From Hollywood to Venice!

stARTup Art Fair just announced a relocation from Hollywood to Venice Beach this year for its third edition in Los Angeles taking place from January 26 – 28.

The fair will take over 40 rooms at The Kinney Venice Beach hotel next week and present a series of solo exhibitions by independent artists chosen by a highly regarded committee that includes artists, curators and arts professionals. The unique model will allow independent artists to present and sell their own work, on their own terms. Artists also enjoy 100% of their sales.

The Kinney, a new boutique hotel featuring colorful rooms and fun communal spaces is located less than a mile from the Venice Beach Boardwalk and Marina del Rey. On his decision to move the fair from Hollywood to Venice Beach this year, Director Ray Beldner said:

“We feel that The Kinney will make an excellent partner in offering a unique contemporary art experience. Aside from the neighborhood’s artistic legacy and proximity to the ocean, this venue is closer to Art Contemporary Los Angeles, so art lovers can spend more time with art and less time in traffic over the weekend.”

Programming and highlights

stARTup Art Fair will kick off with an opening night celebration for anyone who purchases a general admission ticket on Friday. Visitors can expect DJ Panda Bear, engaging performance art, food by an award winning chef, and signature cocktails by Humboldt Distillery, the North Coast’s first and only organic micro-distillery.

Room 232

Veteran exhibitor Mikey Kelly will create a floor to ceiling installation out of 30 honeycomb cardboard panels. Each panel is made by taking a two word affirmation and running it through a Vigenère cipher to create a numerical program that directs the angle for each painted line.

Room 207

Artist Matthew Floriani will show his large-scale homes with a continued examination of the ways in which humans use shelters to create a sense of order out of chaos and grapple with the illusion of control.

Gender complexity

Addressing the gendered complexity of our current moment, Dana DeKalb and Jane Fisher , both figurative painters, will show portraits of first wives from around the world to contemplate the line between complicity and coercion. In addition Fisher will exhibit two large-scale paintings of muscle men on fair grounds as an homage to the iconic Venice Beach subculture.

A Freaky Art Paradise

Saturday evening at stARTup will celebrate featured artist Parker Day with a book signing and evening event hosted by Ariel Brickman with sounds by Senay Kenfe of Boiler Room. Day will transform one of the hotel suites into a freaky art paradise that brings audiences into the sets of her recent series ICONS, a portrait-based exploration of identity and the masks wear. Through vibrant colors and rich textures, Day presents her body of work within a site-specific installation that differentiates from traditional all-white exhibition spaces. Curated by Nathaly Charria .

The Minotaur and Us

Guta Galli performs The Minotaur and Us, a 3-hour durational performance that activates the main research in her art practice within the public context of the fair. The monumental red yarn entity she works with carries the memories, hair, blood and sweat of 30 different performances and 31 different women, including herself. Friday 12-3 and 7-10 pm.

Cultural Legacies

Friday afternoon presents Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack uses the outside space as a platform for a continuing conceptual performance installation where he will be embodying cultural legacies while turning conversation into ceremony. To Be Held begins Friday, Jan 26: 5:00 pm. Former stARTup exhibitor Doni Silver Simons performs In Transit, which takes place on the shuttle that transports visitors between Art

Who Run the World

Video works will be on view over the course of the fair including Italy-based Ilaria Bochicchio ’s Who Run the World, a highly personal take on the contemporary moment through video montage. Repeat stARTup exhibitor Jenifer Yeuroukis presents deconstructing through manifestation one, a work about the complexity and subjective nature of words and their power to expand and restrict notions of the female body and identity.

For more information, visit www.startupartfair.com