Wrap-Up of the First Edition of Pulse La

WRAP-UP OF THE FIRST EDITION OF PULSE L.A. 10/4/11 1:14 PM

PULSE LOS ANGELES CONCLUDES PIONEERING FORAY INTO LOS ANGELES

The debut edition of PULSE Los Angeles concluded yesterday, having broken new ground in the Southern California cultural community. As the third edition of the leading series of PULSE Contemporary Art Fairs, PULSE Los Angeles was launched to support the recent growth of, and interest in, the Southern California art scene. Over 1,500 leading collectors and professionals attending the VIP opening, and the roster of exhibitors, all expressed enthusiasm for the city's potential.

Over the course of its four day run at the spacious and elegant Event Deck at L.A. LIVE, PULSE welcomed collectors, including Beth Rudin DeWoody, Susan and Michael Hort, John Phelan, Meryl Rose, Wendy Stark, Lisa Anastos, and Mark Siegel - chair of the Getty board of trustees; board members and curators from the Los Angeles MoCA, LACMA, Getty and the Hammer Museum; philanthropists Helene Galen and Jamie Kabler; curators David McFadden of the Museum of Art and Design, and Trevor Smith of the Peabody Essex Museum; and celebrities that included actress Mila Kunis, and comedians Margaret Cho and Eric Wareheim; as well as other prominent California cultural and business leaders from San Diego to Silicon Valley.

In contrast to March 2011's PULSE New York, where buyers gravitated heavily towards brightly colored paintings and similar flat works, Los Angeles patrons favored a more understated palette, opting for muted or greyed tones against large minimalist expanses. This theme was especially prominent in the IMPULSE booth of New York gallery Skylight Projects , which sold seven works by PULSE-prize winning English artist Alexander Massouras. On view were larger paintings of tiny divers falling into pools of water against a vast black background, as well as a series of similar figures on much smaller white plywood panels. At the booth of Los Angeles dealer Charlie James, two maps by Sandow Birk and Elys Pignolet were particularly popular, depicting satirical "liberal" and "conservative" views of the world through stereotypical politicized descriptions of each country and regions. In the animal kingdom, Nate Frizzell's busts and portraits of foxes, rabbits, and bears in the booth of Los Angeles' LeBasse Projects were a big hit, with the gallery selling six of the artist's new works in the opening hours. Also from LA, other works of note included early works by John Altoon in the booth of Samuel Freeman, and the work of young California rising star Ali Smith proved particularly popular at the booth of Mark Moore Gallery. At the booth of New York's Fred Torres Collaborations, works by David LaChapelle, Ken Gonzales-Day and Gretchen Ryan all garnered attention, and from Europe, works of Jordi Alcarez at the booth of Stefan Roepke were also popular.

Curiosities also abounded; in the IMPULSE section, Nagoya's STANDING PINE-cube presented a solo exhibition of miniaturist Kenji Sugiyama, whose bookshelf-ready eyeball sculptures made from paper, which reveal themselves to contain tiny museums when one peers through the pupil, sold ten pieces during the run. In the booth of Schroeder Romero & Shredder, of New York, a Ted Victoria lenticular print, animated through a complex mechanical camera obscura process, was snapped up by a Vice President of Apple Computers who took the work off the wall before heading straight back to Cupertino. http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=99cksqcab&v=…8MzxMHHd2BvOtoF5MOnFeZ7UbZhKJXStEKoHQ5cByKRjMIHvmKA96ajY4g8U%3D Page 1 of 3 WRAP-UP OF THE FIRST EDITION OF PULSE L.A. 10/4/11 1:14 PM

Many other sales ventured into the macabre. Such was the case of Tel Aviv gallery Zemack Contemporary Art, which sold a large Philippe Pasqua mixed media painting of a skull rendered in oil, charcoal, footprints, and blood for an estimated $40,000 in the opening minutes of the fair. Similarly, Joshua Liner Gallery scored big in the opening hour, moving two Kris Kuksi sculptures that combine hundreds of altered figurines that offer political commentaries through a neo-gothic appearance, for roughly $50,000. Christina Ray, also from New York, sold a large mixed media work by Brooklyn street artist SWOON - formerly represented by MoCA impressario Jeffrey Deitch. Entitled Ice Queen, the work featured a greyscale portrait of a woman reminiscent of fantasy characters pasted against a slab of found wood. The whimsical yet oddly violent works of collective 3(three) presented by Tokyo gallerist Megumi Ogita, were also a big hit. A series of their work presented as a special project consisted of thousands of vinyl anime figures chopped and compressed together into large wall- mounted slabs, and sized in a manner comparable to flat panel television screens. A large work sold for $15,000, while multiple cube shaped variations sold for $3,000.

The next edition of PULSE, PULSE Miami, will take place December 1-4, 2011 at its art deco venue, Ice Palace Studios in the city's Wynwood District. This edition will feature over 90 international exhibitors from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Spain, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, and the United States. For more information and to view the list of exhibitors please click here. In 2012, PULSE New York will be presented at a new date, from May 3 through 6, returning to the elegant and convenient Metropolitan Pavilion in the heart of Chelsea.

PULSE PULSE Los Angeles, the newest addition to PULSE Contemporary Art Fairs, celebrates the creative energy and growing art market of the West Coast. Through its annual editions in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, PULSE provides a unique platform for diverse galleries to present a progressive blend of renowned and pioneering contemporary artists, alongside an evolving series of original programming. The fair's distinctive commitment to the art community and visitor experience makes PULSE unique among art fairs and creates an experience that is both dynamic and inviting. PULSE Contemporary Art Fairs are a division of Ramsay Fairs. The world's largest producer of contemporary art fairs, Ramsay Fairs is co-founder of Art HK, Asia's largest fair; co-owner of the India Art Fair; and owner of the Affordable Art Fair, held in ten cities internationally.

VISIT PULSE Contemporary Art Fair at www.pulse-art.com; or contact Yinka Barotto at +1 (212) 255-2327 | [email protected]

MEDIA CONTACT Andy Cushman | OCTOPUS OUTREACH | E: [email protected] | M: +1 (917) 744-4042

UPCOMING FAIRS

PULSE MIAMI December 1-4, 2011 Ice Palace Studios

PULSE NEW YORK May 3-6, 2012 (new dates) Metropolitan Pavilion

PULSE LOS ANGELES 2011 WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS + PARTNERS

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