Blackburn + Sweetzer Has Moved

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The Annenberg Foundation had its opening gala for its new Space for Photography in Century City (right next door to CAA) yesterday evening.

Before I’m going to write about the exhibit—which was amazing, the wonderful appetizers, and the upbeat party—I need to talk about the space itself: it’s supersleek, in a good way, modern and unexpected for a gallery/exhibition space in that there are not a lot of free open areas, but instead a long, wide ‘hallway’ leading around a center. The reason for this is that the space is built to represent an eye: the center is the ‘iris,’ which is a spacious round area with two huge projection screens along the walls. Around this, slightly curved walls, which showcase the actual prints, are forming the silhouette of an eye. It’s such a great idea!

The exhibit, photogs’ works, the ‘eye’ interior, lots of photos!

The interior; click to expand

The interior; click to expand

The premiere show, ‘L8s Ange3les’ shows the work of eight renowned Angelino photographers, in the genres of fine art, architecture, documentary, fashion, photojournalism and celebrity portraits, and the work from three LA Times staff photographers.

Works by Greg Gorman; click to expand

Works by Julius Shulman; click to expand

From the work of Greg Gorman (representing celebrity) to Lauren Greenfield (photojournalism/documentary), I was especially impressed with the photos of Julius Shulman, black and white images of landmark buildings in Los Angeles. Somehow his work is very contemporary in that he captured the ease and modernity of the LA spirit, even though the photos were taken 40 to 50 years ago.

Works by David Kirkland, left, and Julius Shulman, right; click to expand

Other photographers included in the show are Tim Street-Porter (architecture), Catherine Opie (documentary, portrait), Douglas Kirkland (celebrity), Carolyn Cole (photojournalism), John Baldessari (fine art), as well as LA Times photographers Lawerne Ho, Genaro Molina, and Kirk McKoy.

Work by Carolyn Cole; click to expand

The party took place inside a big tent just outside the entrance of the building, and the open bar, plentiful hors d’oeuvres, and a band that got everyone (well, almost) shaking their booties to Caribbean rhythms, definitely led me, and numerous others, to stay much longer than expected on an ordinary worknight.

The exhibit runs from March 27-June 30, Wednesday through Sunday 11am-6pm at 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Century City.

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— Photos and text by Christina von Messling