This coming November marks our 5 Year Anniversary with Thinkspace. This adventure continues to be one of the most rewarding experiences of our lives and as we settle into our new home in the heart of the Culver City gallery district, we wanted to continue our flashback series and look at some of the standout shows from 2006, our first full year as a gallery. See Flashback part 1 here.
2006 was a huge year for us in many ways and one that saw us make the big move from our first location just off Melrose to a bigger space out in the heart of Silver Lake.
We kicked the year off with ‘Picks of the Harvest: Batch Two’ which featured Jophen Stein and a group show consisting of such notables as Audrey Kawasaki, Lola, Luke Chueh, Yoskay Yamamoto, Joshua Petker, Brandi Milne, Nathan Spoor, Ekundayo, Marco Zamora, Ronald Kurniawan, Mear One, and many more.
Check out pics from ‘Picks of the Harvest: Batch Two’ here: http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2006/01/index.php
April 2006 saw our first major show with Ekundayo as we presented ‘Weightless’, a two-person show alongside Isaac Pierro. The duo really complemented each other and their collective installation came out just beautiful and was one of the first installs that we filmed with stop-motion. We discovered upon 1st viewing the film that the duo had an almost complete mural knocked out somewhere in the middle of the night and then buffed the whole thing to start a new idea before we arrived in the next morning. It was so inspiring to see, as neither had mentioned they had done that to us and to see it unfold on video was just crazy… as the first mural idea was super strong, but the new one they decided upon came out even better and created a visual magnet for passers by on Melrose Ave.
Check out pics from ‘Weightless’ here: http://www.juxtapoz.com/Photos/weightless
Up next in May we brought down three friends from Northern California to LA for their first focused show in the LA market – Yoskay Yamamoto, J. Shea #9 and Tanner Goldbeck. The unspoken synergy between these three was indeed a beautiful thing to behold. A show that was all about friendship and one that still inspires when I look back at the photos from the show. To see how far their work has come since is amazing and we’re happy to be close friends to this day with each of ’em.
Check out pics from ‘East 2 West’ here: http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2006/05/index.php
June 2006 brought our biggest show to date at the time and one which garnered us a huge amount of int’l press. It was also the debut show at our new location in Silver Lake. The legendary ‘ODD’ show featured Lola’s first major showing in LA alongside the one and only Chet Zar. The installation the two created in our front installation area was just magical. Lola sold out her half of the show and things really started to take off from there and led into her debut solo show with us the following year.
Check out pics from Lola and Chet Zar’s ‘ODD’ opening here:
http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2006/06/index.php
I don’t mind saying we were on a bit of a roll in 2006, as July brought the debut LA solo show from Natalia Fabia which earned us our first of many ‘Showstopper’ features in Juxtapoz. Natalia’s show was a major coming out for the artist and we worked closely with her to put on one hell of an opening complete with several of her friends all done up in amazing costumes and passing out lil’ cupcakes and lil’ smokies to the non-stop throngs of fans that came out that night to support (see photo above). This show laid the foundation for Natalia to become one of the most talked about and collected artists from the Southern California New Contemporary movement.
Check out pics from Natalia Fabia’s ‘Hook Manor’ opening here: http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2006/07/opening/index.php
September saw the return of the ‘Picks of the Harvest’ series with a featured installation from none other than Audrey Kawasaki. Her installation featured her largest works ever (to this day) and together they stopped folks in their tracks. ‘Picks of the Harvest: Batch Three’ was a massive undertaking and featured the works of over 100 artists. Just over 300 works were on view that month and the show earned us a huge feature in the LA Times. Notable artists in the show included Asylm, Kelsey Brookes, Luke Chueh, Nicholas DiGenova, Ekundayo, Lola, Sylvia Ji, Thomas Han, Andrew Hem, Logan Hicks, Stella Im Hultberg, Michael Mararian, Andy Kehoe, Mel Kadel, Caia Koopman, KMNDZ, KuKula, Mear One, Brandi Milne, AJ Fosik, Alex Pardee, Brendan Monroe, Germs, Blaine Fontana, Joe Ledbetter, Travis Millard, Joshua Petker, Dan Quintana, Chris Ryniak, Amy Sol, Bwana Spoons, Mike Stilkey, Sage Vaughn, Amanda Visell, Yoskay Yomamoto, Chet Zar, and many, many more.
Check out pics of Audrey’s pieces from ‘Picks of the Harvest: Batch Three’ here: http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2006/09/preview/index.php
October saw us hand the reigns over to the trio of Nathan Spoor, Francesco LoCastro and Kevin Peterson as the trio unleashed the epic ‘Subterfuge’ show on an unsuspecting LA. In addition to their own work, they also invited some friends to the show including the likes of Esao Andrews, Ana Bagayan, Sean Christopher, Blaine Fontana, Audrey Kawasaki, Anthony Ausgang, Scott Musgrove, Lola, Tara McPherson, Jonathan Weiner, David Stoupakis, Chet Zar and many others.
Check out the works featured in ‘Subterfuge’ here: http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2006/10/show/index.php
November once again saw us handing over the control of things to Blaine Fontana. Blaine delivered big time by putting together one of the most cohesive and beautifully curated group shows in recent memory. Blaine put together a stellar lineup and created 12×12” wooden boxes that were mailed out to each artist in advance of the show. All came together to create a stylish show that many still talk about to this day. Past that, Blaine’s installation for Sq. Ft. was just amazing and featured hundreds of 12×12 panels cut from all matter of found wood that once combined created an amazing visual statement to help usher patrons into the main gallery space that month. Featured in ‘Sq. Ft.’ were the likes Buff Monster, Mathew Curry, Kelsey Brookes, Ekundayo, Jeremy Fish, Sylvia Ji, Audrey Kawasaki, Kofie, Brandi Milne, Kathie Olivas, Nathan Ota, Joshua Petker, Lesley Reppeteaux, Kelly Vivanco, J. Shea, Michael Sieben, Damon Soule, Tes One, Sage Vaughn, Oliver Vernon, and many more. A show for the ages to say the least.
Check out pics from the opening of ‘Sq Ft’ here: http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2006/11/opening/index.php
Ending out the year was the monumental ‘Snow Angels’ exhibition that brought together the talents of Joseph ‘2H’ McSween, Tina Anderson, Joshua Clay, Jenna Colby, Matt Dickson, Ekundayo, Stella Im Hultberg, Sarah Joncas, KuKula, Brandi Milne, Lilly Piri, Siloette, Amy Sol, Aaron Kraten, and Zoso along with a featured installation from Germs. The installation from Germs remains one of our favorites to this day.
December 2006 also saw one of the first shows in our newly opened project room that was curated by artist Kim Scott and featured works from Lola, Stella Im Hultberg, Nouar, Shaunna Peterson, Lesley Reppeteaux, Moira Hahn, Jasmine Worth and many more.
Check out pics from the opening of ‘Snow Angels’ and ‘…And Everything Nice’ here: http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/2006/12/opening/index.php
Check out all the other shows from 2006 here:
http://www.thinkspacegallery.com/previous2006.php
Look for a flashback breaking down the goodness that was 2007 soon. Thank you all for the years of continued support!
Thinkspace
2005 – 2010: Five years strong and just getting started.
www.thinkspacegallery.com
