While waiting for my family to come visit Los Angeles for my Mother’s birthday, I decided to take myself on an art date to a well-established (and well-funded) art gallery in WeHo.
I got to WeHo early enough to find metered parking, and walked into the gallery.
Not able to able to find any of the gallery’s curators or docents through the well-dressed gallery viewers, I resorted to asking the tray-passers by.
You read that properly – this art gallery was catered with appetizers. Not to be outdone by the adjacent Pop-Up gallery I’d like to feature in this post, the well-established and funded gallery offered champagne in real glassware, not the run-of-the-mill solo cups. Since no one was able to point me to an affiliation with the gallery, I did what every gallery-goer would: I enjoyed my champagne, the art, and made my exit. And then I found my first love in Pop-Up Galleries.
Walking slowly on the cusp of WeHo and Beverly Hills, I window shopped the rug stores by cool-breeze and moonlight. I noticed another gallery opening and decided to dip in, not even taking stock of the gallery name. Which I rue not doing in real-time! After scouring the internet for an hour, I finally found the Pop-Up show I easily stumbled onto that Friday night.
The St. Tammary Parish Major Arcana Deck, featuring a reading by Aaron Osborne is a pop-up exhibition running from October 18 – October 28, 2019. Inspired by an 8-month stay on the Louisiana Northshore, Osborne imagines his own Tarot Deck. Housed at 711 N. La Cienega, Osborne’s show featured human-scale Tarot reimagined.
Each of Osborne’s cards had an existential reading of their own – placed as an informational placard adjacent to each piece. As an exemplar, Tarot Card Ten visually displays children against a neighborhood backdrop, integrated into classic playing card iconography. The placard reads: “You are starting at one. No matter how you approach the situation…” The clever concept and play on visual double-entendre hooked me into the Pop-Up, and the vision of Osborne’s was relentlessly refreshing.
Complete with an in-house Tarot card reading, the exhibition space held a re-created shack from the South, where viewers lined up for free readings. The Pop-Up didn’t need any additional bells and whistles to stand on its own two legs, and fortunately, nothing felt contrived or gimmicky.
The entire exhibition was rejuvenating, non-pretentious, well-curated, and standalone in the joy of art. Osborne not only opened space for interactive art with depth, Osborne opened space for gallery audiences to interact organically and jovially – if only for a limited time.
Pop-Up Gallery:
711 N. La Cienega
Artists:
Aaron Osborne
Exhibition Dates:
Oct 18 – Oct 28, 2019
Hours:
Mon – Fri
11am – 8:00pm
Price:
Free