This weekend, art museums, galleries and venues around Los Angeles are celebrating Los Angeles' romance with the art world, aided by the opening of Art Platform—Los Angeles, a contemporary art fair. What's the occasion? LA's rich tradition of artists and its promise to inspire more with the citywide Pacific Standard Time (PST) collaboration; and if any city knows how to celebrate itself, it's LA.
Art Platform—Los Angeles, which sponsors the historic PST initiative, will ring in the new era in Los Angeles Art on September 30, with a citywide celebration that features 75 galleries in the L.A. Mart, honoring the LA art scene's progress and international influence.
The widespread initiative will spotlight both emerging Angeleno artists and internationally recognized locals. The project is ten years in the making and was funded by $10 million in grants by the Getty Institute. Los Angeles native and UCLA grad Adam Gross will serve as Executive Director of the Art Platform, which intends to "assist in explaining Los Angeles’ rich history of art making while celebrating the vibrancy of the city’s current art world."
PST will present a month-long, rich retrospective of the Los Angeles artistic landscape, helping to increase the city's recognition as a key artistic site historically and in the future. According to a press release: "Never before has an entire region come together so collaboratively to explore the richness and dazzling variety of its own recent artistic history." The deluge of tributes will range from pop art to minimalism, feminist activities to Japanese design, African American film to collective performances. The collaboration will feature LACMA, MOCA, the Getty, the Norton Simon and such an integrated art experience doesn't often visit the West Coast.
Art Platform—Los Angeles’ fair lasts from September 30 to October 3, and Pacific Standard Time will continue from the opening through through January 2012.
