Posts Tagged ‘David Streets gallery’

Halloween has come and gone — you’ve hung up your wigs and put away the sumo wrestler fat suits.  It’s high time to return to thinking seriously about the coming months.  By seriously, we mean – it’s time to think about all the openings and parties you’ll be heading to through the holiday season.

Lady Gaga isn’t someone you’d readily associate with Los Angeles’ contemporary art scene, but Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli would like to politely disagree.  For MOCA’s 30th Anniversary Gala, Vezzoli will put on the first and only performance of his Ballet Russe Italian Style (The Shortest Musical You Will Never See Again) starring Lady Gaga and dancers of the Bolshoi Ballet.  Also on offer at the gala will be a preview of “Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years,” featuring 500 works from the museum’s permanent collection by such luminaries as Jeff Koons, Ed Moses, Nancy Rubins, and Ed Ruscha.  The exhibition itself opens to the public on November 15, but you’ll want to see Ms. Gaga’s performance on the 14th, just to see if she still gets dressed in the dark.  There is also an Engagement Party event on November 21 for MOCA members featuring My Barbarian’s The Fourth Wall to celebrate the museums second 29th birthday.

Los Angeles Philharmonic has decided to keep things interesting this fall with their “Eureka! West Coast, Left Coast Festival.” A celebration of the culture of California and how it works to inspire musical and artistic masterpieces, the festival will run from November 21 through December 8 and will include such performances as Kronos Quartet led by Leonard Slatkin in a world premiere by film music composer Thomas Newman and multifaceted Mike Einziger in a solo performance with a number of guest collaborators.  Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the LA Phil in Esa-Pekka Salonen’s LA Variations and also, the festival will include a slew of multidisciplinary events.

The gallery scene doesn’t disappoint this season either with a number of openings that should fit well in your schedule.  Roberts and Tilton in Culver City will bring Delphine Courtillot and her cinematic, almost Californian paintings back for her second exhibit in their space on November 21.  On November 7, you can celebrate the opening of Tomoo Gokita’s exhibit “Heaven” at Honor Fraser Gallery in Culver City.  Photographer (and Fine Arts LA team member) Gray Malin’s work will be shown at David Streets Gallery in Beverly Hills now through the holiday season.  LA><ART will throw their Third Biannual Benefit Auction on Sunday, November 15 featuring participating artists like John Baldessari, Dave Muller, and Allen Ruppersberg.

In case the Luis Melendez exhibit at LACMA has been making you nothing but hungry, November 18 sees a rare chance to head to the museum on a Wednesday (when they’re normally closed).  They present “The Art of Wine and Food: Spain in the Time of Luis Melendez” featuring a buffet inspired by what Melendez might have munched on during painting breaks.

Make sure to keep a couple of your Saturdays open.  We’ll be back with more where this came from… So stay tuned!

(Image by Tomoo Gokita)

Last week, I was asked to accompany a friend to an art gallery opening in Beverly Hills. Getting dressed, I decided to step it up and wear khakis (so rare for LA, right?) and a pressed button down shirt with a nice thin summer sweater on top. I felt just right as I approached David Streets’ gallery on Little Santa Monica. I turned, smiling, to enter the soiree and saw that nearly every man inside was dressed in black tie: my jaw dropped.

It is customary in these situations to run away as quickly as possible before being stoned for any sub-par attire, but unfortunately I was trapped.  My “friend” assured me that I was fine and that there were other underdressed folk who also hadn’t gotten the memo. At the first sight of another pair of khakis, I relaxed and remembered I’m in LA – he who has never been underdressed in LA can cast the first stone.  I was safe. 

David Streets is one of the most interesting people I have met since living in Los Angeles. Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, he has a slight southern drawl that tends to calm you, allowing his eloquent vocabulary to flow smoothly. “When it comes to entertaining, black tie is the norm in the south,” he explained to me.

Returning to interview him the following week, I assumed he’d been in LA for years, especially considering the Oscar-esque crowd he drew. I was shocked to find that he has only lived here for three years. David began and built his career in New Orleans on Royal Street in the French Quarter over twenty years ago. He started as a director in a gallery and eventually worked his way up in the New Orleans art world to own a 22,000 square foot gallery space that represented 45 different artists. 

On August 28th, 2005 his world was turned upside down, along with hundreds of thousands of others, when Hurricane Katrina struck.  In something he could only describe as a scene from Armageddon, he found his gallery ravaged and stripped of all its artwork– even the toilets had been ripped from the floors. Ironically, his gallery’s neighborhood, the French Quarter, sat on a plateau in the center of the city and was untouched by the flood- instead it was destroyed by the animalistic behavior of looters and thieves.  

Struggling with the decision to leave New Orleans, he was approached by friend and sculptor Richard MacDonald about moving to Los Angeles to open a gallery for him. David hesitantly took the offer and moved to LA in December 2005 and he hasn’t left us yet..

He left Richard’s Gallery, among other ventures, to open his own gallery. He opened the doors to both of his new spaces last week. David Streets Gallery is composed of a contemporary art and photography space, as well as a traditional and conventional space with a truly diverse array of artwork. His gallery doesn’t feel empty like so many others in LA – there is a sense of hospitality in its character that makes you feel welcomed and appreciated.  

Overall, David has built an empire (though humbly he wouldn’t say so) of A-list clients and artists from around the world that all value his unique vision, praising the educational and exciting “experience” of art.  

Please check out the video interview to hear more about how he has secured his place in  LA’s art world.

- By Gray Malin