The Beacon Arts Building (BAB) continues its Critics-as-Curators series with TEL-ART-PHONE, a unique art exhibition that investigates the creative process by mimicking the classic children’s game of “Telephone,” opening Saturday, May 28, 2011. Curated by Coagula Founder Mat Gleason, TEL-ART-PHONE, kicks-off with an opening reception featuring live painting and catering by Literati Bar & Grill from 6:00 to 10:00pm on May 28. Among the 80+ artists contributing works to the show are Ray Beldner, Tim Biskup, Coop, Sean Duffy, Carlee Fernandez, Gronk, George Herms, Rosalind McGary, Dave Naz, and Robert Williams.  The exhibit runs for five weeks closing on Sunday, July 3, 2011 with a Critics-as-Curators panel discussion and brunch reception from 1:00 to 4:00pm. Artist panel discussions will also be held on three consecutive Sundays: June 12, June 19, and June 26 at 2:00pm. Read the rest of this entry »

Beacon Arts Building 2nd Floor Studios (photo credit: David Teel Photography)

Highwood Properties announces completion of renovations at Beacon Arts Building, an artists community with warehouse-style studio spaces available for lease to working art professionals. The Modernist cast concrete building, which features stunning 11’6” ceilings and “open capital” columns, first opened its doors to the local art community in October 2010 with the Beacon Arts contemporary art gallery on the ground floor of the facility. Open house events, when studio spaces will be open for viewing, will be held on Thursday April 28, Saturday May 7, and Sunday May 15, 2011 from 1:00 to 4:00pm.  Studios may also be viewed by appointment. The Beacon Arts Building is located at 808 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, CA 90302. The property sits prominently on La Brea Avenue, located just 11 minutes south of the 10 Freeway (I-10). Ample on-site parking is available as well as on the adjacent streets.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Beacon Arts Building is an iconic, four-story, solid reinforced concrete monolith in Inglewood, California representative of classic 1950s architecture. Cast in-place, the structure is as much a singular sculpture as an inhabitable building. Outside and inside of the building, signs of its creation are evident – from the wood grain impression made by the plywood that was used to build the forms to the air bubbles in the concrete. The massive 32,400 square foot structure is self-supporting by design, with strong, “open capital” columns – a modern reference to the columns found in early Egyptian ceremonial temples.

Read the rest of this entry »

"Flock" by Michael Arata

Beacon Arts continues its Critics-as-Curators series with Arataland! A Mid-Career Survey of Artworks by Michael Arata curated by art critic Doug Harvey, opening Saturday, March 26, 2011. Arataland! will be the first museum-scale retrospective devoted exclusively to the work of this important Los Angeles artist, and the first monographic exhibit hosted by the Beacon Arts Building during its inaugural Critics-as-Curators series.  Drawing on three decades of sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, installation and performance work, Arataland! will transform the Beacon Arts Building into a theme park exploring the complex and idiosyncratic vision – darkly humorous, playfully erotic, conceptually quirky, and often confrontational – that animates Arata’s oeuvre. The exhibit will run for eight weeks closing on Sunday, May 22, 2011 with a Critics-as-Curators panel discussion from 1:00 to 4:00pm.
Read the rest of this entry »

David Watson

Beacon Arts and the Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound (SASSAS) present Ad Hoc #2: David Watson & David Grubbs, a site-specific sonic exploration of the Beacon Arts Building’s fourth floor on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 8:00 pm. This free event features a unique aural experience that encourages interplay between the musicians and the listening audience.  In realizing these new works, New Yorkers Watson and Grubbs will be working with several experimental sound artists and musicians from Los Angeles including Joe Potts, Steve Roden, and William Roper.

Read the rest of this entry »

"Mine Eternal" by Laura Krifka

Beacon Arts continues its Critics-as-Curators series with Pieceable Kingdom curated by art critic David Pagel, opening Saturday, February 5, 2011. The exhibition features works in a range of media by seven artists – Erin Cosgrove, Asad Faulwell, Maxwell Hendler, Laura Krifka, Mimi Lauter, Devin Troy Strother, and Matt Wedel –  who capture the complexity of everyday life by giving form to its down-to-earth beauty and uplifting ordinariness, its tribulations and triumphs, its pleasures and pains. As a group, they piece things together, sometimes literally and sometimes figuratively, creating singular pieces that are complete unto themselves yet also openly invite all sorts of stories, from other times and places, to echo across their sensuous surfaces. Pieceable Kingdom runs until Sunday, March 20, 2011.  Exhibition special events include an opening reception on Saturday February 5, 6:00 – 9:00pm, an artists’ panel discussion on Sunday, March 6, which starts at 2:00pm, and a closing reception on Sunday, March 20, which will include a catered brunch and a critics’ panel discussion. Read the rest of this entry »

Jae Hwa Yoo - "Wind City" - 2010, acrylic on canvas (photo courtesy of the artist)

Beacon Arts continues its Critics-as-Curators series with Densities: Line Becoming Shape, Shape Becoming Object curated by respected art writer Peter Frank, opening Friday, December 10, 2010. The exhibition features works in a range of media by artists Philippa Blair, Ran Harari, Tom Jenkins, Joel King, John White, and Jae Hwa Yoo, all with a sensibility that favors visual complexity driven by a profusion of active linear forms.  Densities runs from December 10, 2010 to January 30, 2011.  Exhibition special events include an opening party on Friday, December 10, 5:00 – 8:00pm; an open house on Saturday, January 22, 11:00am – 6:00pm; and a closing event on Sunday, January 30, 11:00am – 4:00pm, which will include a catered brunch and a panel discussion.

Read the rest of this entry »

Gustavo Venegas – “Bullethead”

Beacon Arts, a brand-new “arts laboratory” featuring innovative exhibitions in Inglewood, CA, kicks things off with its inaugural exhibition, Ghost Stories: Happenings, Hauntings, & Curiosities, running from Thursday, October 14 through Sunday, November 7, 2010.  Curated by art writer Shana Nys Dambrot, the show is the first in the art space’s Critics-as-Curators series.  Additional Ghost Stories-related events are planned including an interdisciplinary Halloween extravaganza on the evening of Friday, October 29th and a daytime Pagan Arts Camp (for adults) on Saturday October 30th, with a closing reception/panel discussion on Sunday, November 7, 2010. The Reverend Ethan Acres, whose ministry is dedicated to the expression of religious ecstasy through irrational and absurdist behavior, has signed on as resident “spirit advisor” for the gallery’s first exhibition. His Ghost Stories‘ performances will be his first locally in years.  Beacon Arts provides innovative arts programming and resources to enrich the cultural landscape of Los Angeles with contemporary fine art by a new generation of adventurous Southern California artists.  Renée Fox, known for her success organizing the rapidly growing Inglewood Open Studios, develops and directs creative programming for the Beacon Arts Building.

Read the rest of this entry »