Upcoming Event: Bergamot Station Arts Center EXPO-SÉ


Bergamot Station Arts Center EXPO-SÉ Saturday, May 21st from 10 am - 7 pm 

Join us as we welcome the Expo to Bergamot Station Arts Center! The Bergamot Station EXPO-SÉ is an open house event on Saturday, May 21st celebrating the opening of the Expo Line in Santa Monica. Now's the perfect time to take the train to visit us at Bergamot Station! Just hop on the new Expo line and get off at the 26th Street/Bergamot Station stop. 

This is a FREE family friendly event! There are no tickets necessary to gain admission. 
The Metro is offering FREE train rides for the entire opening weekend. The City of Santa Monica is additionally offering FREE Big Blue Bus rides and Breeze Bike sharing! Remember: PARKING is extremely LIMITED at Bergamot Station, so this is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of our city's new public transportation system! 
Bergamot Station is an internationally renowned creative arts complex, boasting over 30 galleries and creative businesses. Come enjoy a thriving arts community, now a convenient stop along the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Expo Line. 

Special Events: 
11am: Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Opening the Expo Line at Bergamot Station, with Councilmember Kevin McKeown and the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce 
11am: Ruth Bachofner Gallery: Artist Talk with Margaret Lizzari 
1-4pm: Laura Korman Gallery: Opening reception "CENDRILLON" with artist in attendance, Cara Barer 
1:30pm: Stuart Ashman - President of the Museum of Latin American Art in conjunction with Lois Lambert Gallery's exhibit, STRAIGHT FROM CUBA: A WOMAN'S PERSPECTIVE 
12-3pm: dnj Gallery: "When did it stop being fun?" exhibition, artist Pamela Mayers-Schoenberg in attendance 
4-7pm: TAG Gallery: Opening Reception for artists Vicky Hoffman, Tom Wheeler, & Joe Pinkelman, + Group Show, "In Transit" 5pm: Leslie Sacks Gallery: Opening reception of Minjung Kim 
7pm: Venice Symphony Orchestra: Performance at Bergamot Café 
8pm: City Garage Theater: "Othello/Desdemona" performance 

All Day Events (10am-4pm): 
bG Gallery: Matt Elson "Infinity Boxes" on view; Thomas Whittaker Kidd exhibit walk-throughs, free transport portraiture 
Building Bridges: Preview Reception with Lucie Foundation and a presentation of International platform artists 
FOOD: Bergamot Café and Grilled Cheese food truck and cookies courtesy of Ingo's Tasty Diner/The Misfit 
MUSIC: Kathy Leonardo's band to travel on the Expo Line and around Bergamot; the Jazz Trio band in People's Park Robert 
Berman GalleryPreview of Santa Monica Auctions Live Public Art Auction 
Richard Heller Gallery: Paco Pomet: New paintings from Granada, Spain 
Rose Gallery: Presentation of vintage historic images of cable cars, railroads, and trains
Schomburg Gallery: New York Film Academy exhibition with photographers in attendanceSkidmore Contemporary Art: Artist talks with Bradley Hankey, Mark Allen, Courtney Murphy, Nina Jun, Brighton Smith 
TREATS: Frozen Yogurt cart

The Cool School in Barcelona

THE COOL SCHOOL IN BARCELONA

RARE PRINT WORKS BY LA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL GROUP OF ARTISTS:

Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, Laddie John Dill, Craig Kauffman, Eric Orr,

and Ed Moses

Opening: Saturday, October 24, 2015 from 6:00-8:00pm
On view through December 5, 2015

 Billy Al Bengston, BAB 1, 1988, original etching, hand signed and numbered

Billy Al Bengston, BAB 1, 1988, original etching, 30x22 in., hand signed and numbered 

(SANTA MONICA, CA)--Andrew Weiss Gallery is pleased to announce The Cool School in Barcelona: Rare Handmade Print Works by LA’s Most Influential Group of Artists.

Polígrafa Obra Gràfica were innovators with their short-term residency program.  In 1988 and 1989 Poligrafa invited eight prominent California-based artists--Billy Al Bengston, Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Laddie John Dill, Criag Kauffman, Ed Moses, Eric Orr and Ed Ruscha--to each spend two weeks in Barcelona and create handmade prints based on their experiences and impressions of the city.  Most of this trailblazing group of California Light and Space and Pop artists, who worked in mediums ranging from sculpture to painting and installations, received their first introduction to printmaking at this time.

Peter Alexander, Hallelujah II, 1988, original lithograph, 22 x 30 in., hand signed and numbered

 

The majority of the works created during these artist residencies were then archived for nearly 30 years by Poligrafa, and rediscovered and reintroduced exclusively by Andrew Weiss Gallery.

Gallerist Andrew Weiss brings the rare print works of these renowned California artists to his light-filled gallery space in Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station, close to the studios still in practice by many of these Venice and Santa Monica-based artists. On view will be more than 50 works highlighting Los Angeles’s first and most significant post-war artists, who continue to lead and influence today’s contemporary art world.  The hand numbered, limited edition etchings and lithographs on woven paper are each hand signed and dated by the artist.

 Eric Orr, Catalonian Nine, 1989, original embossed etching, 30 x 22 in. hand signed and numbered

Barcelona-based fine art printmaker Polígrafa Obra Gráfica was launched in 1964 by Manuel de Muga and has published editions featuring over 300 leading artists since then. After the death of Francisco Franco in 1975, and at the end of Spain’s 36-year fascist regime, Poligrafa was widely credited for bringing new art and artists into the country, injecting a breeze of freshness and modernity to Spain’s moribund cultural atmosphere. Their artists have always been chosen by a criteria of rigor and ambition. Polígrafa published editions by artists who are today recognized as among the foremost of their time, such as Joan Miró, Francis Bacon, Max Ernst, John Cage, Alex Katz, Rufino Tamayo, and Francisco Toledo.

In conjunction with this exhibition, the gallery will also be screening The Cool School: The Story of Ferus Art Gallery, a documentary film by Morgan Neville that focuses on the seminal Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, which between 1957 and 1966 solidified the careers of a band of young and rebellious artists including Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, Craig Kauffman, Moses, and Ed Ruscha.


The Cool School  In Barcelona: Rare Print Works by LA’s Most Influential Group of Artists is on view from October 24, 2015 until December 5, 2015.