Friday, January 23, 2009

Photography And Painting

Up Michigan avenue in Santa Monica, in a neighborhood packed with gas stations and nondescript buildings, you will find a surprising array of art galleries, housed in cool corrugated metal panel structures.
I sat at the cool Bargamot Bergamot café with a brownie as I waited for the Richard Heller gallery to open (at a lazy 11am) and checked out the photographs of Robbie Kaye, whose intensely colored shots give life to vintage dolls or kitschy porcelain figures - even a stuffed toy in the shape of a dachshund! Eerie, poetic and beautiful.
I'm thinking of buying myself some art for my birthday in May, and might go for one of Kaye's works...


I absolutely adored the oil paintings of Amy Bennett, on display at the Richard Heller gallery, with their sleek, distant characters, reminiscent of Edward Hopper, and omnipresent shimmering water.

21 comments:

Rachel said...

I haven't visited this gallery yet, but it looks great! I'll have to put it on my list. Thanks!

Seeker said...

Great and beautiful

xoxo

Mary-Laure said...

RACHEL - the exact address is
2525 Michigan Avenue in Santa Monica
(off Cloverfield Street)
Don't miss the other galleries and the store Hiromi Paper, which I'll blog about next week.
Do you live in the LA area?
As I've moved here recently, I'm still trying to meet people and make new friends... Could I interest you in meeting over a smoothie or something one day?

Miss Cavendish said...

The synchronized swimmers--are they a photo or a painting? I'm rather smitten.

MISS GLITZY said...

Beautiful photographs, Benjy will love the dachshund!

RoyalTLady said...

Mary-Laure,

You have never bore me with your beautiful banner (because I LOVE flowers) and of course you always post great pictures.

Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Bergamot Cafe, not Bargamot, and Begamot Station where the galleries are - http://www.bergamotstation.com/

Anonymous said...

Bergamot Station not Begamot ...

Mary-Laure said...

MISS CAVENDISH - believe it or not, it's actually oil on panel. Isn't it AMAZING? I'm really happy you like it, considering your fab taste.
Now if I had $12,000...

MISS GLITZY - or maybe Benjy will be jealous?

ANONYMOUS - thanks for the corrections, I appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

on s'incruste alice et moi parce qu'on voulait juste te faire un bisou et on se disait que "photography and painting" serait le post le plus approprié...

tu sais quoi ? bah ! on te fait ce bisou puissance max live from paris

alice & jb

Anonymous said...

ps : un scrontch à benjy

pve design said...

I do think that the patchwork dachsund is rather sweet. Good luck with building your art collection.

Rina said...

que hermosas fotos, me encanto la ultima, seria un muy buen auto regalo...

Mary-Laure said...

ALICE ET JB - votre visite me fait TROP plaisir! J'espere que vous viendrez me voir a Los Angeles, vous etes invites!
Un baccio a vous...
Quant a Benjy, depuis que Beckham a quitte Galaxy pour Milan il n'a plus vraiment de rival dans cette ville, et regne sereinement.

Laura in Paris said...

Everything is on my "must see" list for when I next come to LA.

NAVAL LANGA said...

I have read some of your posts, seen the photos. I would like to revisit.

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PAINTINGS GALLERIES

Another Interesting Blog
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please sir said...

Looks like a wonderful place - the last one really caught my eye too.

Mary-Laure said...

WORLD IN A PAN - I can't wait for you to be here!

muralimanohar said...

Those are oils?? NICE.

Mary-Laure said...

Yes they ARE - isn't it amazing?

Oliver said...

i really like the last picture amazing!