It’s cocktails with a dash of culture

Sometimes looking at art is like exercising: I don’t love doing it, but I love having done it, to paraphrase Dorothy Parker. This is particularly true with contemporary art, which to me is meant to challenge the mind, not match the couch. And, much as hubby and I might prefer to watch Comedy Central, mental exercise makes us feel less like a pair of intellectual sloths. Plus, with a visit to Bergamot Station Arts Center, we can take our culture with a spoonful of sugar.

Once a Red Car trolley station, Bergamot is basically a big parking lot rimmed by about 30 galleries, including some of L.A.’s best contemporary art showrooms. Every six weeks or so, several galleries simultaneously unveil new exhibitions and throw receptions for their artists. These events are essentially cocktail parties where the artists do show-and-tell and the alcohol flows. For free. At Bergamot, people-watching is top notch. Lots of expensive denim, lots of black and usually a celebrity or two.

The first gallery we entered contained large, dream-like paintings of ravishing nudes by Robert Standish. These were beautiful and laid the foundation for a romantic evening, although admittedly, after a few sips of wine (I’m a lightweight) nearly everything had the same effect. In the next gallery, I leaned back into Paul’s arms as we gazed at “Germs Are Everywhere.” Photographer Sandy Skoglend had plastered leech-like “germs” all over a TV room -- on the chair, the TV, the walls. Paul, who by now had sampled a Moonlight Margarita aglow with turquoise Gatorade, said the leeches were made out of chewing gum.

Moving on, we hit the night’s highlight, a multimedia group show of “performance installations.” Noelle Mason and Brian Stansbury had constructed the most amazing piece, itself well worth the $10 admission price: When viewers pushed a red button, they appeared to transmit an electric shock to a barely dressed woman inside a large box who jerked and writhed with every button-push. Did we relish the power to inflict pain -- repeatedly? That’s what this piece was about.

So it was more intriguing than romantic -- and, weirdly, put us in the mood for comfort food. We chose El Texate for full-o’-flavor Oaxacan fare at a good price. One cheesy enchilada and chili relleno later and Paul and I were ready for a nightcap: Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” which we’d taped on Comedy Central the night before.

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The tab

Gallery hopping $20

Where: Bergamot Station Arts Center, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 829-5854

What: Gallery hopping and people watching on select Saturday evenings (call for schedule). Free, except for admission to the performance installation at Track 16 Gallery, which regularly exhibits art and intermittently presents performances, readings and other special events.

Dinner $24.72

Where: El Texate Oaxacan restaurant, 316 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 399-1115

What: A chili relleno for her; a cheese enchilada for him. Rice, beans, chips and salsa for both.

Total $44.72