An art day in Los Angeles
As ARTberlin grows internationally and we love to travel, we are delighted to bring you (after NYC – the best galleries in Lower East side)an insider art guide for the city of angels: L.A.. Art expert and founder of the edition online platform artflash Katharina Bauckhage leads you to her favorite art spots, arty restaurants, café and bars and also has some pretty special art tipps that take you outside the city into the wild.
Dear Katharina, where do you start your day?
Living in Venice on the west side of L.A., I love stopping by at Gjusta on Sunset Ave. They have one of the best coffees on the west side and a nice, shady backyard for hanging out. I usually have coffee on my own—I have to check my emails because Berlin and Europe are nine hours ahead and I wake up with the feeling that I’ve already missed half the day.
What would you recommend as a person’s first art stop in L.A.? What’s your favorite gallery district?
L.A. won’t come to you; you have to conquer it, and that takes time.
If you’re just visiting for a short while, don’t miss Regen Projects on Santa Monica Boulevard—it’s definitely one of the leading galleries here, run by Shaun Caley Regen. She’s a pioneering force on L.A.’s contemporary art scene, working with artists like Raymond Pettibon, Anish Kapoor, Catherine Opie, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Doug Aitken.
Not far from Regen, you have the Matthew Marks Gallery, representing artists such as Thomas Demand, Nan Goldin, and Jasper Johns. What Ellsworth Kelly did to the building is spectacular: He added a black bar across the top of the façade and turned the whole edifice into a huge sculpture.
In the same neighborhood, the non-profit art space LAXART is also worth visiting and, of course, the LACMA is only a few miles away.
What’s your favorite lunch spot for observing L.A.’s art scene?
My favorite place for lunch is Sycamore Kitchen on La Brea. You can’t miss it—just look for a huge Shepard Fairey mural overlooking a public parking lot. It has fresh market salads, sandwiches, coffee, and a good atmosphere, both inside and out. La Brea is close to the Miracle Mile—one of my favorite streets in L.A. It was developed in the early 1920s to attract and serve automobile traffic rather than pedestrians. Most of the brick buildings from those days have beautiful Art Deco details on their façades.
And for art in the afternoon — where would you take us?
Bergamot Station is about 15 minutes from the beach in Santa Monica; it’s a former railroad station that’s been transformed into gallery spaces. It´s a sprawling complex now, housing more than 20 galleries, a café, and the Santa Monica Art Museum. Two of my favorites there are the Rose Gallery and the Leslie Sacks Gallery. Soon, the new Expo Line will connect Santa Monica and the Bergamot Station to downtown. I’m curious if Angelenos will really leave their cars at home and travel by public transportation; I hope so.
Let’s talk about shopping. Do you have any favorite shops with an arty twist?
I recently discovered Flowerboyprojects in my neighborhood in Venice. It´s a small shop for flowers, but it also serves coffee while you browse through their eclectic selection of accessories, magazines, framed photographs, and, of course, flowers. It´s located on Lincoln Boulevard, right next to the legendary Café 50’s, flanked by auto body shops, run-down thrift stores, and ever-trendy places such as Superba or Wurstküche.
And for dinner? Where’s the place to go if you want to see and be seen?
Gjelina´s on Abbot Kinney in Venice is both: a place where you can see and be seen and, at the same time, it has extraordinarily good food! Come for lunch—when it´s not too crowded—and you might be lucky enough to get a table outside at the fireplace. Try the wood-roasted cauliflower with garlic, chili, and vinegar, or the starter with smoked trout, avocado, grapefruit, red onions, and lemon.
What is your favorite L.A. place for a drink?
ZINQUE is on Venice Boulevard, only a few minutes from Gjelina. ZINQUE serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it has a great, artistic vibe—especially at night—and a huge selection of wines.
One last question: What are the three art spots that no one visiting L.A. should miss?
It´s not very original, but the Getty Center designed by Richard Meier is definitely a must, not only for the art but even more so for the spectacular view and architecture!
Second, L.A. can only be conquered by car. So, take a seat and spend some time traveling down Sunset Boulevard, one of the most famous streets of the world. You will drive by the iconic Whisky A Go Go, where the Doors played, and you’ll also find Chateau Marmont, a popular hang-out for celebrities that served as the film set for movies such as Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere. It´s where John Belushi died and where Greta Garbo lived, too.
The third must is the Hollyhock House located in Los Feliz. It’s Frank Lloyd Wright’s first Los Angeles house, a prototype for California Modernism. It opened in February 2015 after a four-year renovation. It’s situated on top of a hill looking over the Griffith Observatory and Hollywood: pretty magical.
Fourth: If you have more than a few days, then head to Josua Tree Park, it´s about a 2 hours drive by car. Not only Joshua Tree National Park with its big bolders and amazing Joshua Trees is unique is worth a visit but also Palm Springs and the Motel 29 Palm Inn with the only oasis in the high desert. 15 Minutes from 29 Palms Inn is one of the best outdoor museums I have ever visited: Noah Purifoy Foundation is located in the middle of the desert, no sign will guide you. But you will be rewarded to taking the time to go there: Noah Purifoy was an African American Artists, he passed away in 2004, spending his entire life building assemblage sculptures and passable Installations out of trash. How those works are fading in the heat of the sun and the hot wind of the desert is touching and absolutely unique! The LACMA devoted Noah Purifoy an exhibition this year, but it´s not the same then experiencing it in the desert.
ABOUT ARTFLASH & KATHARINA BAUCKHAGE
Katharina Bauckhage is founder and CEO of the Berlin based art-platform www.artflash.de – a destination for art-enthusiasts presenting every other week two limited edition prints by today´s most sought after artists at affordable prices. Living both in Venice / California and Berlin Artflash launches Dec 1, in the US (www.artflash.net) with works by Californian artist Raymond Pettibon and Berlin based painter Michelle Jezierski.
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