Text and Images by Juan Roberts
Robert Regalado is a visionary. As the Founder of the new Antelope Valley (AV) Artist Association, he has begun a trend of positive
momentum in the for AV artists of almost every discipline.Last Saturday, Robert's quest continued. A small group of us piled into Robert's Suburban and
traveled 70+ miles to Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. Except for a brief lunch, we spent the entire day at over 20 amazing galleries, the terrific Hiromi paper store, a frame shop that hosted fine art portraits and a specialty store of functional art.Each location reveals more and more of a world
outside the valley that explodes with the brash optimism of self expression through paint, pottery, photography, pencil, print making, metalworks, computer graphics and sculpture.We meandered throughout the complex, ducking into austere galleries, hanging out in wide open large scale galleries, stopping by smaller cramped galleries to see the obvious and curious. One exterior installation is unique to say the least -- it is a Mercedes converted into a terrarium titled the Farm Lab ... seriously.
Of course the artist styles were varied and encompassing. The show featuring Robert Motherwell elegies
is particularly inspiring, so much so that I came home and produced 15 new pieces right away -- I am calling it my Visual Haiku series. Another artist that caught all of our attention was part of a group show with 5 new paintings from Peter Saul. The paper sculpture of Jim Shaw was very cool and we enjoyed elegant photography by Lillian Bassman at one of my favorites, the Peter Fetterman Photo Gallery. They always have captivating black & white images. One series of prints is particularly irreverent and dealt with current
events. It features an image of President Bush in a Warhol styling admonishing viewers to vote for Obama + there a collection of shoes ganging above the lithographs, all painted black. Wow, talk about social commentary.
We all seem to collect lots of the numerous promotional materials for artists and openings, many of which were taking place that very evening. All-in-all, the day was great. The return ride was not one of those where everyone sleep until we get there, it was full of topical discussions on future projects, exchanging ideas, sharing peeks at sketches, communicating on multiple levels.I am not sure if it was what Robert expected, but I was very pleased. I made a new connection
with a local mixed media artist, Edwin, and his son, Edward.I've already made contact with a couple of the galleries and hope to continue a dialogue that may result in me showing later this year. How exciting a trip. Coolness.
The Backstory
For months now Robert has connected dozens of artists,
some like Evie Cook from Santa Clarita, to attend monthly meetings that have covered the gamut from house gatherings to full blown presentations by local artisans. All this work has one purpose -- to expose the valley to top quality artists and encourage artists to do what they do.I connected with Robert through Ana Luz and Arturo Castonon last year. They are a husband and wife team of glass blowers that do amazing work (kolibrifa@raodrunner.com) in their local studio.
