“Starry Night” by L. Angelenos
by Lena Rivera
Andrea Bogdan’s studio window perches right above 5th and Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. Cars rush past, people on the corner scream and laugh, and a siren wails out; this music swirls up to her ears and pushes her deeper into the vibrant and imaginative piece she paints. On a recent night, her studio door, at the Spring Arts Tower, stood open, and she took a brief break from her work to offer smiles and handshakes to admirers and observers passing through. It was December 13th — the second Thursday of the month, and the last Art Walk of 2012.
The Art Walk of Los Angeles opens the door of every willing artist and gallery downtown, allowing the community to interact with the artists who live and work right next door. A typical art gallery closes around 6 p.m., but during the Art Walk, many keep their doors open till 9 p.m., and some even later than that. Visitors from the community wander freely from gallery to studio, absorbing artwork and social experiences along the way. Every month the experience is unique, but it always reflects the unique spirit of Los Angeles, where neighborhoods overflow with both artists and art connoisseurs.
This month, a cluster of studios stood out along Spring and Main Streets. All the excitement swirled in this section, and people floated naturally in and out of high-profile galleries like the Hive, Crewest, and the Phil Stern Gallery. F Square Printing, near the corner of Spring and 5th, stands a little more in the shadows. An art gallery, music lounge, and internet cafe mixed into one, this small space sends atmosphere pouring out its neon-lined doors, drawing many from the more crowded areas. Step inside and bright canvases lining the walls lure the eye to the stairs, which lead up to an alcove of soft light.
Up there in the “karaoke” area, local bands took turns playing a new song or two, and then — though the listeners cheered and clapped — each group humbly bowed aside to let its friends take a turn. Jun Tiangco and Nicanor Evangelista Jr. form an instrumental duo of guitar and drums, producing a tangled mix of sounds rich with artistic expression. Evangelista Jr. believes everyone to be an artist in his or her own way. He nodded, with a warm and friendly smile, at each new person entering the gallery. While he mainly focuses on creating mural-like tattoos at One Way Tattoos (over on Pico Blvd.), he said, “before that, I love music and art, so this is like a celebration to me, having all my friends perform here.”
One block north — another oasis. Beautifully crafted work covers the walls and hangs from the ceiling of Robert Reynolds Gallery and Studio (at 408 S. Spring St.). Owner Robert Reynolds teamed up with Tadeusz Torzecki for an exhibition that premiered at the December Art Walk and ran through January 5th. Mixed-media pieces by Reynolds nearly took the breath away with their realistic visions, complemented by the softer work of Torzecki. Reynolds’s sky-boat-like installations swung overhead or scattered themselves in pieces around the floor, while reoccurring images of wooded campfires and deep enveloping blues spoke with natural power from his canvases. Some of the nature-based pieces boasted 3D form, with actual branches glossed and painted in scale to the paintings’ other woodland features.
At 6 p.m. a few visitors wandered around. By 7:30 p.m. a flowing crowd of about 60 people filled the studio, and that number held constant for the rest of the night. Groups wandered around sharing low, hushed murmurs, pausing and nodding at more meaningful pieces. The canvases by Reynolds drew much attention. His works undeniably possessed a great strength amongst those on display that night.
Back in the Spring Arts Tower, home of Andrea Bogdan, her work covers every wall and corner of her small studio room, a display of dedication to her work. Inspired by a workshop with contemporary artist Jesse Reno, Bogdan has been painting these abstract characters “nonstop” since March. Each of her “creatures” has a unique and often playful personality, reflecting the “imperfections of the human condition,” she said. Bogdan finds beauty in these imperfections, and she said, “When I do my art those are the things that I’m thinking about. That everybody has their own flaws, but then somebody loves them for those.”
Below her, on the ground floor of the Spring Arts Tower, the Last Bookstore is the true keeper of her work, the artist said. A safe house for forgotten books, vinyl gems, and emerging artists, the Last Bookstore offers small display areas to many artists like Bogdan. Art pieces hide throughout the bookcases and around each corner, becoming a visible merging of literature and art. Books literally fly off the upper walls of the Last Bookstore in an installation done by another artist who calls the Tower home. The spirit of the Last Bookstore speaks to the essence of the Art Walk itself: a community of creators, in all forms of art, pouring out into the streets to mingle and share and thrive.
