Home

About
The Downtown Los Angeles Art community is constantly growing and changing. A fairly new community, it is now at the height of its history in terms of number of galleries and artists living and working downtown. This site serves as an introduction to the Downtown art scene and seeks to convey the uniqueness of the galleries and local artists that bring vitality everyday to this art community.

Downtown Art Development
Downtown Los Angeles was once a dicey area with a stigma that discouraged visitors and businesses from developing the community. But in the last ten years emerging pockets of art galleries have contributed to downtown’s revitalization. Attracted to the inexpensive rent and the central location, artists and galleries alike began moving downtown.

Studio space is abundant downtown, said Michael Holte, USC Roski School of Fine Arts Communications Developer, which allows artists to live in close proximity to their workspace.

And gallerists love downtown because they are able to serve a certain constituency within the art community, Holte said. The audience at downtown galleries tends to be artists themselves, further contributing to the development of a close-knit art community that is growing and supporting artists within an urban environment, said LouAnne Greenwald, USC Roski School of Fine Arts Professor.

Downtown Los Angeles galleries also embrace the work of young artists, Greenwald said. There is a passion in Los Angeles for the newest, latest, and most cutting edge artists.

Chinatown
The development of the art community in downtown’s Chinatown began in the late 1990s with the opening of the China Art Objects gallery, Greenwald said. China Art Objects was the first gallery to begin showing cutting edge art, and was followed by Black Dragon Society, a gallery that was also engaged in contemporary art culture showing a younger generation of emerging artists.

The emergence the Chinatown galleries was closely tied to the Los Angeles art scene, Holte said. Black Dragon society had strong connections to UCLA, while David Kordansky’s gallery was connected with the California Institute of the Arts. According to Greenwald, the major LA arts schools contributed to the vibrancy of the Chinatown art scene.

In the last four years, the number of Chinatown galleries has risen to over thirty. But what makes this area still unique is that it is not connected with a large collector base, according to Holte. The area is still marginalized as a distinctive artist community serving young people and artists unlike other art communities throughout Los Angeles.

Nonetheless, Chinatown is continuing to emerge as yet another epicenter in the Los Angeles art world.

Bank District and Gallery Row
In the last five years a diverse range of galleries representing different types of media and different generations of artists have been opening up on Gallery Row, an area of downtown comprised of Main and Spring Streets from Second to Ninth.

The area now known as Gallery Row began with a few art galleries and artistic visionaries who saw the potential for the expansion of an art community downtown. In July 2003, the city passed the motion to designate the area “Gallery Row”. And by September 2004, eight art galleries were in the district. That number has steadily risen to over 40 galleries present in the area today.

This collection of galleries participates in the monthly Art Walk, which has helped to bring vitality in the way of more visitors to the district. The walk attracts thousands of people each month, and is being recognized as one of the most significant success stories in the development of Los Angeles art history.