Thinkspace Gallery in Culver City's Arts District

      I've been filming at Thinkspace Gallery in Culver City every Friday throughout the Summer. At first I was drawn to it because it consistently exhibits amazing art, never a let down if you want to see some good art. But learning more about it I was continually more impressed.  It's a really amazing space that boldly breaks the mold in a very rigid art world full of unwritten laws.

     

                                                The Contemporary art world is deceiving in certain ways, especially to the average American. It can look like a subculture with very few restrictions. Looking at art pieces there's a freedom that's very dignified, especially set against our popular culture's stereotypes that are played over and over, decade after decade with "different" musicians, but they all fit the same gyrating half naked mold.

      Year after year I learned more about the art world and I realized it has tons of rules-  talk about your art a certain way, rent a work studio, get a masters degree from a good art college, stop bathing. Anywho, there's a lot of conformity up in here, no one really breaks these rules, it is what it is. But Thinkspace audaciously does things their way. 

      Every Friday they hold portfolio reviews at their gallery. I was really impressed they made the decision to give artists the liberty of bringing their work to Thinkspace. Come on, artists are expected to have a work studio to be taken seriously by dealers? Ask for one phase associated with the word artist and I guarantee you 85% of the responses will be "starving artist." That phase has staying power over the centuries for a reason. And we're suppose to in essence have two apartments or two homes, whatever. There should be a way around this to be taken seriously, perhaps proliferation, but a work studio, grrrrr, I disagree with this practice, but does that matter- no, but I'm not Eli Broad, I'm not a art world titian. I would pay that guy to own my work by the way. 

Thinkspace is located at 6009 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232. Photo credit Thinkspace Gallery

          I'm taking about Thinkspace aren't I? I have to say I can not commend them enough for giving artists the liberty to bring their work into the gallery for portfolio reviews. Co-owner LC Croskey  is a really amazing art dealer. At the portfolio reviews he takes the opportunity to give artists advice about the art world in a business sense. If you want to make it as an artist you really do need to be as business savvy as possible and it's a travesty that information isn't easily accessible, in fact it's really hard to find resources that really give you the information key to being a successful. 

    LC is a really interesting guy, he used to be a graffiti artist back in the 80's. I love that his crew name was I.B.M.- Images Beyond Mentality. He co-organizes a once-a-month portable gallery and performance space called Cannibal Flower. It has been in a lot of ways a stepping stone for a lot of artists to break into the art world and get signed to a gallery. Many of successful artists had there start or had help on there way up from Cannibal Flower, I'm a huge fans of the following alumi -Dabs Myla, Lola Gil, Korin Frought, Craig Skibs Barker,Liz Brizzi and William Zdan. 

www.thinkspacegallery.com Photo credit Thinkspace Gallery.

   Cannibal Flower is a amazing resource where up and coming artists can hone their exhibiting and business skills until they are signed to a gallery. It's a shame there aren't more venues like this! 

   Above is a featurette of the footage from filming at Thinkspace Gallery. I hate that word by the way - featurette. 

Jil Weinstock RE: play at the Walter Maciel Gallery

 
These pieces by Jil Weinstock made an immediate impression on me, very few art pieces achieve that. What I find so brilliant about them is how she has taken a banal everyday object, like balloons and turned it into something elegant and sophisticated. To back up the previous declarative sentence I really must say pictures do not do them justice, they are much more powerful in person- not to belittle her talent in anyway.
           I always think artists are more interesting when I find out they have a Bachelor in a completely unrelated field and end up as career artists. She majored in physics at UC Berkeley, I really see the connection in her work. The art dealer Walter Maciel mentioned a few times that they're molded in plastic. Side note- Walter must be the most handsome, friendly, down to earth art dealer in LA, his husband is a very lucky man. And for all the Latinos who visit his gallery- he's Portuguese not Mexican, so he won't understand you if you speak to him in spanish.

What also comes to mind when looking at these pieces, as a fabricator myself, is the boldness of what objects she is using. High art does have a mold of what it should look like aesthetically speaking. Developing as an artist from a young age I remember experiencing an anxiety over what was appropriate subject matter to put in an art piece and still have it look like it could be in a gallery. I remember steering away from cats or dogs because I thought it wouldn't fit the mold of what high art should look like. I've heard other established artists struggle with this also. And I always have a lot of respect for artists when I see boldness in the art. I really want my art to look bold and have a pungent beauty. I would love to be an acquired taste. Somedays I think I am already if you know what I mean. Sometimes I do something bold in the hopes that it will somehow come across in my art work- like a simple drawing of a chair or hands. I've had this weird conviction/theory for a while now. I liken it to the odd way people can have mannerisms or facial expressions that give away who they really are, i.e. every creepy looking guy always looks creepy for a very valid reason. Okaaaaay.