Paris Photo Los Angeles took place over the weekend, and Whitewall was there for the VIP preview on Thursday. For its second edition in the US, the layout of the fair was more successful than the first time around. Instead of entering first onto a sound stage, visitors started out on the New York back lot, where galleries presented mostly solo booths inside the facades of New York City buildings. The sound stages housing the rest of the gallery presentations, the Sound & Vision program, the BMW Art Car painted by David Hockney, and the “UNEDITED!” exhibition of photos from the LAPD archive, were all lumped together on the far left side of the faux city streets.
The turnout for the preview was pretty star-studded–a mix of Hollywood and the art world. We personally spotted Jodie Foster, Brad Pitt, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Catherine Opie. Beth Rudin DeWoody, Lauren Taschen, Maria Bell, Eli and Edythe Broad, Judd Apatow, Orlando Bloom, Julie Delpy, Jane Fonda, Moby, Joni Mitchell, Ed Norton, and Frank Ocean were also in attendance, enjoying a steady flow of Ruinart champagne.
HOLLYWOOD, CA – APRIL 24: Actor/producer Brad Pitt and actor Orlando Bloom attend the Paris Photo Los Angeles private preview at Paramount Studios on April 24, 2014 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Paris Photo)
Galleries reported strong sales and, along with attendees, expressed an overall enthusiasm for the fair experience. With the official announcement on Friday that FIAC will be coming to downtown L.A. in the spring of 2015, it looks like Lala-land may be the new spot for future art fairs.
But Paris Photo Los Angeles wasn’t just about the stars, the sun, and the fun location. There was a lot of great work on view. One of the most unique aspects of the fair was the “UNEDITED!” exhibition of archival LAPD photographs. Both in black-and-white and color, the selection of mug shots, evidence, and crime scene documentation was gritty, real, and sometimes humorous (like the stick up notes that read “stick up/don’t move/smile” or the series of a woman presumably failing a roadside field sobriety test). The first mug shots of Charles Manson were on view, as well as photos of the arrest of the Manson family.
HOLLYWOOD, CA – APRIL 24: Actress Jodie Foster (L) and Paris Photo Director Julien Frydman attend the Paris Photo Los Angeles private preview at Paramount Studios on April 24, 2014 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by David Buchan/Getty Images for Paris Photo)
A few of the solo presentations on the New York back lot stood out. Cherry and Martin showed Brian Bress, who covered the walls of the space with overlapping, tropical imagery, complimenting his photo and video collages. M+B had an installation of work by Mariah Robertson, who chemically treats large reams and individual pieces of RA-4 photo paper. In the final image, you can see how she physically moved or altered (cutting, burning) the paper. The altered paper is displayed in Plexiglas, transforming the pieces into large, sculptural works. And Loock gallery’s presentation of work by Charlie White showcased a new direction in the artists work. He created a riff on the classic still-life with decadent desserts, using graph paper as a base layer, referencing the digital photo.
Rare black-and-white photographs by William Eggleston were on view at Rose Gallery. It was fascinating to see how an artist known so well known for his work in color, made the banality of everyday life beautiful in black-and-white. Ryan McGinley at Team Gallery’s booth, on the other hand, showed the seduction of color and youth in Roundup (Wide Sky). And Viviane Sassen, on view at Stevenson, showed a deft ability to play with color in relation to her subjects.
“Stick up don’t move smile” bank robbery note, 3 November 1965. Photographer: Unknown © LAPD, Image courtesy of Fototeka
A new find for us at the fair was a series of ambrotypes by Patricia Lagarde presented at Patricia Conde. Lagarde uses century-old techniques and materials to create curious images. We were told she stages miniature dioramas that hark back to the late 19th-century. Each work came in a special velvet and leather box, to be used for both display and travel, making it both an image and an object.
