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Arts incubator, meet busy thoroughfare
By Sam Lubell
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Image courtesy Peter Zellner.
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Culver City’s downtown arts district is quickly becoming a destination for new galleries, with more than 15 opening here in the last few years. The newest showroom, called LAXART, operated by the area’s only nonprofit arts group—also called LAXART—opened in late March. It is a hub for the display of art, architecture, and design.
The 1,800-square-foot gallery was designed by local architect and SCI-Arc professor Peter Zellner. He did a lot with a $50,000 budget, bringing the building up to code, replacing brick walls with stucco, and removing a drop ceiling and interior partitions to create space. LAXART, which shares the building with a private art showroom, is now divided into two large gallery spaces, a small entry, and the nonprofit organization of the same name that runs it. The offices can be used for shows, and the galleries for public gatherings, lectures, and screenings.
In addition to full-scale installations, video work, sound work, painting, photography, and architecture exhibitions, the site also displays art on its exterior walls. The large text piece currently outside the space is not only an artwork, but serves as a perfect advertisement to drivers speeding by.
May 2006 |
