18th Street Celebrates a LEGACY of Contemporary Art

18th Street Celebrates a LEGACY of Contemporary Art

Opening Reception is on Saturday, February 19, 2011 from 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Santa Monica, CA – On February 19, 6pm-9pm, 18th Street kicks-off its 2011 Legacy theme with the debut of the exhibitions, Have You Seen My Privacy, by Richard Newton and Outsider Art: Others From Elsewhere Doing Something Altogether Different…Sort of by Vincent Ramos. In the spirit of the Getty Foundation’s sponsored project, *Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980, 18th Street has declared 2011 its “legacy” year. Artists chosen to activate the galleries will create projects to commemorate or pay tribute to California’s influential Contemporary Art Movement.

On this particular February night, 18th Street visitors will witness the art openings for two very innovative and unconventional artists in the 18th Street Gallery and Project Room; new and engaging art installations created by our Visiting International Artists, open-artist studios from our Artist-in-Residence, a young artist-driven group art show in the Pasillos I featuring the eclectic art works from the students of Santa Monica College, a fundraiser for a shelter in India in Pasillos II featuring the work from the children; and a delicious toss up of a mouth-watering veggie and organic hot dogs from AsiaDog Food Truck. At 8:00pm in the Highways Performance Space, visitors will be captivated by the mesmerizing and provocative performance art work of 18th Street’s visiting South African artist, MLu Zondi.

18th Street Gallery and Project Room

Beginning February 1 through April 24, 2011, Richard Newton will be in residence in the 18th Street Gallery. His project, Have You Seen My Privacy, will involve multiple presentations of video, ephemera, and correspondence accompanied by public dialogues with artists active in Southern California from 1960 and onwards. Newton will also actively collaborate with younger artists to develop three performances allied with the presentations.

During the same time span, Vincent Ramos will occupy 18th Street’s Project Room with his research-based project, Outsider Art: Others From Elsewhere Doing Something Altogether Different…Sort. Ramos’ project will look at works developed in Southern California in the 1960’s by artists who were not from the region, but whose projects informed and influenced the work of local artists. He will develop new works along with constructing a visual timeline of the many disparate pieces from these “outsider” artists.

Highways Performance Art Space

Performance artist, MLu Zondi lights up the Highways Performance Space with his performance art work that seamlessly weaves together the various art forms of visual art, contemporary dance, acting and poetry that audiences will find both emotionally inspiring and intellectually compelling.

Pasillos I- Untitled, as of yet

Students from Santa Monica College’s Fine Arts Mentor Program takeover the 18th Street Pasillos I to debut this year’s aspiring and gifted, young Contemporary Artists’ work. 18th Street’s Program Coordinator, Ronald Lopez, is curating this student group show.

Pasillos II- Womenfound presents Children’s Art from Gongathi Sunitha Shelter, Heyderabad, India

Womenfound, is an organization dedicated to raising money and awareness for some of the most impoverished and under-served women and girls in the furthest reaches of earth, where a combination of tradition, lack of education, antiquated laws and a lack of reproductive options mire people in a debilitating cycle of misery. Gongathi Sunitha’s shelter serves about 200 orphan children, 69 widows and 89 young women whom she has ejected from dire circumstances where they would have been sold into prostitution or the equivalent of slavery. The artwork on display was created by the children from the shelter and will be for sale to raise money and awareness for them.

Open-Artist Studios

The studios of18th Street Artists in residence are open to the public. Participating artists include: Arzu Kosar, Karl Doerrer-Attaway, Luciana Abait, Henriette Brouwers, John Malpede, David McDonald, Highways Performance Space, Susanna Dakin, Ichiro Irie, Michael Barnard, Continuum Montage, Continuun Studio, Henriette Brouwers, Suzanne Lacy, Otis MFA Public Practice, Clayton Campbell, Yvette Gellis, Electronic Café, and Visiting Artists: Birgit Sauer and Heidi Schwegler.

ArtNight is sponsored (in part) by the cultural funding initiatives of the City of Santa Monica, the Santa Monica Arts Commission, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, the James Irvine Foundation, the California Community Foundation, The Getty Foundation, the Africa Centre of Capetown, Crossroads School of Arts and Sciences and IZZE Sparkling Juice, Pama Pomegranate Liqueur and Hpnotiq Liqueur.

18th Street Arts Center’s mission is to provoke public dialogue through contemporary art making. 18th Street is a community which values art making as an essential component of a vibrant, just and healthy society.

For more information, contact Program Coordinator Ronald Lopez at rlopez@18thstreet.org, or go to www.18thstreet.org.

*Pacific Standard Time is an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene. Initiated through grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time will take place for six months beginning October 2011. Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.