In his 45 years as a fine-art dealer and 12 years as a resident, Carl Schlosberg, 79, has reimagined Century City as an art space on median strips, gardens and in lobbies within his year-long urban exhibit, the 2015 Sculpture Walk.
Chair of the sculpture committee of the Arts Council and part of the Cultural Affairs Council with the Century City Chamber of Commerce, Schlosberg has come a long way since his days growing up on a farm in Van Nuys; he was awarded Citizen of the Year in 2013.
Why do you live in Century City?
I’m a second-generation Century City resident. My mother and father-in-law lived here 28 years before I moved in with my wife. But prior to that we lived in Sherman Oaks, and I’m a native Los Angeleno. I am the perfect example of why someone would want to live in Century City. I work in the community – I’m an art dealer, so I have clients who are involved in art. [The area] is convenient to everywhere in the city, but I don’t ever have to leave Century City. If I want to go to the movies I can go to the shopping center. I can go to the grocery store, to the Annenberg, work out in my own gym, swim in my own pool, and I can go to the deli down here and the park where the two towers are. I can go to my doctors, which are on the corner.
Would you say there’s a big art community in Century City?
Well, it certainly is growing. On many levels, there are a number of art dealers who live in Century City. There are many art collectors in [here], and right now there’s a lot of public art taking place in Century City. And with the Annenberg and their program and our continuing providing public sculpture in Century City, we’re making it very active and a culturally interesting place to be.
How did you get started as an art dealer?
When I was about 14 years old, I commissioned a painting from a friend of mine in high school for $15. And I brought it home, and it turned my humble bedroom into a castle. And from there, I had the desire to collect, to enrich my life and make my life more beautiful where ever I had been.
What type of art appeals to you most?
Many different periods and styles and schools of art. I do specialize in sculpture. I’ve sold many sculptures, but I handle paintings, prints and drawings. I’ve sold works from antiquities to cutting-edge contemporary art. I handle what interests me. I’ve sold works by Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, Picasso, Matisse, lots of big names, but also emerging, younger artists.
What do you like to do for fun?
I like to work out, I love traveling, love to go to different museums, love to go to lunch with my friends, love to go to the flower market downtown. I have a lot of passions in my life, and I like to have fun in my life. I have an apartment here in Century City and in New York. It’s the art center of the world, and I have clients and museums and galleries and friends and a whole little world in New York.
What was your last vacation?
Bentonville, Arkansas to the new museum called Crystal Bridges. It was built by an heiress to the Walmart family, and it was an extraordinary museum.
Where would you like to travel next?
I’m going to the South of France, to the Cote d’Azur, and then taking a cruise throughout the Mediterranean, ending up in Barcelona. I love to do those things, and I have a very combatable wife who likes to travel as well. But we also like to stay home. Los Angeles is a wonderful city with art, people, ideas, theater and everything.
