Don’t forget the Well Being and Fitness Festival takes place today from 11am to 4pm, at the Santa Monica Civic Parking Lot! The annual festival celebrates Santa Monica by showcasing the services and products of Santa Monica businesses to the 6000 locals and visitors at the Civic Center outdoor area.

Local businesses and non-profits gather at the Festival to provide expertise, advice, and product samples promoting a healthy and happy lifestyle for the entire Santa Monica Community. Stores and restaurants from every neighborhood will have food and vendor booths. There will be music, cooking demos and interactive classes on stages and lots of opportunities to get free resources and screenings.

New SM business owner Shane Griffin said he is excited to be a part of this event. His business, Whole Life Balance with Drip iv Therapy just celebrated a grand opening this past Wednesday, September 9 and will be a presenting sponsor at the event.

Griffin knows first hand how important it is to be health conscious. Several years back, he had his own battle to fight (with drugs) and has since come out victorious. Clean and sober he now runs his own wellness center, and encourages others to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

As a member of the Santa Monica Chamber, Griffin is very involved with his community. He has reached out to many local charity events to lend support such as the Get Lucky for Lupus event in Hollywood and the Arthritis Foundation event. His company, Whole Life Balance will be a flagship sponsor for the Great Strides Walk Santa Monica for Cancer (on SM Pier – 10am) coming up on October 24, which has the goal of raising 35k for the 5k Walk.

Be sure to pop by the Well Being and Fitness Festival from 11-4pm. Whole Life Balance will be there at the Santa Monica Civic Center parking lot – corner of Pico & Main Street…stop in and say hi.

This event is free to the public and draws thousands of people every year. 

To find out more about Whole Life Balance, visit the website.

What: Well Being and Fitness Festival
Where: Santa Monica Civic Center parking lot – corner of Pico & Main St.
When: 11:00am – 4:00pm
FB Event Page

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Later in Santa Monica…Bergamot Station (2525 Michigan Ave.) host several art events.

Skidmore Contemporary Art will host two simultaneous solo shows of Southern California-based realist painters, Eric Nash and Bradley Hankey. Eric Nash presents: City of Dreams. Bradley Hankey presents: California.

See image: Eric Nash, This Way to LA, Oil on canvas 36″ x 48″ 2015

In these solo shows the artists showcase their vision of the unique light and noir beauty that is Los Angeles and Southern California in a series of oil paintings.

Skidmore Contemporary Art, a leading Los Angeles gallery specializing in realism, is proud to host this event as a kick-off to the 2015-2016 Los Angeles art season. Eric Nash and Bradley Hankey are contemporary California realist painters who use Southern California as their point of inspiration. Both artists are represented by Skidmore Contemporary Art.

Save the date…Saturday, September 26th, 2015, enjoy a joint artist talk at 4:00 pm.

On view: September 5th – October 3rd, 2015

What: Opening reception
Where: Skidmore Contemporary Art, Bergamot Station 2525 Michigan Avenue, B-4 Santa Monica, 90404
When: Saturday, September 12th, 2015 – 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Phone: 310-828-5070
Website: www.skidmorecontemporaryart.com

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Also at Bergamot, Ruth Bachofner Gallery (G-2), Lora Schlesinger Gallery (B5b), Leslie Sacks Contemporary (B6), Sloan Projects (B5), Craig Krull Gallery (B3), and FIG (G6) all host an artist receptions from 5-7pm.

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ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY is pleased to present Knot Chaos an exhibition of new poplar sculptures by John Rose.

See image: The Red Line is the Rite Line, 2015, Poplar wood and aniline dye, 72 x 27 x 15 inches

“This new group of works I call amalgams, mixtures of forms and imagery gleaned from many disparate sources. Over the years most of the works I have constructed have been grounded in the powerful fundamental compounds of our world, its still there as the basic structure the building blocks, if you like, of each piece as it goes through the process of construction.

The progression from there to the here and now has been the introduction of new ingredients to the mix, on recent travels I ingested more visual information,elevating my work to a new level.
Seeing, feeling, touching, smelling, hearing, tasting, all these elements of emotional response to old, smooth and worn, surfaces that have been used by myriads of people for thousands of years clashing against the brand new, hard, sharp and bright.

Making lots of mental notes, photographs only record so much, I remember the smell and noise of a market so much more vividly than just a snap. Remembrances of places and things past, solid and quiet, loud and disorderly, fragile and tough. In all the sinews and muscles of each work is evidence of movement, nothing is really still as per string theory, everything is vibrating. Chaos reigns.” -John Rose

On view: September 8 – October 10, 2015

What: Opening reception
Where: THE ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY, Bergamot Station, (B-7) 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, 90404
When: 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Phone: 310.586.9128
Website: http://www.robertbermangallery.com/

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From 5-8pm, enjoy new exhibitions at the Richard Heller Gallery (B-5A), dnj Gallery (J1), and another from 6-8pm at Patrick Painter.

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More at Bergamot…

TAG Gallery offers new exhibitions featuring the art of Lorraine Bubar, Pam Douglas & Anne Ramis.

See image: In Her Own World, acrylic on rice paper with Hubble photo, 41 x 22 inches. A young woman dips a finger in a spiral galaxy as she might touch a pond.

Artist Pam Douglas explains her upcoming show, “In this new series, I explore human interactions with the universe in 11 works on watercolor and rice paper. Galaxies features thought-provoking characters and even a playful Buddha creating tangible connections with the stars. Far from my abstractions of recent years, this exhibit combines figurative painting with photos by NASA’s Hubble Telescope, now celebrating its 25th anniversary.”

Artist Talk: Sat, Sept 19 at 3PM

On view: September 12 – September 26

What: Opening reception
Where: TAG Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Avenue D3, SM 90404
When: September 12, – 5-8pm
Phone: (310) 829-9556
Website: www.taggallery.net

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Lois Lambert Gallery (E-3)  also hosts an artist reception from 6-9pm to celebrate new art exhibiions. 

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One more art party takes place at Bergamot, at Copro Gallery (#T-5) from 8-11:30pm.

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Also in Santa Monica…Gallery 169 celebrates artist, photographer E. F. Kitchen with a reception from 5-7pm. 

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Another in Santa Monica…Arena 1 Gallery presents “Kinetic Show:LA.”

The exhibition brings together 14 artists who explore the convergence of art and technology through kinetics and electronic‐based installations. The results are awe inspiring creations that move with the viewers’ engagement.

Mechanical FlipBook • Leif Maginnis • Alex Andre • Robert Reynolds • Neil Mendoza • Nicole Catrett • David Barker • Steve Goldstein • Jim Bumgardner • Joshua Kirsch • Rachel Koukal • Barb Noren • Mads Christensen

Curated by Mechanical FlipBook artists Wendy Marvel and Mark Arnon Rosen

On View: September 12th ‐ October 6th 2015

See more of the artists’ work at Kinetic Show: LA at www.mechanicalflipbook.com

What: Arena 1 Gallery
Where: Santa Monica Art Studios, 3026 Airport Ave. SM 90405 (along Airport Ave. between Bundy Drive & 23rd St.)
When: 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Website: http://arena1gallery.com/

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In West Hollywood…101/EXHIBIT (8920 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, 90069), offers an artist reception from 6-8pm. 

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In Culver City…

You may want to start with this one (or end up here)…but if you start here you can end up on Washington where there are other openings as well. Park and walk kids! 

Just East of La Cienega Blvd., (right off Venice Blvd), China Art Objects Galleries (6086 Comey Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90034) offers an artist reception from 6-8pm. And close by….Baik Art (2600 S. La Cienega Blvd.), offers an art recepton from 6-8pm.

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MIM Gallery is pleased to present Urban Lawns, a group show featuring works by Jiyon Hong, Payam Mofidi, Rebecca Norton, Cima Rahmankhah, Jean de Sagazan, and Zhiyuan Wang.

The exhibition is centered around the notion of collective environment. Most of the artists in the show either reside or were educated in Los Angeles.

On view: September 12–October 10, 2015

What: Opening reception
Where: mim Gallery, 2636 S La Cienega Blvd.,  90034
When: 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Website: http://mim.gallery

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Here are a few more… From 6-8pm, stop into art openings taking place at LOUDHAILER Gallery (2648 La Cienega Ave., LA 90034), Kopeikin Gallery (2766 South La Cienega Blvd, LA 90034), Von Lintel Gallery (2685 S. La Cienega Blvd., LA 90034), Luis De Jesus Los Angeles (2685 S. La Cienega Blvd., LA 90034).

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A little earlier (5-8pm), you can pop into George Billis Gallery LA (2716 S. La Cienega Blvd., LA, 90034) to see new exhibitions.

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A little earlier (5-8pm), you can pop into George Billis Gallery LA (2716 S. La Cienega Blvd., LA, 90034) to see new exhibitions.

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Just a bit further east on Washington…

FP Contemporary is pleased to announce the opening reception for “BLOOM!,” a solo exhibition featuring new works by internationally-acclaimed artist Michael Kalish.

See image: Michael Kalish, Roses, layered laser cut aluminum mounted on aluminum panels, 32 x 32 x 8 inches

His newest body of work contains multi-dimensional wall sculptures and standing sculptures consisting of layered laser cut aluminum, a material that contrasts the delicate subject of many works in Kalish’s exhibition – roses.

On view: September 12 – October 24

What: Opening reception
Where: FP Contemporary, 5835 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
When: 6:00pm – 8:00pm – Saturday, September 12
Website: www.fpcontemporary.com

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Then turn back around and go West on Washington…

Thinkspace is pleased to announce its highly anticipated three-man exhibition, The Gilded Age, featuring new works by Aaron Horkey, Esao Andrews and Joao Ruas.

A rarely exhibited graphic designer, illustrator and artist, Horkey creates intricately detailed hand-drawn silkscreens, highly coveted by collectors the world over. Immediately recognizable, his aesthetic has permeated print culture at large, and is one of the most distinctive in contemporary concert posters and album art. When approached by the gallery’s Director and asked to describe his ideal group exhibition, Horkey immediately suggested Esao Andrews and Joao Ruas as choice gallery companions. All three artists share an inexhaustible penchant for detail, a preference for all things ornate, and an antediluvian sensibility that tends towards allegory and myth. Enter The Gilded Age: the fortuitous result of a seemingly unlikely pet-project, and a rare and unprecedented opportunity for collectors, fans and enthusiasts to see these three illustrative giants wring life from inanimate sands.

What: Opening Reception
Where: Thinkspace, 6009 Washington Blvd. Culver City, 90232
When: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Phone: 310 403.8549
Website: http://www.thinkspacegallery.com

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From 6-8pm, Koplin Del Rio Gallery (6031 Washington Blvd., Culver City, 90232) and Klowden Mann (6023 Washington Blvd., Culver City, 90232) both debut new exhibitions.

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Head North on La Cienega Ave…find parking and you can walk to the next three galleries. OHWOW Los Angeles (937 N. La Cienega, LA 90069) throws an art party from 6-8pm…. and just across the street, KM Fine Arts (814 N. LaCienega, LA 90069) will be celebrating a new exhibit from 6-8pm.

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Then cross back to the other side street…Los Angeles Art Association is proud to present 4 solo exhibitions by artists Teale Hatheway, Echo Lew, Marilyn Lowey, and Sasha Raphael Vom Dorp. All exhibitions open on Saturday, September 12 at Gallery 825 and run through October 9.

Teal Hathaway’s Fragmented Realities: City of Dreams is a beautiful, frenetic and bewildered visual love letter to Los Angeles. Paintings composed of layered elements of street lights found throughout the city are framed by maps of sprawling highways and punctuated by observation benches.

Echo Lew’s exhibition Light in Space displays photography of “Long Exposure of Moving Lights” to express the artist’s Zen Buddhist meditation practice blended with the feeling of symphony music.

Marilyn Lowey’s Dark Side of Her Broom is a narrative of personal loss, exploring the relationship between the self, abstraction, and illusion.

With the ambitious photo-based project Synesthesia – Inside Sound and Light, artist Sasha vom Dorp has created a mechanical Sound Illuminator operating on a feedback loop which informs photographs of sunlight encountering sound.

On view: September 12 – October 9

What: Opening reception
Where: Gallery 825 – 825 N. La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90069
When: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Phone: 310.652.8272
Website: http://laaa.org

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Known Gallery (441 North Fairfax Ave., 90036) hosts a reception from 8-11pm.

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ACME (6150 Wilshire Blvd., LA 90048) hosts a reception from 6-8pm.

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Also in the area…Steve Turner (6830 Santa Monica Blvd., LA 90038) offers an opening from 7-9pm.

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In Miracle Mile…A couple more art parties happen in the same building…Launch Gallery (170 S. La Brea Ave. (In the Art 170 Building, upstairs from MKG, LA 90036) debuts a new exhibition from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm.

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In the downstairs gallery…(in the sane building…the ART 170 Building)..

KP Projects/MKG is proud to present Mark Whalen’s latest solo exhibition “Trapezoid.” Mark Whalen’s work is an interpretation of the modern era. Whalen explores all aspects of human activity and behavior through his intricate, geometric planes.

His paintings encompass ideas of invention, science, sexual desire, or oppression. They all take place simultaneously to create sly oppositions reflective of life’s puzzling duality.

See image: Mark Whalen, Edits, Acrylic, ink and gouache on panel with resin, 13 x 17″, 2015

Artists Laith McGregor, Ben Venom and Marco Zamora will also be celebrated tonight.

RSVP Essential to RSVP@mkgallery.com

On view: September 12th – October 3rd, 2015

What: Opening reception
Where: KP Projects / MKG, 170 S. La Brea Ave. (In the Art 170 Building), LA 90036
When: 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Phone: 323.933.4408
Website: http://www.mkgallery.com

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Drive North on La Brea (just south of Melrose)…Wallspace & A Million Drops present “Unsheltered,” featuring artwork by homeless and at-risk youth and young adults of Hollywood.

A Million Drops founder Maike Both has congregated an eclectic group of young individuals who all share one experience: homelessness. Spending their days on the streets of Hollywood and their nights on sidewalks, friends’ couches, or in one of the few local shelters specializing in homeless youth, they beat the odds of drowning in darkness by putting their minds and hearts into creating art.

A Million Drops is an LA based non-profit organization dedicated to providing direct, individual support to the homeless and at-risk youth and young adults in Hollywood who want to make a difference in their lives and need a helping hand to do so. Currently, free assistance is given at monthly events, such as Laundry Love Hollywood. Plans for the future include opening the “A Million Drops Center” that will house a thrift shop providing job opportunities as well as consultation rooms where hands-on support will be available on a daily base, and turning a retired Metro bus into a mobile shower bus. More information on A Million Drops can be found at www.amilliondrops.org

On View: September 12 – September 19

What: Opening reception
Where: Wallspace, 607 North La Brea, LA, CA 90036, (one block south of Melrose – parking available in back)
When: 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm – Saturday, Septembe 12
Phone: 323 930-0471
Website: http://www.wallspacela.com

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Couturier Gallery (166 N. La Brea Ave. LA 90036) features an opening from 6-8pm. 

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Also on La Brea….but just south of Olympic Blvd (at Redondo)…

David Kordansky Gallery is pleased to announce /SKEWS/, an exhibition of new work by Ricky Swallow. This is the artist’s first exhibition at the gallery.

See image: Ricky Swallow, Flag/Tipped (soot), 2015, patinated bronze, 37 x 29 x 6 3/4 inches (94 x 73.7 x 17.1 cm), unique

Ricky Swallow uses humble, ordinary materials to create precisely rendered objects that he then casts in bronze. The unique works that result are expressions not only of the objects’ constructed forms, but also of the process of transformation by which an otherwise inert grouping of forms becomes a sculpture. Swallow is invested in equal measure in the making of things and the testing of concepts; in hands-on work with cardboard, tape, and glue and the mediated potentials of the foundry; in the immediacy of craft and the austere elegance of geometric abstraction. His work therefore appeals directly to the senses while retaining the ever-curious philosophical register of a Socratic dialogue. As if to emphasize this, Swallow has installed the works in /SKEWS/ so that they can respond directly to each other, often eschewing standard hanging heights and calling attention to the spatial qualities of the gallery space itself.

On view: September 12 – October 31

What: Opening reception
Where: David Kordansky Gallery, 5130 W. Edgewood Pl., LA, 90019
Where: 6:00pm – 8:00pm – Saturday, Septembe 12
Phone: 323.935.3030
Website: http://davidkordanskygallery.com/

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Continue to Hollywood…DIANE ROSENSTEIN (831 North Highland Ave., LA 90038), offers a reception from 6-8pm. Nearby…Stop by the Artists Corner Gallery (6585 Santa Monica Blvd.,Hollywood, 90038) for an art talk and closing reception from 7-10pm.

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And another couple take place in Highland Park, which are participating in the NELA 2nd Saturday ArtWalk – Avenue 50 Studio (131 N. Avenue 50, 90042), debuts new exhibiions from 7-10pm.  And close by…EklectoMania (6152 York Blvd., LA 90024), celebrates a new show from 6-10pm.

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Downtown…

CB1 Gallery is pleased to present gallery artist Lisa Adams, “America The Beautiful.”

The paintings in “America The Beautiful” are a thoughtful and forecasting look at personal, natural and political issues faced by Americans now and in the years to come.

Adams received her B.A. from Scripps College and an M.F.A. from the Claremont Graduate University. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and has been an artist-in-resident in Slovenia, Finland, Holland, Japan and Costa Rica.

On view: September 12 – October 31, 2015

What: Opening reception
Where: CB1 Gallery, 1923 S Santa Fe Ave, LA, 90021
When: Saturday, September 12th 3-6pm
Phone: (213) 806-7889
Website: http://cb1gallery.com

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Roasamund Felsen Gallery celebrates the art of  Lavi Daniel.

The exhibition features a series of abstract color paintings & drawings by Daniel informed & influenced by designs found in Mbuti drawings made on pounded bark cloth & the patterning of Kuba textiles, all made by the women of their tribes.

Parking: Street parking on 11th St & 15th St, west of Santa Fe Ave.

Save the date…Sunday Septembe 27, 3pm: Artist Talk w/Molly Barnes, RSVP for talk: info@rosamundfelsen.com

On view: September 12th – October 10th, 2015

What: Opening Reception
Where: Rosamund Felsen Gallery, 1923 S Santa Fe Av #100, LA CA 90021
When: Sat, Sep 12th: 3-6pm 
Phone: 310-828-8488
Website: www.rosamundfelsen.com

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Another opening nearby…and a bit later takes place at Wilding Cran Gallery (939 S. Santa Fe Ave., LA 90021) from 6-9pm. In the same area, François Ghebaly Gallery (2245 E Washington Blvd., LA 90021), also hosts an event that runs  a bit later. from 7-10pm.

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One more art event takes place from 4-7 pm at Nicodim Gallery (571 South Anderson Street, Entrance on Blackwelder LA 90033),

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Also Downtown LA….

LACDA celebrates its Juried Competition Winners Exhibit, curated by Max Presneill, Torrence Art Museum & Nana Bahlmann, LACMA.

Winners Solo Exhibit Winner: Ryota Matsumoto (Tokyo, Japan). Group Exhibit Winners: Allison Stewart, Amber Eve Anderson, Brit Bunkley, Daniel Barreto, Jennifer Cawley, Lauren Pascarella, Lucy W. Baird, Matthew Feurer, Nicol Eltzroth Rosendorf, Skyler Dahan

See video still of video artist Michael Baroff’s “Pylons”.

Featured Video Artists: Michael Baroff “Pylons” and “Fence” ~ Ania Catherine and Dina Smirnova “The Insistence Of Memory” ~ Jason Lockyer “Sunday” ~ John Tronsor “Untitled (self-portrait)” ~ Michael Woods “Post-Panoptic Gazing” ~ Robert Checci “Everyday” ~ Vav Vavrek “Shopping Cart Pirate Ship” ~ Sylvia Pengilly “Maze” ~ Andy Lomas “Multicellular Morphogenesis” ~ David Hull “SoniLuxinematic 23” ~ Atomic Elroy “Motor Pixel” ~ Zig Gron “Consumer Spiral”

Additional Artists include: Beau Comeaux, Christopher Rodrigues, Cyane Tornatzky, Gary Setzer, Gary Thompson, Gerard Frances, Gigi Conot, Gregory Steel, Jayne Pedigo, Jeane McGrail, Jerry Leibowitz, Johnny Naked, Jon Tarry, Judith Ann Warren, Katelin Kinney, Kerry Mitchell, Kevin L. McLaughlin, Lance Turner, Lisa Anderson, Liz King, Manss Aval, Maria Coletsis, Marley Cumbee, Martin Bustamante, Meredith Mullins, Michele Wambaugh, Nick Gaetano, Osvaldo Gonzalez, Ronald Ownbey, Rosalie Winesuff, Scot Wittman, Stephanie Sydney, Trevor Messersmith, Trish Simonite, Wade Carter, Walter Ungerer

On view: September 10-October 3, 2015

Enjoy an Art Walk Preview Thursday, September 10

What: Artist reception
Where: LACDA, Los Angeles Center For Digital Art, 102 West Fifth St. LA 90013
When: 7:00 pm till 9:00 pm.
Phone: 323 646 9427
Website: http://lacda.com/

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Downtown…NIGHT Gallery (2276 East 16th St.) throws an art party from 7-10pm.

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