Day 4: Pasadena to the next block from Mom to Santa Monica and Venice

Day 4: Pasadena to the next block from Mom to Santa Monica and Venice

Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century. Marshall McLuhan

Pics: Two by David Regan, two by Akio Takimori, David Reekie, Hank Adams, early Voulkos, early Kienholz, front and back of another Santa Monica utility box, art-loving dog, the bus

Fitness center and cereal and berries for THB, yogurt parfait for DB, double lattes for both, and the check comes to more than our allotted $42. $5 added to included total.

We are driving today because we need our car when we get back to the west side, and thus are 20 minutes in front of the bus (see pic) for our first stop at a collector’s condo, which just happens to be a few blocks from THB’s mom and in the same building where THB’s uncle used to live. In fact, the collector knew THB’s uncle! The collection is massive, jammed into a relatively small space, and is made up of works on paper, photography, glass, ceramics, and a huge selection of unique walking canes (and several other collections THB can’t remember). It includes artists in our own collection (eg, Reekie, Adams, Takimori - see pics - and Rosdol) and artists that we have done studio visits with on past trips (David Regan, in Missuola, and no surprise here since Frank Lloyd, of Frank Lloyd gallery, represents David and has arranged this visit; see pics). There is also a curator for the works on paper, and he takes half the group at a time into the bedrooms and bathrooms to itemize what we are seeing. Overall: very impressive, and the collector very gracious!

From there we travel via car to Frank’s gallery in Santa Monica, which is participating in PST and has works owned (and in some cases made) by Peter Voulkos (e.g., another Kienholz!) for sale. This also allows us to wander among the many other galleries in Bergamot Station, some of which are showing artists and work related to PST. Lunch is at the Bergamot Café: sandwiches (excellent), make it yourself Arnold Palmers, and dessert, included.

After lunch is a curator-led tour of an exhibit of Beatrice Wood’s ceramics and art work. Beatrice lived to 105, spanning the 20th century. She knew the surrealists (mostly through Duchamp) and then settled in Ojai and started to make a living at age 40 with her uniquely glazed pieces.

From Santa Monica, the group meanders slowly to our last destination: Larry Bell’s studio in Venice. We leave a bit after 2 pm, traveling a distance of less than 5 miles. It is a warm, clear Saturday and just about anyone with a car in greater Los Angeles has decided that going to the beach is a terrific idea. THB does some minimal things to make sure we get to this last stop on the tour: U-turns, going down one-way streets the wrong way, circling for hours looking for a parking spot within a mile of the studio, stuff like that. All for art! Let’s see: THB has done a rough calculation, and we traveled around 7 miles per hour.

Larry (also represented by Frank Lloyd) is also participating in PST as he has been part of the LA art scene since the 70s. The good news for him: this is the only studio visit and several in the group buy small work (it would have been great news for Larry if they bought the big work since those go for $60-75,000; Larry wasn’t quite that fortunate). Note: this is where we find a dog has joined our group (see pic).

The bus heads to the airport, THB and DB head out to meet-up with DB’s dad and Miriam, the day continues to warm up (in the 70s after 7pm) and tomorrow we breakfast with Mom and then head back for a retirement party in the city.

Next up: art trips to Seattle in March and NY in April