Quirk Ethic in ‘Out of Blue’

LAX, the FAR BAZZAR and ART/LA92 aren’t the only large-scale art events taking place this month. Also making a splash is “Out of the Blue,” an artist-organized exhibition featuring nine room-sized installations in a downtown warehouse space.

Included are Mary Artino’s examination of her Italian heritage through an old family recipe for olive making, Linda Levinson’s tent created from her earlier billboard flood image and Mark Niblock-Smith’s poignant presentation of living with AIDS--right down to the endless and always-present medical supplies.

“Each (installation) is really very different and quirky in its own way,” said artist Barbara Benish, who organized the event with Artino and John O’Brien.

The artists all agreed that the exhibition was a natural reaction to the recession and the limited exhibition opportunities it has brought.

“Living in a vacuum is not the answer,” said Paul Tzanetopoulos. “This work traditionally has been unsellable and unmarketable, which has rendered it outside of the galleries . . . and that gap grows as the economic situation (worsens). We had work that we just couldn’t get out, and we knew there were other people with those same problems . . . and we needed a context like this to make it work.”

So the artists found a building owner willing to let them take over a vacant 90-by-37-foot warehouse space, built their own walls and electrical system and set up parking, security and all the other necessities normally handled by galleries and museums. They are even using two upper loft areas housing Tzanetopoulos’ nature-filled projection piece “Whether” and Benish’s work examining art history versus the “mystical roots” of knowledge.

“There’s a new generation that realizes they’re never going to be part of that ‘80s genius generation, and that those millions of dollars aren’t going to come,” Benish said. “We’re all working night and day at three jobs anyway, and after all, they can only turn your phone off once. So it’s worth it to be able to do this.”

The show, which also has installations by O’Brien, Barbara McCarren, Catherine Maclean and Karl Matson, is at 924 E. 2nd St., open Fridays to Sundays through Jan. 15. Information: (213) 413-5857.

GALLERIES: Last week was a busy one for the artists group LAart, which on Tuesday opened a new downtown gallery--LAart Installations Four at 865 S. Figueroa St.--and on Thursday celebrated the reopening of the original Installations One Gallery at 15821 Ventura Blvd. in Encino. Both galleries feature installments of the group show “Urban Landscapes II,” with an additional exhibition, “Pattern and Color,” on view at the 5,500-square-foot Installations One. Information: (818) 981-9422.

Venice’s William Turner Gallery is moving to a new space next door to L.A. Louver at 69 Market St. (in what used to be DeWain Valentine’s studio). The gallery inaugurates its 3,000-square-foot space on Thursday with “American Journals,” recent paintings and sculptures by L.A.’s Gregory A. J. Miller. Information: (310) 392-8399.

HOLIDAY SALES: Tatitscheff Gallery in Santa Monica on Friday opens a sale of “affordable stocking stuffers” made by artists including Martha Alf, D. J. Hall, Lee Musgrave and Jody Zellen. All proceeds from the exhibition (through Dec. 23) benefit AIDS programs of the L.A. Shanti Foundation. Information: (310) 395-8807.

About 30 artists including Peter Tovar, Linda Gamboa, Michael Amescua and Leo Limon will take part in the annual Christmas Arts & Craft Sale today from 2 to 6 p.m. at East L.A.’s Self-Help Graphics. Information: (213) 264-1259.

Also holding a holiday sale is Viva, the lesbian and gay Latino artists group, which will feature paintings, photography, prints, sculpture, cards and other items in a “Feliz Navidad Espectaculo” at Silver Lake’s La Ventana Gallery on Dec. 19 and 20 from noon to 6 p.m. Information: (213) 953-1970.

EVENTS: SPARC will conduct the first of what is to become an annual tour of L.A.’s varied interpretations of the Virgen de Guadalupe on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The tour will focus on murals and other depictions of the Latino vision of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is believed to have appeared to an Indian named Juan Diego shortly after the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

Afterward, SPARC will offer a pena --an evening of music, poetry and food--as well as a holiday sale of contemporary folk art, from 5 to 8 p.m. Tour tickets are $25; reservations are required. Admission to the pena is $10; $5 for tour participants. Information: (310) 822-9560.

Twenty emerging artists will participate in the annual Artists Open Studios at 1308 Factory Place on Saturday and next Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ten percent of proceeds will go to the Homeless Outreach Program. Information: (213) 627-1922.

Admission to the Municipal Art Gallery and other facilities is free today during the third annual Barnsdall Art Park Open House, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Entertainment and arts and crafts will be featured. Information: (213) 662-7272.