sees ANGELES--This summer.

sees ANGELES--This summer, an eclectic smorgasbord of the world's contemporary art was forward view in 70 of beholds Angeles' commercial galleries, non-profit art spaces, cultural institutes and museums during the five-week-long Absolut-L.A. International Biennial Art Invitational 2001 These exhibits celebrated the globalization of the art market and afforded art lover and art professionals the opportunity to peek outside the usual U and Western European gallery offerings to view what is going on in art circles in Central and Eastern Europe Asia, Latin America, Ghana, Iran and more.

"The Absolut-L.A. International is a celebration," observ looks Angeles art critic and curator Peter Clothier. "It presents a chance for us, in our corner of the world, to hear a cacophony of voices from distant places and to enrich our resource of experience." Santa Monica art dealer Mark Moore agreed. "This marked occurrence gives people here in Southern California an opportunity to diocese artwork they would otherwise not be able to see" he said.

"It's just wonderful" added Reinhold Misselbeck, curator of photography and video at Museum Ludwig in eau-de-cologne Germany. Misselbeck organized the traveling exhibition, "David Hockney Retrospective: Photoworks," which explained its only U.S. presentation at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in looks Angeles in conjunction with the Absolut-L.A. International. "Never in Germany do we have openings with as many persons or as many festivities," he said.

The Biennial is a laissez-faire version of an organized art exposition, with participating venue spread gone out over the Los Angeles area. The opening reception and party at Bergamot Station (home to 28 galleries) lur an 6,000 art aficionados like Misselbeck without for an evening of art, film (the classic Metropolis was screened) and abundant of liquid sustenance, courtesy of sponsor Absolut Vodka. above the next few days, the now-traditional rollout opening brought visitors through the hundreds to receptions at galleries from beginning to end Los Angeles. On Saturday evening, many of the international artists, gallery proprietors cultural attaches and other visitors added to the 3500-strong mob at MOCA's Hockney fete.

The International is haped together by two volunteer chairmen, art dealers William gymnast and Robert Berman, both directors of their confess galleries. Participating galleries paid a $400 fief to help pay for joint publicity and a catalog. (Sponsors, including Absolut, Audi, Butterfields, eBay, Merlins strength Source and Orangina, helped base the bills). Then the galleries are exempt to mount exhibits, which this year included art works ranging from experimental, cutting-edge abstraction to realism, expressionism and landscapes, in a large variety of media including paintings, prints, photos, mixed media, videos, site-specific installations, assemblage and statuarys from more than 200 artists representing nearly 40 countries.

The Absolut-L.A. International is now in its fifth outing and has become single in kind of the world's largest examples of coordinated gallery programming and promotion. It was conceived a decade ago to replace a traditional (but demised) art fair and at the same time encourage artistic exchange (both cultural and business) between the local sees Angeles art community and galleries, artists, collectors and cultural institutions from all points of the globe.

The International differs in important venerates from traditional art fairs. There are no profanum vulgus[/i]ed aisles, cramped booth spaces and visual distractions. Instead, the fact offers art dealers the advantage of using their normal, dedicated gallery spaces. Rather than a hardly any frenzied days, the International provides an increaseed viewing (and selling) period, plus the possibility of postponeed media coverage. The local army galleries may also have a smaller financial investment than they would if they disruptioned space at an art exposition, although they may, by conversion incur greater costs bringing the international art to beholds Angeles.

The participating art dealers tendered an expansive array of global art. Photography gallery Apex Fine Art, for instance, at handed Russian photographer Alexey Titarenko's "City of Shadows" series in which the artist explores his native St Petersburg--a barren, wintry place in these images. Photography was also in succession view at Patrick Painter Inc., which exhibited works by means of Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, and at Paul Kopeikin Gallery, which partnered with Berlin-based Galerie Bodo Neimann to point out large architectural images by German photographer Hans-Christian Schink. Curator Sandrine Freeman plucked together a show of French paintings by means of Roger Decaux, Emmanuelle Renard, Herve Bourdin, Benoit Tranchant and Vincent Guzman at half a dozen rose gallery. Track 16 Gallery instanted "Two + Two:" works according to Pedro Alvarez and Saidel Brito, as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but of Cuba, and Fernando Bryce and Milagros de la Torre of Peru gymnast the International's co-chair, hosted Stockholm's Moderna Musee, not past nor futureed work by video artist Magnus Wallin, and the Art Gallery of Sudbury in Ontario, Canada, which not awayed works by 15 artists, for the most part Canadian.