Vacancies in Some Galleries Refill Swiftly
Naomi Arin, a new proprietor in North Laguna's gallery row. Painter and gallerist Marc Whitney has moved his popular paintings of unmade beds into a more intimate space.
If small is the new sexy, Whitney has found the right place to exhibit his work and a few sculptures, including a life sized bronze nude created by Anthony Trudakis, his cousin.
After years on north Laguna's gallery row, Whitney relocated to a perfect home, tucked away at 315 Forest Avenue. Anyone with a bit of imagination and perhaps inspired by cable television's "Mad Men," might draw salacious parallels between his beds and the red retro phone booth on the street in front, picturing an era when unmarried sex was furtive and cell phones non existent.
But, we're talking serious art here. Whitney is a classically trained painter with five years of art school on his resumé and art in his bloodlines.
"The beds first came to life when I was in art school," he recalled of his time at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art. Apparently people could relate to something so intimate and comforting. They have remained his constant muse and remain evocative, grown up with a touch of elegance. Now, he is rekindling affection for three-dimensional work, too.
Artist and gallery owner Marc Whitney at work in his studio. Whitney left his old location when the rent for his larger space became prohibitive. In his new location, he's able to save 10 percent.
The new space also lends itself to Whitney's new series of unabashedly charming floral paintings and small landscapes that are not mere studies for something larger. Studies however, are a vital component of Whitney's work. "I make pre- paratory drawings for everything. Drawing helps me solve problems in advance and also gives me more license when working with elements of space," he explained.
It used to be that artist-owned galleries earned the unflattering sobriquet of "vanity gallery." Through their own galleries, artists can sell their work more easily and for less. Lately, Whitney has also considered showing other artists' work.
Arin Contemporary Art.
Nature abhors a vacuum, apparently even in a town filled with empty storefronts. So, while Marc Whitney left his former quarters on what is now known is "gallery row," a new proprietor, Arin Contemporary Art, has moved right in.
Owners Naomi Arin and Brett Sperry are readying for the public opening of their gallery, specializing in cutting-edge works with an international orientation.
Eight years ago, Arin established Dust gallery in Las Vegas. A former attorney specializing in civil litigation, Arin was a regular at art fairs such as Art Basel in Switzerland and Miami. Through frequent travel and hobnobbing with collectors, she learned enough to know that art was her passion and that the art business rather than law would be her future.
While her Laguna gallery is still a work in progress, her eye is already in evidence. What is one to make of forms leaning on walls and seemingly dripping onto the wooden floors like melting desserts? They were carved by Henry and Christopher Lucca from pristine white marble. Highbrow medium meets lowbrow form, one might think. The creations will take center stage with the rest of the art playing support. Visitors who remember the recent Laguna Art Museum show Las Vegas Diaspora might gravitate toward Arin's James Gobel's sewn felt "paintings."
Indeed, Las Vegas is not far from Arin's mind, as she now commutes between the gambling mecca and Laguna. Since the Las Vegas Art Museum has closed, she intends to transplant some of its quirky culture. Her husband and three step-children remain in Las Vegas.
Her business partner Brett Sperry convinced Arin to try Laguna Beach. "I have seldom seen a place where gallerists got along so well with each other and where such diversity of art was so much appreciated," she said.
