News

Sze Tsung Leong Winner of the 2018 - 2019 Rome Prize

"The American Academy in Rome has announced the winners of the 2018–19 Rome Prize and Italian Fellowships. These highly competitive fellowships support advanced independent work and research in the arts and humanities. This year, 29 Rome Prizes were awarded to 29 artists and scholars, who will receive a stipend, workspace, and room and board for a period of five months to two years at the Academy’s eleven-acre campus in Rome. The Rome Prize and Italian Fellowship winners were presented on April 12, 2018, during the Arthur and Janet C. Ross Rome Prize Ceremony in the Frederick P. Rose Auditorium at Cooper Union in New York."

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An Interview with Elaine Reichek - ARTFORUM

Elaine Reichek, Toutes les filles (All the Girls), 2016–17, hand embroidery on linen, 50 1/2 x 79".

"Everything old is new again, and vice versa. Elaine Reichek is a New York–born and –bred artist who has long engaged with some of the women of ancient Greek myths in her works, often via hand embroidery and digital sewing. Her latest exhibition, “Now If I Had Been Writing This Story,” which takes its title from a poem by Stevie Smith, features ten works from the past eleven years and is on view at the Secession in Vienna from April 13 to June 3, 2018."

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Philadelphia Style Mag - "Art Adventures: The Best and Most Instagramable of The Armory Show"

"This intensely hued, large-scale work by artist Rachel Lachowicz, is modeled after three structures from a Clint Eastwood film and painted entirely in a bright red lipstick that the Los Angeles based artist makes herself and melts down. The eye-catching work captures the viewer’s attention with its reflective windows, and signals a feminist intervention in the classically male, western sheriff station."

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Sabrina Gschwandtner in LensCulture's "35 Photographers to Watch: Celebrating International Women’s Day 2018"

"In honor of International Women’s Day, we reached out to an impressive network of female curators, photo editors, program directors, and photographers to compile a list of women who are making remarkable photographic work today. Our associate editor, Coralie Kraft, shares her thoughts on the inspiring range of projects that emerged—"

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To the End and a New Beginning

Bergamot Station, Shoshana Wayne Gallery
 
After a remarkable 24 years, the Bergamot Station ltd. Arts Center in Santa Monica is closing. Shoshana Wayne Gallery will relocate and reopen with an exciting new exhibition program.    
 
Bergamot Station opened in September 1994.  Its founders, Shoshana and Wayne Blank,  had the vision to convert dilapidated industrial structures into a vibrant arts center –a concept that ultimately revived the art scene in Los Angeles following the 1994 LA Riots and earthquake –two historical events that deeply affected LA’s social culture.  The success of the arts center was always driven by its inclusivity and its core mission of being a cultural stop free and open to all. It has been home to renowned art galleries, architects, and creative businesses. 
 
At its inception, several of LA’s best galleries moved to the arts center including Patricia Faure, Rosamund Felson and Burnett Miller.  Substantial exhibitions of work by Robert Mapplethorpe, Mike Kelley, Anselm Kiefer, Balthus, Roni Horn, Antony Gormley, Mark Bradford, Yoko Ono, Beatrice Wood and many more have been shown at Bergamot Station, giving California residents a chance to have a firsthand experience of work by pivotal artists.  As such, the arts center became a must-see destination for curators, artists, art collectors, writers and art students. 
 
Over the years, the arts center has hosted numerous fundraising events for local and national charities as well as political events for the likes of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Sheila Kuehl and many more.  The arts center has welcomed countless schools, children and adults of all ages and needs for gallery tours and talks.  In addition, Bergamot Station has engaged the community through special seasonal events and film screenings. 
 
Beyond its local impact, Bergamot Station has had an influence on cities worldwide including Paris where a similar concept was employed.  Recently, Bergamot Station’s "People Park" was selected by the city of Berlin to be recreated and permanently installed in Berlin’s International Garden Park.  The full-scale exact replica titled “Los Angeles Garden” is presented by German artist Martin Kaltwasser, featuring all elements of our very own "People Park" (palm trees, benches, fencing, and surrounding parking lot), it opened permanently to a very enthusiastic public in April 2017. 
 
While the Bergamot Station Arts Center as you have known it for the last 24 years has come to an end, the property will be renamed and managed by the city with future plans for redevelopment. 
 
Shoshana Wayne Gallery looks forward to this welcome opportunity for change and a fresh start.  We thank you for your continued support over the years and look forward to seeing you soon at our new location. 
 
Many thanks and warmest wishes for a happy new year,
 
Shoshana and Wayne Blank

Rachel Lachowicz listed in Artillery Magazine's "Best in Show 2017"

"Lachowicz took what has become a signature material for her to the furthest conceptual (and arguably physical) limits with a show that was breathtaking in scope from the most elemental (claim of habitat) to the most ambitious and abstract (notions of order, progression and moral hierarchy, and more urgently, the gendering of order and hierarchy). This was a lipstick trace to set a town on fire—and we enjoyed it."


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