By Sam Skopp
In order to highlight the new exhibits that opened this past Saturday at almost half of the galleries at the Bergamot Station art gallery complex, Santa Monica locals were invited to a “Fall Open” event via Facebook, which provided easy access to a list of all new exhibits, as well as opening receptions that were held at most of the galleries showing new works.
“Sometimes it’s hard to find information. I wanted it to be easy for Joe Schmo to be like, ‘What’s going on at Bergamot?’” said Diana McNeill, who coordinated the Fall Open event and works as a gallery coordinator at the Leslie Sacks Gallery.
New works by Jim Dine, in an exhibit titled Printmaker, were on display at the Leslie Sacks Gallery, many of which were created by compiling multiple artistic techniques.
“We’re focusing in this exhibition on his experimental properties,” said McNeill.
Additionally, the Leslie Sacks Gallery presented a brief “pop up gallery” of a series of works by Alex Weinstein titled Power Line Paintings. Weinstein’s works are generally abstract and oceanic. This new series of works by Weinstein brings his focus upward to sunset-inspired works, with power lines added, as if these “sunsets” were being viewed through an urban lens.
“I realized how gracefully the drooping power lines framed the scene. The lines’ presence was at once irritating in its disruption of a classically sublime vista with human presence and also compositionally very satisfying: the crisp lines hanging across the distant, blurry color-wash provided a visual schism that I liked,” said Weinstein in his artist statement.
Just across the from the Leslie Sacks Gallery, the Peter Fetterman Gallery opened an exhibit titled A Personal Tribute to Henri Cartier-Bresson, featuring the black and white photography of Cartier-Bresson, who passed away in 2004. Gallery director Peter Fetterman showcased a photo by by Cartier-Bresson in his first “gallery” (located in the back of his apartment) in 1989. Five years later, Fetterman opened a gallery in a public space.
“As the gallery prospered, we asked Henri to print images he advised us that no one had ever requested before. These less familiar ‘gems’ were always the ones that attracted me the most,” said Fetterman.
The new exhibit features over 100 photographs from the gallery’s collection of works by Cartier-Bresson.
Printmaker will be open through October 22; A Personal Tribute to Henri Cartier-Bresson will be shown through December 3. For more information about these and other galleries at Bergamot Station, visit bergamotstation.com.
