ART SMART
Art lovers will be getting an eyeful this week as the Barker Hangar hosts ART L.A. The spectacular showcase of paintings, sculptures, photography and mixed media features finds from 60 of the world’s leading galleries. The festivities kick off this evening with an opening night gala to benefit the Museum of Contemporary Art.
While you can always count on finding a few classics in the crowd, this show specializes in edgy, modern marvels.
The exhibitors are chosen for their contributions to contemporary art trends.
With favorites like the L.A. Louver in attendance, the City of Angels will be well represented. While L.A. is becoming a leader in the contemporary art world, you’ll find plenty of people from the international set, including Galerie Catherine Bastide from Brussels and Galerie Ben Kaufmann from Berlin.
Standouts at this year’s show are sure to include Peres Projects and the premiere of Agathe Snow’s new feature length film, “Chinatown: Every Square Has its Round,” in which Snow visits Chinatowns in various cities across the United States and documents her conversations with longtime locals. Another eye-popper in the Projects program will be coming from Dan Attoe. Critics have called his thought-provoking, surrealistic works the artistic equivalent of a David Lynch movie. Attoe’s collection of paintings and drawings will also include his latest large-scale neon sculpture.
Organizers describe the expo as “an even balance of established and emerging galleries, all presenting the most progressive international art work being produced today.”
So if you’re looking to increase your contemporary culture cred, check out ART L.A.-it’s edgy, outrageous, imaginative, unforgettable and runs through Jan. 25 at the Barker Hangar.
YUCKS AND BUCKS
A rocking performance by soul men Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi was the highlight of this year’s annual Comedy Celebration to benefit the Peter Boyle Memorial Fund. The Blues Brothers joined local emcee Ray Romano at the Wilshire Ebell Theater for a night of light-hearted laughs. Other performers taking the stage included Jeff Garlin, Patricia Heaton, Kevin James, Doris Roberts, Robert Klein and Fred Willard.
Boyle, who played everyone from Frank Barone on the hit sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” to the creature in “Young Frankenstein,” died in 2006 of myeloma. Along with the annual Comedy Celebration, The Peter Boyle Memorial Foundation was created in his honor and has raised more than $1 million to fight the disease while spreading smiles along the way.
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