SOFIA VERGARA TO HOST 25th ANNUAL LA ART SHOW OPENING NIGHT GALA
Proceeds From Star-Studded Event Will Benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
OPENING NIGHT PREMIERE
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Red Card & Patrons Preview | 6pm – 11pm
Opening Night Premiere | 8pm – 11pm
SHOW HOURS
Thursday, February 6, 2020 | 11am – 7pm
Friday, February 7, 2020 | 11am – 7pm
Saturday, February 8, 2020 | 11am – 7pm
Sunday, February 9, 2020 | 11am – 5pm
LOS ANGELES CONVENTION CENTER – SOUTH HALL
1201 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
The 25th Annual LA Art Show is proud to announce that actress Sofia Vergara will be the official host of the 2020 Opening Night Premiere Gala being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Wednesday Feb. 5 from 8 – 11 pm. The beloved Colombian actress is known for her role as Gloria Delgado on the ABC television series Modern Family. The long-running, multiple-Emmy award-winning series is currently in its 11 and final season.
Proceeds from the event will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for the sixth year in a row. Thanks to generous donors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their children live.
All proceeds from the sale of Patron and Vanguard tickets and 15 percent of sales of Friend tickets will go directly to the charity. All attendees of the Opening Night Premiere party are supporting the lifesaving mission of St. Jude: Finding cures. Saving children. ®
In addition to food, beverages, live music and art, gala attendees will be given a special sneak peek of the LA Art Show’s 200,000 square foot of programming featuring more than 100 galleries from 18 countries. They will have first dibs to explore DIVERSEartLA, a celebration of pride in LA’s cultural diversity, view Oscar-nominated Kazuhiro Tsuji’s three-dimensional portraits of legendary, historical figures and get up close to 25 years of red carpet dresses designed by Sue Wong (and worn by stars like Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Minnie Driver and others).
The LA Art Show returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center from Feb. 6 – 9. As the city (and west coast’s) largest art fair, and one of the most diversely programmed in the world, the LA Art Show features a comprehensive lineup of exhibitors not only in contemporary and modern art, but also classical and other specialized art scenes that often command their own dedicated shows.
DIVERSEARTLA 2020
“The Birth of the Niemand” by Viktor Freso
DIVERSEartLA showcase will be a full on celebration of pride in LA’s cultural diversity. This special programming section within the fair is dedicated to exhibiting the institutions, artists and non-profits from Southern California, around the Pacific Rim, and beyond, donating 20,000 square feet of exhibition space to the participating organizations. The work is not for sale.
For 2020, DIVERSEARTLA will be expanded to embrace and celebrate those art institutions and art collectors who support LA’s newest and largest iteration of art community, as well as to create a strong conversation around a variety of events and programs. Thus serving as a platform and resource for diversity best practices and leadership, including all of Los Angeles’s communities.
So far, 2020 lineup for DIVERSEartLA includes LACMA, The Broad, Japanese American National Museum, La Neomudejar Museum from Madrid, MOLAA, Art Al Limite, LA Art Association, the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and many others. For the first time ever, work will be presented by the Danubiana Museum of Bratislava, as will a special exhibition from the collection of Homeira Goldstein, and more. Proving to be popular in years past, the performance programming for the 2020 DIVERSEartLA includes work by PSJM Collective from Spain and artist Miss Art World, presented by the LA Art Association.
2020 HIGHLIGHTS
ICONOCLASTS
By Kazu Hiro
Presented by Copro Gallery
Kazu Hiro is a contemporary hyperrealist sculptor living and working in Los Angeles. After working 25 years as a special effects makeup artist in Hollywood, Kazu decisively shifted focus in 2012, dedicating himself semi-full time to fine art sculpture. Using resin, platinum silicone, and many other materials, Kazu constructs three-dimensional portraits in a scale two times life size. Kazu has received numerous accolades throughout his career including an Academy Award in 2018 for his work in the film “Darkest Hour” helping good friend, actor, Gary Oldman to portray Winston Churchill. Kazu Hiro’s newest hyperreal portrait sculpture will be unveiled at the LA Art Show in Copro Gallery’s booth, alongside a retrospective of several of his past works. The artist will be in attendance at select times throughout the fair.
The Sue Wong Signature
By Sue Wong
Sue Wong never fails to astonish, employing the revered age-old couture techniques implemented by the finest Couture houses in Europe, and evoking the allure and glamour of various eras such as Weimar Berlin, 1930s Shanghai, Precode Hollywood and Manhattan’s gilded Jazz Age. While often adopting vintage style, every design belongs in the now and is decidedly very Sue Wong; exquisite fabrics shimmering with incandescent beads, unique embroideries and layered textures embellished with passementerie and soutache combine to create works of art that are graceful, elegant, unique and timelessly beautiful. The 2020 LA Art Show will be taking place the same weekend as Tinseltown’s premiere awards ceremony: the Oscars. It’s only appropriate to celebrate with 25 years of the iconic style of Sue Wong in a new FASHION section of programming, featuring nearly a dozen gowns worn on red carpets by Hollywood stars like Anne Hathaway, Kim Kardashian, Jessica Biel, Minnie Driver, Reba McEntire, Tyra Banks and more.
The M.C. Escher Experience
By M.C. Escher
Presented by Walker Fine Art
Exploring the intersection of art, mathematics, science and poetry, Escher’s work has fascinated and astounded generations of artists, architects, mathematicians, musicians and designers alike. Over 40 years, Walker Fine Art has assembled the largest collection of Escher works in the world, and will showcase the “rarest of the rare” at the 25th Annual LA Art Show. The M.C. Escher experience runs the span of his entire career, and will include rarely seen lithographs, wood cuts, engravings, and mezzotints, as well as the artist’s iconic custom furniture. Many of these will be shown in California for the first time ever. In addition to seeing the artist’s work up close, LA Art Show attendees will have the opportunity to become Escher. A special photo-booth will recreate his iconic sphere self portrait with you in the reflection.
ALPHACUBE
By Lorenzo Marini
Curated by Sabino Maria Frassà
Presented by Bruce Lurie Gallery
After Milan, Venice and Dubay Lorenzo presents his new art-installation ALPHACUBE in the USA. Curator Sabino Maria Frassà explains that AlphaCube turns that paradigm of the white cube as the best form for conveying contemporary art. The artwork is a large white cube, that immerses guests in a space animated by letters, light and sound.
The white cube rises in space like something alien, as much in form as in content: while it is obvious that the artist has a certain fascination for Dadaism and Futurism, which he reinterprets and actualizes, it also cannot be denied that the focus of the installation is not an aesthetic satisfaction but a social and cultural stimulus.
3/11: Requiem And Revival
By Sogen Chiba
Presented by Gallery Kitai
On March 11, 2011, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the history of Japan occurred off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku. The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that killed over 19,000 people. Premiering originally at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Sogen Chiba’s 3/11 Requiem and Revival work transcribes newspaper reports of the Great East Japan Earthquake in large-scale calligraphy murals.
For the 25th annual LA Art Show, Chiba has created a never-before seen work in this series. Nearly a decade has passed since the tragic events of 3/11, so the lessons learned from the event are now fading. In this exhibition, Chiba seeks to record the memories of unimaginable disaster, and consider how we can move beyond them. Chiba himself is from the disaster-hit Ishinomaki district, and has used his indomitable spirit to move beyond misfortune and challenge himself to create works and imagery that can only be expressed in calligraphy. The artist will be performing each day at the LA Art Show.
EAST ASIAN INK SHOWCASE
Ink painting originated in East Asia as the tradition of using carbon-based black ink and calligraphic brush painting techniques, and has continued to evolve as the basis for much contemporary works in the region. Ink is as synonymous with painting in the East as oil is with painting in the West. From traditional and historical, to contemporary, to avant-garde, the LA Art Show offers the largest showcase of ink painting of any art fair outside of Asia. This a unique opportunity to appreciate the rich spectrum of ink painting styles. Learn more here:
The Maize Project
By Eric Johnson
Presented by Fabrik Projects Gallery
The “Maize Project” abstractly represents a lodge pole-like structure. In the Native American culture, the lodge pole is a gathering place and the title and shape of the sculpture references a section of an ear of maize corn. For Johnson, this alludes to his Native American heritage and also is a call to raise awareness to issues of global hunger, alternative fuel, and corn’s complicated relationship to our food supply. The piece is assembled from more than 300 individually cast polyester resin units—”kernels,” as he calls them. The kernels were made in Johnson’s studio with assistance from various artists, friends and community members. The communal project took several years to complete. Participants were invited to select resin colors, sequencing of pours, and encase small objects or messages into the kernels. Customization ranges from the light hearted (candy corn) to the profound (baby teeth of a lost child).
DIALOGS LA & PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Returning for the 7th year in a row, the DIALOGS LA series of conversations will connect audiences directly to the artists, curators, and other art world luminaires involved in the LA Art Show.
Live art demonstrations by renowned ink painter Sogen Chiba, and sculptor Ichitaka Kamiji are also scheduled throughout the fair. Attendees will also be able to see and interact with performances by Miss Artworld and PSJM Collective. For the first time ever, the DIALOGS LA booth will be screening The Edge of Paradise: Taylor Camp Kaua’i 1969-1977 on Friday and Saturday as well.
HIGHLIGHT
Saturday, Feb 8 / 4pm / A Conversation With Gronk & Sellars
Moderated by Marisa Caichiolo
Two legendary L.A.-based artists will discuss their theatrical and opera collaborations around the world over the last three decades. Gronk and Sellars will also share their experience and thoughts on the role of art in a time of profound social upheaval and inequity. The conversation will take place on Gronk’s installation Pyramids, a full-size mock-up of a theatrical stage that Gronk will be painting throughout the run of the LA Art Show. Pyramids re-imagines Gronk’s 2013 set design for Sellar’s Purcell’s “The Indian Queen,” an innovative updating of the 1695 semi-opera. For the LA Art Show, Gronk brings the piece into 2020, while also providing visitors with a behind-the-curtain view of his artistic practice. Rather than enter a theater where the stage is already set, visitors will be able to interact with the artist, participating in the process of making a “political theater” for our contemporary moment. Gronk is a featured artist in DIVERSEartLA, where his project brings together elements of his lifelong work as a painter, muralist, performance artist, set designer, sculptor, and printmaker. His expansive art flows out of his DTLA studio into the hallway, where the resulting 40-foot long wall mural has been declared a city landmark. Peter Sellars is a renowned theater, opera, and festival director. He is co-organizer of the exhibition Inside the Mask, on Central American masks after the Conquista, which opens at the Hammer Museum on February 15.
About the LA Art Show
The LA Art Show creates one of the largest international art fairs in the United States providing an exciting, immersive, insider art experience to sponsors, their select guests and VIP clients. The show attracts an elite roster of national and international galleries, acclaimed artists, highly regarded curators, architects, design professionals, along with discerning collectors. This innovative, exceptional cultural environment attracts executives and board members of Southern California businesses, state, county, and municipal government representatives, as well as leaders of the region’s cultural institutions. Attendees are trend setters, influencers and alpha consumers, who seek and demand the newest and the best in all areas of their lives—art, design, food, technology and travel being specific passion points. www.LAartshow.com
