In celebration of its 25th anniversary in Los Angeles in 2008, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP presents LA25 - a project that supports the vibrant young artists' community in Los Angeles. LA25 presented the work of 25 artists working in various media who, at the time of selection, have not had previous commercial gallery representation. These artists have been selected from some of the most renowned art schools in the Los Angeles area -- Art Center College of Design, CalArts, Claremont Graduate University, Otis College of Art and Design, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UCLA, and USC.
Harold M. Williams, of counsel at Skadden and President Emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Trust oversaw the project. Williams and the Los Angeles office are working with Thomas Solomon who is serving as the current Chief Curator. A jury of art professionals selected the 25 artists whose work has been exhibited over the course of several years. The exhibition of the first group of nine artists was completed with the assistance of Ilene Kurtz-Kretzschmar. LA25 culminates this year with a 25th anniversary celebration at the Hammer Museum where the artwork will be on display for the evening.
LACE, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions is hosting an exhibition with all 25 artists. This exhibition, curated by Thomas Solomon, will be held at LACE from October 15th through November 16th, 2008 and will give a larger public the chance to see new work from all of the selected artists in LA25.
The members of the jury include: John Baldessari, artist; Kris Kuramitsu, former Curator for the Collections of Peter Norton and Eileen Harris Norton and former Director of Arts Programs for the Peter Norton Family Foundation; Weston Naef, Curator of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum; Cathy Opie, artist; Ann Philbin, Director of the Hammer Museum; and, Paul Schimmel, Chief Curator at MOCA.
LA25 Artists: Marya Alford, Patterson Beckwith, Lindsay Brandt, Cal Crawford, Marie Jager, Andreas Janacua, Matthew Jordan, Vishal Jugdeo, Elad Lassry, Annie Lapin, Natalie McClernan, Christopher Michlig, Yaniro Paramo, Alvaro Perdices, Ephraim Pussemp, Marco Rios, Jeff Sheng, John Sisley, Jim Skuldt, Carly Steward, Whitney Stolich, Lee Thompson, Greg Wilken, Rosha Yaghmai, Brenna Youngblood