Downtown LA: Sunset & St. Marks Exhibit

Having just moved back to LA this past June from the Boston area, I wanted to check out the "Sunset & St. Marks"exhibit at the Standard Hotel in Downtown LA. The description of the show stated that this exhibit brings together some of the youngest and brightest talents from Los Angeles and New York (hence, the title of the show), in spite of whatever "false dichotomy" and rivalry that might exist between the two. Given that I now feel like an East Coast city girl with a Southern Californian mentality - if that even makes sense, I wanted to see what this was all about. Located in a small room on the second floor of the hotel, I found it interesting that when grouped together, I couldn't really tell which artist came from what coast. The works actually seemed to echo one another in various ways: political and urban undertones, definite usage of specific colors, themes and statements that were anything but merely pretty. Ironically, I found myself most drawn to the subtler works, maybe because they stood out in their ability to convey a statement without the sometimes overused "shock value". My other favorite was the huge collaboration work. In any case, if it's not the dichotomy that interests the public, it'll probably be the infamous statue of Britney Spears in labor, "Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston" by Daniel Edwards. The exhibit will close this Thursday, November 9th.

-Sarah Koo, ExperienceLA Arts/Cultural Marketing Intern