade pastries, and more. By night, it will transition into a soft-serve ice-cream bar with flavors including Matcha latte and dark chocolate. Pilot, the rooftop bar and restaurant, is an openair dining experience inspired by the coast of the Mediterranean with sweeping views of the Los Angeles skyline. The menu focuses on live-fire cooking and features fresh, locally sourced seafood and seasonal vegetables, as well as a large selection of house-made pasta. With a retractable roof creating a total al fresco experience, the restaurant also opens up to the hotel’s pool deck with additional lounge seating and a large bar. The Hoxton invites local residents to enjoy the rooftop pool all year-round. Downtowners and their friends have a new hotspot to go to anytime with a large bar and an all-day food menu available, created with comfortable poolside dining in mind. And as part of The Hoxton’s dedication to supporting the community and its neighbors, the hotel will host ongoing cultural and lifestyle programming. Events range from talks and panels, to workout classes, dog grooming and live portrait painting, art exhibits, and more. Proceeds from programming and events will go directly to Good Neighbours: a new initiative set up by The Hoxton to support projects within the local neighborhood. This will kick-off with the hotel’s community volunteer program, The Good Brunch. Hosted once a month, The Hoxton, Downtown LA will give back to the community through hands-on volunteer work, followed by brunch at the hotel for those who join in on the efforts. In October, The Good Brunch supported the Skid Row Housing Trust. Creative professionals will also find a unique perspective for their business gatherings at The Hoxton. The Apartment, the meeting and events space in every Hoxton hotel, is on the second floor with four well-appointed rooms centered around a communal pantry kitchen. The pantry
is complete with a Smeg fridge stocked with complimentary refreshments, a retro snacks candy bar, healthy snacks, and more. Given its unique layout, The Apartment is a creative space for everything from group meetings and team off-sites, brand launches, photoshoots, private dinners, and more. The Hoxton, Downtown L.A. is a welcomed addition to the continuously growing hospitality industry in our neighborhood. With rates starting at only $179, it would be a shame to not try a staycation to get away, or for any particular day in your busy lives.
THE HOXTON DOWNTOWN LA thehoxton.com
Photos Courtesy of The Hoxton Hotel Downtown LA.
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Photos Courtesy of the Mayfair Hotel
MAYFAIR HOTEL NYE
Photos Courtesy of the Mayfair Hotel
For New Year’s Eve, DTLA LIFE invites you to Join Kerstin Klein, Josué Ortega, and KCRW’s Garth Trinidad at The Mayfair Hotel. They will be taking over The Mayfair’s Instagram to bring the party to you LIVE! Chef Karo and the team at LOCALA have created a stellar and unique menu specifically for New Year’s Eve. Featuring enticing options like Hamachi Ceviche, Spanish Turbot, Braised Beef Short Rib and more, this dinner is sure to be a sizzling start to your New Year’s Eve celebration. 3-course dinner, $75 per person. Seatings at 7pm and 9pm. The event is free with RSVP and includes a champagne toast at midnight. For more information, please visit: www.mayfairla.com/ newyearseve Book your room with a 20% discount of the best available rate by using the link below: https://be.synxis.com/?_ga=2.120204936.1663125684.1574781644-572218018.1574281230&adult=2&arrive=2019-12-30&chain=1 210&child=0&currency=USD&depart=2019-12-3 1&hotel=38900&level=hotel&locale=en-US&promo=DTLIFENYE&rooms=1
MAYFAIR NEW YEAR’S EVENT mayfairla.com/newyearseve
ROW DTLA HOLIDAY SEASON Photos Courtesy of ROW DTLA
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Far from your average shopping mall, ROW DTLA is approaching the holiday season a bit differently this year. The thirty two-acre Downtown Los Angeles curated collective of retail, culinary, wellness, and lifestyle tenants celebrates the season with artisan market pop-ups, one-of-a-kind gifts, and creative multi-room guest experiences to shake up classic holiday market traditions. ROW DTLA is quickly gaining notoriety as a hub for experiential galleries, significant events, and pop-ups hosting important concepts like Refinery29’s 29Rooms, the Billie Eilish Experience (album launch), Seth Rogen’s Hilarity for Charity, All My Friends Music Festival, CREEP LA, Telestron, Fa La Land, and more. Throughout the holiday season, ULO, a brand of otherworldly immersive experiences, is showcasing its maze “Cyber Spirits,” and Beijing based production company ZJZM brings fan-favorite Instagrammable walkthrough experience, Dumpling & Associates to the U.S. for the first time. Dumpling & Associates is a revolutionary pop-up art experience featuring a 5,500 Sq. Ft. space filled with multi-sensory dumpling-themed installations that merge tradition, culture, optimism, and inclusivity. Dumplings are one of the world’s most popular foods, appearing in the culinary canon of many different cultures with a host of trimmings and accompaniments— think garlic, spicy dipping sauce, and beautiful steamer baskets. These ingredients are the “associates” from which the exhibition takes its name. The walkthrough space features whimsical art installations inspired by traditional dumpling accompaniments, including the Garlic Swing (think Miley Cyrus’ iconic cannonball), the Anti-Gravity Kitchen, and the Dumpling Pool, all created with Insta-savvy millennials in mind. Currently open to the public, “Cyber Spirits” is uniquely positioned to deliver belly-up laughter and scare its audience, simultaneously. Directed by influential digital artist Kytten Janae and Philip Rugo of Daisy Studio and written by Dave Kornfeld, former editor of The Onion, the maze leaves visitors stunned, bewildered, amazed. The unique outcome of this experience stems from the artists’ psychedelic, eye-popping visuals, satirical narrative, and technical wizardry, they will leverage a combination of activated microcomputers, projections, Augmented Reality
Photos Courtesy of ROW DTLA
Photos Courtesy of ROW DTLA
and custom physical pop-ups to create a mind-bending experience for ROW DTLA visitors. In addition to its extensive list of interactive pop-ups, ROW DTLA is Downtown Los Angeles’ hub for independent retailers offering hand-made goods perfect for a unique holiday gift that can’t be found elsewhere. Just opened at ROW DTLA, one of the largest craft and design shows in the U.S. West Coast Craft brings a collection of independent brands to offer their artisan products just in time for the holidays.
ROW DTLA HOLIDAY SEASON rowdtla.com
EXPR Photos Courtesy of Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts
BEDRI BAYKAM POP RESSIONIST by Peter Frank
Originality is a chimera. Everything has a precedent, not to mention a source. As Bedri Baykam admits — no, declares — in work after work of his, “this has been done before.” It is an ironic proclamation, however: “This” has never been done quite this way before, because the artist’s interventions, deliberate and accidental, have modified and ultimately individuated the work. The notion of originality, especially as a measure of artistic quality or importance, is the impetus for one of Baykam’s many aesthetic, social, and political crusades. He revels in these arguments, taking risks with his art, his reputation, even his life to foment creative thought and resistance to intellectual and societal tyranny. His vast appetite for the world, as it manifests in art and as it manifests in life, allows him to do nothing else: he is a committed provocateur on the international stage. Such expansive focus belies Baykam’s position in the world. A Turk, he tirelessly propounds the need for Turkey to be a site of experiment and enlightenment. This was the clarion of Mustafa Kemal, founder of the modern Turkish state, and Baykam considers himself a Kemalist. Indeed, his father was a longtime liberal member of Parliament, and the artist son himself stood for president (in party primaries) as recently as 2003. Since then, Baykam has watched as democracy has waned and religious fundamentalism has all but overwhelmed his country. He was himself left for dead in a 2011 attack. Damaged and discouraged, yet he persists. Baykam’s voice in the art world has been more effective, at least in broadening the perspective of a realm freighted with cultural prejudice. He took his undergraduate degree at the Sorbonne and his graduate degree at the California College of Arts & Crafts, so his exposure to Western art, especially contemporary art and its minutiae, has been thorough. Baykam’s art evinces this, adopting and reflecting modes of thought and style prevalent in post-modern Europe and America — and attenuating these modes so that they address contemporary practices and conditions elsewhere in the world. For years, Baykam has railed against the West’s condescending, often dismissive regard for art produced elsewhere. Non-western manifestations of styles and movements (supposedly) formulated in the West, he avers, are not epigonal imitations or mere exoticizations, but re-inventions of what can be regarded as globalized languages. Surrealism is as subversive in Mexico as it is in France. Abstract expressionism is as abstract and as expressionist in Tokyo as it is in New York. Op art is a South American as well as European phe-
nomenon. Minimalism takes on a whole new resonance in India. Conceptual art was political as well as artistic practice in Soviet-era eastern Europe. And in places as diverse as Ghana, Malaysia, Cuba, and Iran, Pop Art and neo-expressionism conflate into a whole new creature. This is the kind of creature Bedri Baykam is: A Pop expressionist.
the art world, fed (and still feed) on Orientalist ones.
Even as the lenticular pieces (all dating from around 2008) conjure Pop art— a rather Francophone Pop, tinged with wit, romance, intimacy, and a sense of marvel — the more recent painted and collaged works here give clear evidence of Baykam’s responsivity to latter-day paintBaykam’s brand of Pop expressionism is erly modalities, namely neo-expressionism suffused with the visual and the spiritual and street art. energies of graffiti and street art. Its debt to a vast array of modern and post-modern But street art itself is a neo-Pop phenommovements, from Surrealism to Fluxus to enon, and neo-expressionism is nothing if performance art, Is likewise evident. not a reclamation of a notion of painting as theatrical gesture, the dramatization of the Baykam does not try to hide or digest ongoing struggle between the artist’s hand these diverse influences, but simply em- and the autonomous image. ploys and coordinates them according to the ideas and images being presented, And that is what keeps Bedri Baykam in in whatever piece or series of pieces is at the game, constantly switching gears and hand. Indeed, the stylistic references be- tactics and constantly tweaking convencome part of the subject of each work. I tional notions of artistic dialogue, artistic relationships, artistic distinction, and the n this regard, Baykam, ever the provo- role of art in life. cateur, spectacularizes recent art history through a kind of appropriation once-re- Even as he teases us like some jester in the moved, an appropriation more strategic court of Art he takes on official positions — than ironic, admiring and critical in the World President of the UNESCO-affiliated same breath. International Art Association, for instance — with great and solemn purpose. The large lenticular pictures comprising the bulk of Baykam’s first solo show in Los Baykam is at once inside and outside the Angeles are a case in point. The images establishment, exactly where an artist themselves are pastiches, some elements whose vision extends beyond art should found, others staged, some echoing the be. He takes himself very seriously and not vacuity of contemporary advertising, some at all seriously, as the empty frame hangsatirizing contemporary culture and art ing in the middle of this show, stamped history, some waxing nostalgic about cin- with that declaration “this has been done ematic fantasies (largely from Baykam’s before,” attests. youth). Testimony, too, to Baykam’s simultaneous He conflates European and American cul- embrace of and challenge to art’s sacrotural markers, as someone from hippie-era sanctity is his new “Art History Map,” a flow Istanbul would be wont to do — quite chart tracing intertwined art and human aware that this, too, is a view through the history from the caves to the cellphone. “wrong” end of the telescope, feeding on This, too, has been done before, by the Hollywood clichés even as Hollywood, and likes of Museum of Modern Art Founding
Director Alfred Barr and Fluxus mastermind George Maciunas, among others. But not like this. Indulging his subjectivity, championing artists and events that may be all but unknown to most of us, Baykam “re-sets” the story of humankind a little bit more to his liking, bringing the West more in line with the East and loosening the dialectical rigidity of the colonial mindset. This map subverts the perception of cultural dominance — of anyone by anyone — by allowing in the vagaries of art and life alike, as Baykam sees them. “Art is what makes life more interesting than art,” said Fluxus artist Robert Fillliou. Bedri Baykam keeps it all interesting by making art out of life, and vice versa. - Peter Frank.
Bedri Baykam’s solo exhibition “Visual Adventures” (Dimension + Time) is on display at Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts through February 1st! 727 S. Spring Street LA, CA 90014 / Pwright@GDCAgallery.com / www.GDCAgallery.com Please contact the gallery for appointments outside of regular business hours: Tues - Fri 12-7pm; Sat & Sun 12-5pm. Closed Mondays.
GLORIA DELSON CONTEMPORARY GALLERY GDCAgallery.com
ALEX LIMANDRI 213.447.4080
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