Art is a stranger seen through a bubble Inflatable art, among other things, can be found at the Acme art gallery in Santa Monica
Ara interviews the owners of a Santa Monica art gallery.
“Recently I had the opportunity of interviewing the guys down at Acme. For those of you who have never heard of it, Acme is an art gallery in Santa Monica. Bob and Randy, the owners, feature art work in their gallery that is particularly different from the stuff you find in other galleries.
As I walked into the gallery, I knew this whole thing was going be cool. In the entrance area stood a huge, 12-foot clear and white plastic sphere.
On the walls next to the sphere hung other inflatable art, like a half-clear half-white plastic square. I wandered around and found other interesting things, like a series of photographs which had been color photocopied onto colored paper.
“It’s contemporary art,” they said when I referred to what they have as modern art. “Modern art means art made any time since the late 19th century, like Picasso’s and stuff,” as opposed to contemporary, which is, well, ‘no holds barred’ art. There’s absolutely no rules. The artist is left to his or her own imagination and creativity.
“So what made you want to open up an art gallery?” I asked them. Randy said it’s something he’s always wanted to do. He’s worked in other peoples’ galleries before and wanted to create his own. As for Bob, it was more of a gradual thing. His intentions were a bit different. As a teen, he was more into music. He attended Huntington Beach High in the early 80’s. Randy graduated from high school in 1969 in Kansas City, Kansas, then later on decided to move out here to Los Angeles.
“Opening night was definitely our most rewarding time with the gallery. Knowing that everything had gone well and that all the work had paid off.” Things aren’t so bad when you make a sale either. Pieces of art can sell for around $3,000, or sometimes more. “It’s mostly collectors which come and buy, but we are open to anyone who wants to come and see what we’ve got here.” Bob and Randy make a 50-50 split between themselves and the artist who made the work. When asked why they won’t just display and sell their own art, their answer was, “To keep our egos down, and, we don’t make art work anymore.”
They display the stuff they think is cool
How do they pick the art work they display? Basically, they just pick what they think is cool. They get tons of people who come to them with their artwork, and mainly look for stuff that is as original as possible. They also have to think in terms of who is going see their displays.
“How do you feel about censorship?” I asked.
“There is no censorship here … When it comes to art, nothing should really be seen as lewd. When you put up a barrier for yourself, like let’s say, no vulgarity, when you try creating your art work you won’t feel as free. Art imitates life, and who’s to say you can’t express how you feel about the vulgar sides of it through art?”
People have a misconception, or stereotype of art-world people, that they’re a bunch of freaks and weirdos. “Was your family supportive of your decision to pursue the ‘art life’?” I asked. Randy answered “Yes. My family was always supportive of whatever I wanted to do with my life.” Bob’s story is very similar.
I took a walk around the gallery. There were all sorts of things. One piece was made entirely of sharpened-down pencils and puzzle pieces, with bits of plastic toys and other ordinary things stuck on it. Others included an abstract brown painting, showing all the different shades of brown and a big, clear inflated cube.
“We get a lot of artists who come here with their work, wanting for us to display it. Usually they’ll have a collection, or a series of work all done in a certain time span, concerning the same subject and consisting of the same kind of material. Many people come to us with their work and a lot of them we have to turn down. But then that one artist will come in with totally original-looking work, and we’ll take them up.
“”Just like we have regular customers, we also have regular artists, which we sponsor and support. For others, though, we don’t require things like credentials or any sort of thing like that, it’s all up to the artwork, which is what makes Acme so different. Other galleries will require that your art has been displayed before, and are usually into older artists, or artists who are dead.”
$3,500 for art?
As far as price, Acme is considered a bargain as well. You may think $3,500 is a lot to spend on a piece of art, but not compared to how much it would cost elsewhere.
What does Acme stand for? “Well, originally, we just wanted to give it a real generic sounding name, and what sounds more generic than a name like Acme? Later, though, we found out it’s Greek for ‘ideal and perfect.’ Well, you learn something every day! “”
Every four weeks Acme changes the entire display. All the inflated art and photocopied work will be taken down and totally new art will be put up. The same way this month’s theme is the plastic air-filled art, the next display will be paintings. “After putting up a new display, we have a premiere. We have people from all over America and Europe come and see what we have in store.”
Mainly, buyers trust Bob and Randy’s taste in art. If it’s up in their gallery, they know it must be awesome.”