As a curator who has carried out huge group exhibitions, just like the Hammer Museum’s Made in LA biennial, Aram Moshayedi is used to spending no less than two or three years organising an exhibition. This time, he did it in three weeks.
Quickly after the wildfires tore via Altadena and Pacific Palisades, he issued an open invitation to visible artists and different creatives instantly impacted to every contribute one work to a pop-up present. Greater than 80 selected to take part, from rising artists who simply graduated from faculty to internationally identified figures equivalent to Diana Thater and Paul McCarthy, each of whom misplaced their properties in Altadena.
The exhibition’s title, One Hundred %, is a nod to its enterprise mannequin: all proceeds will go on to the artist, with Moshayedi’s group engaged on a volunteer foundation, taking nothing and charging nothing. The present will happen at 619 N Western Avenue, throughout from David Zwirner gallery, 14-22 February, so it overlaps with the Frieze Los Angeles truthful.
J. Bradley Greer, Bob and Marilyn, 2024 Courtesy of the artist
The opening, Thursday night (13 February), guarantees to be one of many first huge art-world gatherings after the fires. “I feel there shall be a number of feelings,” says Moshayedi. “It’s a convergence of people that have been affected both instantly or not directly by the fires and can hopefully provide a chance for some form of launch.”
Anticipate all kinds of works, from ceramics that survived in some type as a result of the medium might face up to the intense warmth of the fireplace to new work made for this event. One younger artist, Jeffrey Sugishita, is displaying {a photograph} he manufactured from himself standing amid the still-smouldering ruins of his residence, carrying all black apart from a helmet usual from flowers. Costs will vary from $50 to $30,000.
Moshayedi, who’s the interim chief curator on the Hammer Museum however developed this venture independently, has labored with a couple of of the collaborating artists earlier than, together with Kelly Akashi, Kathryn Andrews, Asher Hartman, McCarthy, Jon Polypchuk and Analia Saban. He had the thought for the present after realising what number of artists have been devastated by the wildfires that he didn’t know in any respect.
Kira Hawkins, Hate It, 2024 Courtesy of the artist
“As quickly because the fires began, I began accumulating PDFs of accessible works by artists I knew to ship round to collectors, donors, board members and others I assumed who I assumed would possibly be capable to purchase work in that second of want,” he says. “However I realised there have been much more artists I didn’t know. I needed to discover a method to faucet into that neighborhood of artists, who have been nameless to me, and lend no matter assist and providers I might as a curator.”
The art-world-friendly actual property dealer Geoffrey Anenberg helped Moshayedifind an area to make use of on Western, throughout from Zwirner, that was most just lately a furnishings showroom. The curator then labored with the grassroots group Grief and Hope, which has been elevating emergency reduction funds for artists and artwork staff, to ship out the open invite. His invite acknowledges the enormity of the loss for a lot of and expresses a need to not burden the individuals. “Retaining in thoughts that your numerous capacities could also be restricted, the thought of what constitutes a contribution or participation is totally open-ended and at your discretion,” it says.
At press time, Moshayedi had collected over 60 of the 80-plus works and was busy putting in. He has additionally secured a donation of sound tools from Dublab that may very well be used for efficiency or stay music, but to be scheduled.
One Hundred %, 14-22 February, 619 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles
