Artist Interviews 2022

The LA Art Show  
By Laura Siebold & Julia Siedenburg



The LA Art Show (January 19 - 23, 2022) - About the art and the artists

Founded in 1994, one year before Julia was born, the LA Art Show had its opening at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Starting with 14 galleries exhibiting Historic & American Regionalism and 250 attendees, the LA Art Show has greatly extended its scope and participating galleries and artists by 2022.

2009 was the first year when the show was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, a venue it has repeatedly returned to since then.

When we walked into into the Center, our press passes were ready to be picked up. Our main editor Johnny Otto had organized for Art Squat to cover the event. With strict Covid measures in place, the admittance still moved forward quite quickly.

When we entered the exposition space, we were impressed by the many different booths of participatiing artists and galleries. We knew right away, it would be hard for us to get through the whole space in 2-3 hours. With an increase in visitors of about 20% from the previous summer 2021 event and 90 participating galleries and museums, the space was bursting with art and excited visitors.

The first gallery showing that we walked into featured a human wax figure created by artist Carole Feuerman, which looked extremely realistic. The woman in the swimsuit was accompanied by various light sculptures by Anthony James. The artists where represented by Melissa Morgan Fine Art Gallery located in Palm Springs.



As we ventured forth, we stumbled appon the amazing stacked wood sculpture made by Gil Bruvel
(discover the interview conducted by Johnny Otto in this issue of Art Squat Magazine).



Right around the corner, we discovered the art of Jamy Kahn, represented by bG Gallery in Santa Monica (read the interview conducted by Laura in this issue of Art Squat Magazine). Jamy’s assistant Kourtney even hand-delivered some photographs of her work to us during our visit of the galleries at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica.



Johnny Otto had previously asked us to stop by the Viva LA booth, since he had just recently helped them to film their truck with an artist painting live, as the open truck was moving slowly through the streets of LA. Viva LA celebrates the artistic passion and legacy of LA artists and seeks to unite and inspire everyone around the world with their love for the arts and LA. Their goal is to make Viva LA the same kind of famous staple motto as “I heart NY” has been for so many years. Viva LA celebrates the diversity of the art and the people in this city as “the engine of LA’s creative culture”.



Before taking a quick break and enjoying a sadly non-alcoholic drink at the bar, we admired some beautiful creative collage art inspired by retro magazine artist Simon Vargas (represented by gallery Wolf and Nomad in Miami), as well as Betsy Enzensberger’s fun human scale popsicles. As a big ice cream lover, these pieces became Laura’s favorite part of the show. It was only a question of time before she would reach out to Betsy to interview her and ask her all the questions she could about ice cream… and art. Laura even went as far as Palm Springs to get a closer look at Betsy and her popsicles during Desert Open studios 2022. (Look out for this interview in this issue conducted by Laura)



We also loved Takashi Murakami’s laughing flowers on the walls of his booth at the LA Art Show (sadly the artist could not be reached for an interview).



Susan Cohen, a sweet older lady with pink and purple hair strains, got Julia’s attention, as we were making our way through the exhibits. Her colorful ink pieces on glass and canvas were a playful display of artistic expression. She led Julia herself through their hallway and explained the ideas behind each piece. (Learn more about Susan in her interview by Julia in this issue of Art Squat Magazine)



Running out of time, we still managed to find the booth where Vakseen exhibited his colorful pop art portraits and collages.



Right around the corner, we suddenly heard a familiar German accent. The German artist Thitz exhibited his Bag Art at the LA Art Show. Despite the initial skepticism of his gallery agent, Thitz was very excited to be interviewed for this issue.



While hurrying to catch at leats a glimpse of the remaining exhibits, Julia stumbled upon the arist Boris Guilian who stood out with his very unique canvases that showcased different table settings based on the country that it is representing. From Japan to Spain, all different natonaltys and characteristics where represented in this booth. We had a nice chat where he was very excited to disclose that he had a big museum show that started simultaneously with the opening of the LA Art Show. (Find out where the museum show is by reading the interview with Boris conducted by Julia in this issue)



Laura also discovered the booth by the artists Reisig and Taylor from whom she is still waiting for an interview submission since their first encounter at The Other Art Fair 2021.

As the end of our evening at the LA Art Show came closer, Julia couldn’t help but stop and take a closer look at the interesting and fun modern art pieces by artist TV Boy, where he reinvented some of the most iconic images known today, from Mona Lisa’s smile to the portrait of Frida Carlo and even the Queen. (Julia is still waiting for TV Boy to get back to her)



Brayden Bugazzi with his pop art mixed media portraits and his “spacemanart” bridged the gap between traditional art and NFT’s. (Learn more about Brayden Bugazzi in this issue of Art Squat Magazine)



The LA Art Show had a whole area dedicated to the rise of NFT’s in the art world. We saw many interested visitors intermingled with art at this booth, while we slowly made our way out of the exhibit.

It was a successful visit of the LA Art Show and we will be back for sure next year!!! But until then, there will be many other exciting art shows to come and write about.