The third annual Beyond Eden held at the historic Barnsdall Art Park / Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery in East Hollywood during the weekend of October 1-2. 2011 was vibrant and well-attended with an estimated 5,000 people passing through the gallery between Saturday night and Sunday day – a fantastic turnout especially in the face of numerous competing art events, art fairs and the citywide Getty sponsored “Pacific Standard Time.” The ongoing success of Beyond Eden is further proof that the New Contemporary Art Scene (an umbrella term which encompasses Pop Surrealism, Street Art, Lowbrow, Outsider, Illustrative and Narrative) is a force to be reckoned in the art world now, and for a long time to come.
The event, with its foundation planted firmly in California, the birthplace of the New Contemporary Art Scene, showcased the works of a half dozen Southern California galleries including C.A.V.E. Gallery, Copro Gallery, Gallery Nucleus, La Luz De Jesus Gallery (in celebration of their 25th Anniversary this year), Toy Art Gallery, and Thinkspace. Live painting demonstrations took place at the entrance and bar area of the gallery. This year’s Beyond Eden featured events included exhibitions of emerging LA based artists from Cannibal Flower, the the LA stop of the traveling Quentin vs. Coen exhibit from San Francisco’s Spoke Art and Creator / Spectator, a special showcase of Los Angeles street artists presented by Thinkspace and curated by local artist Euth. A screening of the ‘best of’ Sketch Theater, the online site designed to inspire creativity through time-lapsed, start-to-finish sketches from numerous artists ran continually in the gallery’s screening room. The event was topped off with a lively and packed award ceremony, celebrating artist Anthony Ausgang on the 20th anniversary of his first solo show and his continued presence and successes in the art world. Previous Beyond Eden award ceremonies recognized the contributions and influences with lifetime achievement awards given to La Luz de Jesus’ Billy Shire in 2009 and artist Robert Williams in 2010
Beyond Eden would like to thank the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and Barnsdall Art Park, all the artists, attendees, galleries, curators, partners, writers, photographers, bar coordinator and bartenders for helping to make Beyond Eden not only happen, but happen in a big way!
Beyond Eden is coordinated by Andrew Hosner of Thinkspace Gallery and the Sour Harvest blog with Lee Joseph of LJP for the Visual Arts and Dionysus Records.
Enjoy a great collection of shots from Sam Graham here:
www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157627814522364/
Also view some great coverage of the fair at these sites:
http://hifructose.com/the-blog/1829-beyond-eden-art-fair-2011.html
http://arrestedmotion.com/2011/10/beyond-eden-2011-overview/
http://melroseandfairfax.blogspot.com/2011/10/pics-from-beyond-eden-euth.html
http://warholian.com/2011/10/14/beyond-eden/
http://uponamidnightdreary.com/around-los-angeles/beyond-eden-art-show-2011/12435
Also be sure to check out a great write up on the event from the LA Weekly here:
www.laweekly.com/2011-09-22/calendar/urban-art-in-paradise/
Some great works from our portion of the fair are still available:
www.thinkspacegallery.com/2011/10/beyondeden/works-BeAf.php
Plans for the 2012 fair are already in the works. More details will be announced early in the new year.
