Prototype Issue
Ménage à Art
By Monique Taylor
(page 1 of 1)How many people can say that they’ve had a One Night Stand with five beautiful women in a single evening?
More than one might expect. Those willing to venture east of Downtown to L.A.’s river district last month for a visceral night of art were left either wanting more, or needing a cigarette.
In addition to the inherent sexual innuendo of the show’s title, One Night Stand is a very literal description of the amount of time collections by Numa Perrier, Nnenna Arete, Eva Samaha, Ariane Elizabeth, and Elyse Ritchey appeared at the Kevin Break Studio.
“The phrase originally meant a theatre show that happened for one night, a traveling group”, explains the show’s curator Numa Perrier, who has a penchant for double entendres.
Thwarted by the smug oligarchy that governs the L.A. art scene, Perrier decided to validate her work, and the ladies whom art she admires, by completely eschewing the gallery admissions process.
“L.A. is full of amazing artists that never show their work because of this weird attitude. I wasn’t going to wait for someone else to decide if my work is good enough,” says Perrier as she looks around contemplating the effort it took to transform the 2,500 square foot photo studio into a gallery in under two days.
From the freshly painted 30-foot ceiling hung antique chandeliers donated by Charles Marder and black blow-up figures from Perrier’s photographic doll installation, “Homunculus”.
Artists showing for the first time included Nnenna Arate, who tucked her photo collection, “Baggage”, into vintage suitcases and Eva Samaha, a belly-dancer and makeup artist who after a decade started painting again following a recent trip to Lebanon.
Music, taboo in conventional galleries, floated under rare conversations between spectator and artist, free to exchange their perceptions in a whimsical milieu absent of any pretense. For a few hours the inhibitions that confine art to walls, silence, and cultural gatekeepers disappeared.
If you missed your chance for a One Night Stand, look for the ensemble to reappear soon under the same name. To Perrier, it only seems appropriate, “People can certainly have more than one…and each one is different”.
For more information on One Night Stand exhibitors, presented by ‘Haute Cinema and Fotography’ visit www.myspace.com/bronzegoddess and www.myspace.com/3dollars6dimes.
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