Out of a recession come some innovative ideas, namely the Design Loves Art program at the Pacific Design Center. Its public centerpiece is a monthly Thursday evening event showcasing the art gallery community within the Center's LA design community hub.
I checked out the scene at last night's Third Thursdays event, which was particularly happening on the second floor as art galleries opened their doors so locals could partake of wine, art and conversation.
Apparently, as I discovered asking around, the PDC has suffered from a lack of design firm tenants during these hard times. That means a lot of empty usable spaces. So they have allowed some art galleries to come in and rent them under short-term (six-month) leases as a sort of hybrid art-design experiment and a "win win" situation.
The Design Loves Art program is curated by Helen Varola, an independent New York curator. Some of the cool galleries participating--whose work I particularly enjoyed were: d.e.n. Contemporary Art (which used to have a space in Culver City), Sam Lee Gallery (also and still in Chinatown as well) and Carl Berg Projects.
Artists to look out for are Pipo Nguyen-Duy (photographs) and Kent Anderson Butler (amazing 'prison yard style' portraits on rugs).
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