An art fair for the Pacific Design Center

Does L.A. need another art fair? Ready or not, here comes Art Los Angeles Contemporary.

Directed by Tim Fleming, the new enterprise will be launched Jan. 28-31 at the Pacific Design Center. That’s the very next weekend after two other fairs make their annual appearances: the Los Angeles Art Show at the L.A. Convention Center and Art LA, which plans to move from Santa Monica’s Barker Center to a new location on South La Brea Avenue.

Making matters even more confusing, the first edition of Art Los Angeles Contemporary has an additional name: The International Contemporary Art Fair of L.A. Don’t be surprised if the art crowd gives it a shorter moniker, something like the PDC Art Fair.

Fleming, an art fair veteran who has directed Art LA, plans to sign up about 50 galleries that will offer a mix of work by emerging artists and established figures. “The recipe,” he says, “is a strong group of L.A. galleries and top internationals." Those on the roster so far include 1301PE, Peres Projects, David Kordansky and Blum & Poe of Los Angeles; Klosterfelde of Berlin; and Starkwhite of Auckland, New Zealand.

Participants will occupy booths in a labyrinth of showrooms on the enormous building's second floor. “It’s an architectural challenge," Fleming says, "but one that we are excited about. I think people are ready for a different kind of fair in a great location.”

The PDC, often called the Blue Whale, was built as a showcase for interior designers, but contemporary art has a growing presence there. L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art has had a satellite at the center since 2001, and a new project, Design Loves Art, has provided temporary space for galleries, video screenings and installations organized by artists and curators.

-- Suzanne Muchnic

Photo credit: Pacific Design Center

Comments

[Larry Steven Londre]

Pee Wee Herman and TicketMaster has so mismanaged the postponement of the Pee Wee Herman show that I am canceling my tickets. How can it take 50-60 calls to TicketMaster and then they tell you there are charges for their moving the venue. This is not good publicity or good customer service for a performer who needs to not screw up again, and rebuid his career. Just dumb.