“It is a renegade renaissance in the Venice of America...” renowned artist Larry Bell is one of many who comments on the value of the VAC for today’s new artist. The famed minimalist and pioneer of the Light and Space movement, Bell points to the necessity of finding new outlets for providing public access to contemporary arts: “…these artists don't need big studios, now its computers in little bungalows. New medias...they need space to show.”
Local restaurateur, Daniel Samakow sees artists like Larry Bell, Rip Cronk, Judy Baca, Euth and the dozens more who are participating in the first VAC as indicative of a powerful community movement in Venice:
“For a while now, the perception has been that Venice Beach has been moving away from a real arts community towards a t-shirt centric, pipe store thing, and that’s not what Venice Beach is, neither historically or in reality. This is an artist colony: It’s where Jim Morrison cut his teeth, where Charlie Chaplin created the little tramp character; where Orson Wells filmed and people like James Cameron still create, where artists like Ed Ruscha, Billy Al Bengston, Ed Moses and many others still live and work. It is where new creative expressions in every field from skateboarding, inline skating and surfing to body building, writing, and cutting edge film making have taken off. Venice Beach is this raw, beautiful, powerful neighborhood where people live and create – and we are opening that up to our millions of visitors once again. It’s our hope that people from all over the world who come here to see and be part of this creative energy will take home art instead of just t-shirts.”
The VAC is a Venice twist on an existing concept. Local businesses and residents partners with artists to act as “pop up galleries” or one day exhibitors of an artist’s work. With more than 30 pop up galleries prepared to launch for the first VAC on August 19th, public attendees can expect a free night of world class art out on one of the world’s pre-eminent beaches.
For more information, please visit http://www.veniceartcrawl.com/
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The Venice Art Crawl is a free monthly exploration of the Venice Beach area and the world famous Venice artist community and spirit.
