In the Miracle Mile area….

A LIVE ART EVENT takes place… produced in partnership with Tarfest Music and Art Festival, Launch LA and Merry Karnowsky Gallery will host some of the top LA artists; CRAOLA / AXIS / devNgosha / Edward Walton Wilcox / Britt Ehringer + NAMAAK collective / and KMNDZ.      

District La Brea, LA’s newest restaurant, retail and gallery destination, is closing out their summer block party series with a live painting event hosted by Merry Karnowsky Gallery and Launch Gallery.

The artists will create hand painted murals on 10ft x 25ft – 50ft wide wooden barricades, which will stretch out over 175 feet along the west side of La Brea Avenue between 1st and 2nd street.
                                                                   
Guests will be able to visit the galleries, eat, drink, shop and enjoy
live painting at District La Brea from 4-7pm with special in-store promotions.

There will be a reception to follow at Merry Karnowsky & Launch LA. Image below is courtesy of Launch LA.

Participating Businesses:

Judith Bright – 177 S. La Brea Ave.
* Music, refreshments and exclusive event discount; Kelly Cole USA – 175 S. La Brea Ave.
* Exclusive 20-50% OFF, refreshments, music;  A + R – 171 S. La Brea Ave; Merry Karnowsky Gallery – 170 S. La Brea Ave.
* Artists Reception; Launch Gallery – 170 S. La Brea Ave. 2nd Floor
* Artists Reception; Garret Leight California Optical – 163 S. La Brea Ave.
* In-store event, music, refreshments; Shelter Half- 161 S. La Brea Ave.
* Live Painting by Artist Brady Erickson; What Goes Around Comes Around – 159 S. La Brea Ave; Studio DNA – 151 S. La Brea Ave.
* Music, refreshments and exclusive event discount; Landon Cole – 149 S. La Brea Ave.
* Exclusive in-store discounts; Recess LA – 111 N. La Brea Ave.
* Music, champagne & exclusive 10% discount on all merchandisel; Steven Alan – 123 S. La Brea Ave.
* 40% off Summer merchandise; Plantation –144 S. La Brea Ave
*exclusive discounts
 
What: Block party/reception
Where: District LA, Merry Karnowsky, Launch LA, 170 S. La Brea Ave., LA, 90036
When: LIve Painting 4:00 – 7:00 pm; Reception 7:00 pm-9:00 pm
Phone: (323) 899-1363
Website: www.launchla.org  http://www.mkgallery.com
  http://districtlabrea.com/

Also nearby….

Steve Turner Contemporary celebrates the work of New York-based artist Aaron Aujla in a solo exhibition entitled Marriage Material (see image).

Also showing, “This is a Wound, Not Just The Drawing of a Hole,” a debut solo exhibition by Medellín-based artist Camilo Restrepo.

On view: August 17th – September 21st

What: Opening reception
Where: Steve Turner Contemporary, 6026 Wilshire Blvd, just east of Fairfax, 90036
When: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Phone: 323 931-3721
Website: http://steveturnercontemporary.com

In Santa Monica…..

Feel like some summer fun in the sun?  Head to the Annenberg Community Beach House. Two-person teams from Santa Monica and surrounding communities will race as their supporters cheering them on.
 
Testing the seaworthiness of their homemade cardboard yachts, teams will race across the Beach House pool. (Come on…this sounds hysterical)

Prior to race day, teams construct their yacht from corrugated cardboard and duct tape and decorate it with a creative theme. Teams bring yachts to the Beach House on race day and paddle their way across the pool. Fun awards are given in a variety of categories. Spectators are welcome.
 
http://annenbergbeachhouse.com/activities/public-events.aspx

Where: Annenberg Community Beach House, 415 Pacific Coast Hwy, Santa Monica (enter parking lot at Beach House Way traffic light)
When: 6:30 pm
Website: http://beachhouse.smgov.net/

Bergamot Station, located at 2525 Michigan Ave. hosts several fun art parties tonight…

TAG Gallery presents its eighth annual California Open Juried Exhibition.

Artist Rohitash Rao will have three of his works in the show. Rao explains his work, “I paint on trash because i don’t drive a hybrid car. it’s the only way i can truly contribute to making the world a slightly better place than i how i found it.”

See image: The Cookie Monster by Rohitash Rao

The nationwide competition recognizes excellence in a diverse range of styles and media and offers artists exposure at Bergamot Station Arts Center. 508 artists entered the juried show and 55 artworks were selected from more than 1500 entries by Juror, Edward Goldman, art critic for KCRW, the LA-affiliated National Public Radio station, and host of a weekly program called “Art Talk.”

On view: August 14 – 30

What: Opening reception
Where: TAG Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Avenue D3, SM 90404
When: 5:00 pm 8:00 pm
Phone: (310) 829-9556
Website: www.taggallery.net

The Photographic Arts Council/Los Angeles and dnj Gallery hold an opening for “COLLECTORS’ FAVORITES.” a special exhibition of the photographs on loan from the private collections of members of the Photographic Arts Council / Los Angeles (PAC/LA).

The show will feature over sixty photographs by Max Yavno, Minor White, Gary Winogrand, Graciela Iturbide, and more.
 
What: Opening reception
Where: dnj Gallery, Bergamot Station, (J-1) 2525 Michigan Ave, Santa Monica,  90404
When: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Phone: 310.315.3551
Website: http://www.dnjgallery.net/

Now this one should be a fun art party!!!

Copro Gallery celebrates its 20th anniversary. The event will feature many artists dating back to the beginning as well as current artists that are exhibiting at the gallery.

Artists include:  Ausgang, Ana Bagayan, Glenn Barr, Luke Chueh, Robert Connett, Leslie Ditto, Mark Garro, Naoto Hattori, Miran Kim, Jason Maloney, Chris Mars, Big Daddy Roth, Mark Ryden, Shag, Nathan Spoor, and tons more…

On view: August 17th – September 7th

What: Art party
Where: Copro Gallery (T-5), Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave, Santa Monica
When:  8:00 pm – 11:30 pm
Phone: 310.829.2156
Website: http://www.copronason.com/

Or in Venice….

Time for the sixth annual reading honoring the Venice Queen of the Beats, Philomene Long. The Philomenian is a word, hand-made in Venice, to denote an event and place all about the works of Philomene Long, Venice’s late Poet Laureate.

This year’s event will feature films and poetry by and for one of the most brilliant Beat generation personalities. Philomene Long was a nun, then a poet, a writer, a filmmaker, and long-time resident of The Ellison on Paloma Ave. 

FREE, but donations always welcome.

Or in Downtown LA….

Actual Size Los Angeles presents Borderlands, a group exhibition that features work by Rona Yefman, Daniel Kiczales, Tanja Schlander and Corrie Siegel.

The works on view explore the interaction between multiculturalism, nationality, politics, and how they affect the individual. Each artist navigates barriers between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem and the surrounding region.

Displaced many miles from its geographic subject, the exhibition situates Middle Eastern border issues spatially within Los Angeles. Sound, video and drawings shape an intimate space for dialogue about the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict as well as our relationship to place and the borders we create.

On view: August 17- September 21, 2013

What: Opening reception
Where: Actual Size Los Angeles, 741 New High St., LA 90012
When: 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm (performance starts at 9:00 pm)
Phone: (213) 290-5458
Website: http://www.actualsizela.com/