LOS ANGELES, CA.- PHOTO L.A. recently concluded it’s 27th Annual collaborative platform hosting photography dealers, collectors, and art enthusiasts in its new home at the historic Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, CA. The highly coveted photography fair welcomed over 10,000 guests and patrons throughout the week from January 31st - February 3rd, 2019 at the 35,000 sq. ft. Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, CA.
The opening night celebration to benefit Venice Arts hosted an attendance of 2,500 VIP guests and patrons. Launching the evening, VIP attendees were treated to a personalized docent tour of PHOTO L.A. by Weston Naef, Curator Emeritus, Department of Photographs, J. Paul Getty Museum. As the evening continued the who’s who of the photography and art world enjoyed the evening and a stellar selection of works present by exhibitors. The evening culminated in a presentation by PHOTO L.A., The City of Los Angeles and The City of Santa Monica honoring Jo Ann Callis, a central figure in the Southern California photography scene since the 1970s known for her provocatively staged scenarios with a poetic dimension.
PHOTO L.A. 2019 featured an extraordinary roster of more than 60 local and international galleries, and dealers, in addition to artist collectives, leading not-for-profits, art schools, and established art world booksellers. A major installation MAKING IT UP: PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE MICHAEL AND JANE WILSON TRUST COLLECTION drew a large crowd and much interest. Drawn from the holding of photographs by women, the selection illustrated an impetus of exploration, collaboration and performance among contemporary women photographers. Visiting guests included some of the most notable names in the artworld such as featured participants Tony Vaccaro, Thomas Demand and Michael Fried along familiar faces Julian Lennon, Stephen Moyer (Actor, True Blood), Daphne Zuniga (Actress, Melrose Place), Kathryn Hahn (Actress, Bad Moms), Brandon Boyd (Musician/Artist), Tadj Correia (Actor) and others.
PHOTO L.A. 2019 featured an impressive and exclusive collection of Chinese galleries as part of a program to promote Chinese & American cultural exchanges in the global art marketplace.
China is well on its way to becoming the newest cultural hotspot and PHOTO L.A.’s cultural initiative aimed to give its attendees a survey of some of of the best Chinese photography/art galleries existing today including, Pan-View Gallery, Cipa Gallery, Mino Gallery, View Art Gallery, 9 ART Gallery, Yingshang Photobook Collection, cube art guan, and Sipa USA.
160 Chinese works collectively sold and Chinese collectors bought more than $500,000 from the exhibiting galleries.
PHOTO L.A. focused on an intimate scale of exhibitors which allowed each exhibition to gain greater visibility and have an impact that promoted stronger sales. Post sales have already been reported by many galleries:
Monroe Gallery of Photography stated that they “had very strong response and sales across the spectrum of the work we exhibited at the new Fair this year. 96-year old Tony Vaccaro was a star in our booth, holding court and entertaining collectors. We had very strong sales of his iconic World War II photographs through his repertoire of fashion and 20th Century personalities. We also had strong sales of Ryan Vizzions' Standing rock and hurricane Florence images.
Overall sales were very strong, and we continue to receive follow up inquiries and sales just a week later. We sold to existing collectors as well as many new collectors and first time buyers. Sales exceeded our expectations nicely. We sold across our artists but found particular success with photographs in the $2,500-$7,500 range.
Our booth and artists were featured in many press articles during the fair, including the Hollywood Time, LA Weekly, Blouin Art Info, Art Fix, and others. Overall, the 2019 edition of the fair was a great start on the new beginning for Photo LA, the Barker Hanger was a wonderful venue, despite the terrible weather the attendance seemed significant each day.”
Very strong sales were witnessed by the Susan Spiritus Gallery stating “This is my best show ever!” said Susan Spritus. She sold works by featured artists - Ellen Cantor, Paul Caponigro, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Julie Sample, Hengki Koentjoro, Seung Hoon Park and Jerry Uelsmann and was included within press opportunities in Getty, The Daily, KCRW, Coast Magazine, and Santa Monica Daily Press to name a few.
“We were very excited about our strong sales on-site and expect many more going forward” ~ Scott Nichols, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco.
Using forward-thinking and strategically tailored programming, PHOTO L.A. engaged the photographic community by helping to enrich the participants and visitors’ experiences at the fair. The three-day event sparked critical debates about the state and future trends of photography with dynamic programming offerings of lectures, panel discussions, special installations, and docent tours.
Stand out attendees throughout the weekend included:
Collectors: Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, Dan and Mary Solomon, Manfred Heiting, Rudi Bianchi, Gregory and Charles Annenberg Weingarten, Stefan Simchowitz, Karen Constine, Nancy Dubois, Roger and Barbara Hill, Ken Lipton, Kay Saatchi, Annie Seaton, Kathy Suder, David Mahoney, Alessandro Uzielli, Bernard and Peggy Lewak, Danny First, Paula Ely, Darryl Curran, Michael Hawley, David Tonnemacher, Kai Loebach, Bruce Barnes, Willard Huyck, Firooz Zahedi, Edward Goldman, Andrew Schwartz, Michael Weisberg, Tom van Daele, John Tripp, David Tonnemacher, Eric Sloane, Mark Sandelson, David Pullman, Ronald Ostrin, Marjorie Ornston, John Morace, LenLuPriore, Burt Levitch, Olivia Lam, Eva and Maria Koehler, Richard Klug, David Katz, Stan Kaplan, Adam Kanter, Caitlin Thompson and Dan Fogelman, Karen Comegys-Wortz, Bill Borden, Shira Boardman, Helen Bartlett & Tony Bill, Barry Belkin, Fazia Ali.
Art advisors/Collection managers: Stephanie Smith (Michael Wilson's collection), Victoria Burns, Justin Fiset (Daniel Greenberg's collection), Annie Wharton, Irit Krygier, Cheryl Perkey, Leslie Rubinoff, Barbara Fields and Chloe Spitalny, Kipton Cronkite, Marina Darsalia, Merle Elias, Ayn Grinstein, Trip Haenisch, Colin Dusenbury, Lela Hersh, Jacquie Israel, Teresa Iturralde, Marla Koosed, Jacqueline Lewis, Michael Sellinger, Brenda Williams.
Museum Curators: Britt Salvesen (LACMA) Rebecca Morse (LACMA), Eve Schillo (LACMA), Carol Eliel (LACMA), Virginia Heckert (Getty), Keith Davis (curator of photography, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), Laura Lewis (CMATO), Paul Martineau (Getty), Ryan Linkof (George Lucas Museum), Mazie Harris (Getty), Irene Tsatsos (Armory Arts Center), Nicolas Barlow (LACMA), Andy Campognone-Couwenberg (Lancaster Museum of Art and History), Leigh Gleason (California Museum of Photography), Karen Hellman (Getty), David Martin (Cascadia Art Museum), Douglas McCulloh (California Museum of Photography), Isotta Poggi (Getty), Max Presneill (Torrance Art Museum).
Acquisition Groups: MOLAA acquisition committee, LACMA collectors circles, Getty Photography Council, Getty GRI council, Annenberg Space for Photography, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego Museum of Art, San Francisco Arts Commission, Los Angeles Arts Commission.
