No bars to creativity here
IF you happen to end up at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown L.A. -- and really, we won’t ask why -- there’s one other place you might want to visit besides the bail bonds offices across the street: the Jail gallery. As the penal district’s sole outpost of contemporary art, Jail proves that just as with any business, a pithy meta-commentary on art and its role in society is merely a matter of location, location, location.
“It’s just the metaphor of the prison of life. Art is the one place where you can be free, and you’re not confined by anything,” says Angel Chen, who will be co-exhibiting with Mara Longer at the gallery’s next exhibit, “Between Now and Then,” starting Saturday. “All day long, I have to conform to other people’s rules. And in art, you don’t have to do anything.”
Jail is the brainchild of Lisa Nardoni, a fashion designer who spent much of the ‘90s playing bass and drums for Silver Lake indie rock acts such as Black Angel’s Death Song and Six Volt Sunbeam. Throughout that time, she worked in her father’s business, Eddie Nardoni Bail Bonds, eventually helming it alongside her sister Laurie. When the lease for the office space next door came up, the Nardonis took it over. Now the space doubles as Lisa Nardoni’s workspace for her bail bonds business and as a gallery in its own right.
Since opening in December, the gallery has showcased a wide spectrum of artistic styles, alternating the highbrow, such as the inaugural “Noplace” exhibit featuring Christopher Pate, with lowbrow offerings such as the current all-female showcase “Seven Brides Electrified.” Art patrons often wander next door to Nardoni Bail Bonds’ feng shui kitsch interior and rub elbows with the bounty hunters and bonds officers Lisa Nardoni has grown up with. Says Laurie Nardoni: “When [people] come to the gallery, they come next door and people are blown away. They’re like, ‘Oh, my God, bail bonds.’ But they get a better idea of what bail bonds is.”
Despite the novelty of its location, Lisa Nardoni stresses the seriousness of the gallery’s mission. Corporate art consultant Lisa Austin recently approached her about possibly acquiring the work of site-specific landscape artist Kim Schoenstadt, whom Nardoni represents. Far removed as her space is from established arts strongholds such as Chinatown and Spring Street, Lisa Nardoni appreciates the opportunity she has to bring art to a neglected audience. “People come here from all different walks of life, maybe some people that don’t have the chance to be able to walk in a gallery. I feel like art’s for everyone, not just for the rich, but for everyone to see and enjoy.”
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Jail
Where: 965 N. Vignes St.,
Suite 5A, Los Angeles
When: Noon to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays
Info: (213) 621-9567, www.thejailgallery.com
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