The Rosamund Felsen Gallery is one of the longest-running art galleries in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, involved in and influencing the broader American art community since its establishment in 1978. The gallery has operated four locations since its inception: first on

La Cienega Boulevard La Cienega Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road in the Los Angeles metropolitan area that runs from the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood in the north to El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne in the south. It was named for Rancho Las ...

in Los Angeles, then on

Santa Monica Boulevard Santa Monica Boulevard is a major west–east thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It runs from Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean to Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction in Los Angeles. It passes t ...

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. History Most historical writings about West Hollywood be ...

, later at

Bergamot Station Bergamot Station Arts Center is a Santa Monica facility housing many different private art galleries and appears in most tourist guides as a primary cultural destination. Opened September 17, 1994 as Bergamot Station the campus-like complex is ...

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, and finally in the

Arts District, Los Angeles The Arts District is a neighborhood on the eastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles, California in the United States. The city community planning boundaries are Alameda Street on the west which blends into Little Tokyo, First Street on the north, ...

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

History

1970s

Rosamund Felsen Gallery was established in 1978 on N. La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. In the gallery's first year, the artists exhibited were Guy Dill, Richard Jackson,

Keith Sonnier Keith Sonnier (July 31, 1941 – July 18, 2020) was a postminimalist sculptor, Performance art, performance artist, video and light artist. Sonnier was one of the first artists to use light in sculpture in the 1960s. With his use of neon in combin ...

, Peter Lodato, Alexis Smith,

Maria Nordman Maria Nordman is a German-American sculptor and conceptual artist. She is known for creating the contexts of FILM ROOMS starting in 1967: ''FILM ROOM EAT 1967-PRESENT'' and ''FILM ROOM EXHALE 1967- PRESENT''. These two works are the fulcrum of ot ...

, and William Wegman. In the second year, Karen Carson and

Grant Mudford Grant Mudford (born 1944 in Sydney), is an Australian photographer. Life and work From 1963 to 1964 he studied architecture at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. From 1965 to 1974, he established a commercial photography studio in S ...

were added to the gallery's program, and

Chris Burden Christopher Lee Burden (April 11, 1946 – May 10, 2015) was an American artist working in performance art, sculpture, and installation art. Burden became known in the 1970s for his performance art works, including ''Shoot (Burden), Shoot'' (1971) ...

’s ''Big Wheel'' was exhibited for the first time, now in the Permanent Collection of

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...

' collection. The La Cienega space had been formerly occupied by gallerist, Riko Mizuno and later by

Gagosian Gallery The Gagosian Gallery is a modern and contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. The gallery exhibits some of the most well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. As of 2024, Gagosian employs 300 people at 19 exhibiti ...

1980s

In 1980, Richard Jackson exhibited his first installation of stacked paintings, ''Big Ideas,'' at Rosamund Felsen Gallery. Later versions of stacked paintings, would be exhibited at his retrospective at

Orange County Museum of Art The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located on the campus of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. The museum's collection comprises more than 4,500 objects, with a concentration ...

. In 1981, the four out of sixteen artists who were in Los Angeles County Museum (

LACMA The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

)’s exhibition, ''The Museum as Site – Sixteen Projects'', an exhibition devoted to significance of site-specific art in the 1970s, included Richard Jackson,

and the only women artists in the exhibition, Karen Carson and Alexis Smith, were represented by Rosamund Felsen Gallery. On New Year’s Eve, 1981, a black tie opening was held at the gallery for the exhibition of

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combine painting, Combines (1954� ...

’s photographic series, ''In + Out City Limits: Los Angeles'', one of several series the artist has made of specific cities. Also, in 1981,

Jeffrey Vallance Jeffrey Karl Reese Vallance (born January 25, 1955, in Redondo Beach, California) is an American contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for projects that blur the lines between object-making, instal ...

was shown, then in 1983 the gallery had its first exhibitions with Mike Kelley and

Lari Pittman Lari George Pittman (born 1952 in Glendale, California) is a Colombian-American contemporary artist and painter. Pittman is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Painting and Drawing at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. Early life ...

. In, 1983, Mike Kelly showed "one of his breakthrough works", ''Monkey Island'', "a performance/installation" which had been shown at

Metro Pictures Gallery Metro Pictures was a New York City art gallery founded in 1980 by Janelle Reiring (previously of Leo Castelli Gallery), and Helene Winer (previously of Artists Space). It was located in SoHo until 1995 when it moved to Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea. ...

in New York the year prior. Later, in 1987, Mike Kelly had another notable exhibition, where he "splayed blankets across" Rosamund Felsen Gallery's "floor and arranged tattered animals around them in formal groupings, like they were attending a picnic without people." The largest piece in this show, ''More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid'', "composed of animals and afghans and stretched 10 feet wide" hung next to ''The Wages of Sin'', "a pedestal table dripping with candles in rainbow hues, as though audiences were standing before a holy shrine at mass, a nod to his Catholic upbringing." Both those pieces were in included in the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

that year and they were purchased by the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

. The 1980s and the 90s also saw the additions of prominent women artists such Renée Petropoulos,

Erika Rothenberg Erika Rothenberg is a Los Angeles–based conceptual artist whose work has included painting, drawing and photography, public art, sculpture and installation art, installation.Freudenheim, Susan"Casting a cold eye...,"''Los Angeles Times'', Mar ...

Meg Cranston Meg Cranston (born 1960) is an American artist who works in sculpture and painting. She is also a writer. Early life and education Cranston was born in Baldwin, New York. She earned a B.A. in Anthropology/Sociology from Kenyon College in Ohio i ...

, Ann Preston,

Joan Jonas Joan Jonas (born July 13, 1936) is an American visual artist and a pioneer of video and performance art, "a central figure in the performance art movement of the late 1960s".Marnie Weber Marnie Weber (born 1959) is an American artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. Her work includes photography, sculpture, installations, film, video, and performances. She is also a musician. Life and work Marnie Weber was born in Bridgeport ...

, and Laura Owens, as well as male artists Tim Ebner and

Jason Rhoades Jason Fayette Rhoades (July 9, 1965 - August 1, 2006) was an American installation artist. Better known in Europe, where he exhibited regularly for the last twelve years of his life, Rhoades was celebrated for his combination dinner party/exhibi ...

1990s

In 1990, after 12 years at the La Cienega site, Rosamund Felsen Gallery moved to

on Santa Monica Boulevard to a space that had previously been the studio of entertainment photographer, Tom Kelley, and where

had his first gallery exhibition, ''Swedish Erotica and Fiero Parts''. In 1992, for '' Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s'', the historically significant exhibition curated by Paul Schimmel at the

, four of the seventeen artist chosen to be in the show were Rosamund Felsen Gallery artists Richard Jackson, Mike Kelley,

Paul McCarthy Paul McCarthy (born August 4, 1945) is an American artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Life McCarthy was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1945. He studied art at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and later continued to ...

, and

. In 1994, Rosamund Felsen Gallery moved to

, and the important New York video artists Judith Barry and

Andrew Falkowski Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

Steven Hull Steven Hull (born 1967) is an American artist based in Los Angeles.Knight, Christopher''Los Angeles Times'', February 1, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2021.Wood, Eve"Steven Hull at Rosamund Felsen,"''Artillery'', October 2, 2013. Retrieved Feb ...

, Steve Hurd, Nancy Jackson, Gegam Kacherian, Mary Kelly,

Jean Lowe Jean Lowe is a California-based painter and sculptor. She creates installations and sculptural works of enamel-painted papier-mâché. Education and career Lowe earned a B.A. from UC Berkeley in 1983. She earned her MFA from UC San Diego in 1988 ...

, Kim MacConnel, Patrick Nickell and Pauline Stella Sanchez.

2010s

In 2011, Rosamund Felsen Gallery saw the addition of

Charles Arnoldi Charles Arthur Arnoldi (born April 10, 1946) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker. Life and work Arnoldi began using actual tree branches as a compositional element in his works, combined with painting to create stick constructions. ...

to its roster of exhibiting artists, and for the gallery's November–December show,

would show influential artworks from the 1970s as part of the

Getty Center The Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, United States, is a campus of the Getty Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust. The $1.3 billion center opened to the public on December 16, 1997, and is well known for its architecture, garde ...

's ''Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A.'' art program throughout Los Angeles. In 2012, for the gallery's end of the year show, Mary Kelly had a gallery exhibition which framed "an epoch — the period from World War II through the Cold War — in a few shrewd conceptual strokes, employing as she often has in her work, the voice of the individual bystander as a mirror to the broader forces of history." From this exhibition, the piece ''Mimus, Act I (Posner)'' - which was "made of sheets of compressed lint from domestic dryers affixed to variously colored cardboard" using language which had been "sourced from the court transcripts of the red-baiting

House Committee on Un-American Activities The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty an ...

and centers on the depositions of activists in the 1950s movement

Women Strike for Peace Women Strike for Peace (WSP, also known as Women for Peace) was a women's peace activist group in the United States. Nearing the height of the Cold War in 1961, about 50,000 women marched in 60 cities around the United States to demonstrate again ...

." - was acquired by the

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

and would later be shown in the museum exhibition, ''Take It or Leave It: Institution, Image, Ideology'', two years later. In 2013, Rosamund Felsen Gallery was featured in

Los Angeles Magazine ''Los Angeles,'' formerly known as ''Southern California Prompter'', is a monthly magazine based in Los Angeles, California. It focuses on telling regional news, culture, lifestyle, entertainment, and fashion stories from Los Angeles and the br ...

as one of the top galleries in Los Angeles. In 2014, two of the gallery artists, Mary Kelly and Judith Barry, had works that were included in the exhibition, ''Take It or Leave It: Institution, Image, Ideology'' at the

in Los Angeles. ''Take It or Leave It'' would be "the first large-scale exhibition to focus on the intersection of two vitally important genres of contemporary art: appropriation (taking and recasting existing images, forms, and styles from mass-media and fine art sources) and institutional critique (scrutinizing and confronting the structures and practices of our social, cultural, and political institutions)." In 2015,

Tanya Haden Tanya Haden Black (born October 11, 1971) is an American artist, musician, and singer. She is one of the triplet daughters of jazz bassist Charlie Haden and Ellen David. She is married to entertainer Jack Black. Career Born in New York City, sh ...

was added to the roster of exhibiting artists and had her first one-artist exhibition while gallery artist

Joan Jonas Joan Jonas (born July 13, 1936) is an American visual artist and a pioneer of video and performance art, "a central figure in the performance art movement of the late 1960s".United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in at

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

56th International Art Exhibition. In April 2015, the gallery moved from its

location to a new space in the

. The inaugural exhibition, which ran from April 18 through May 16, 2015, consisted of paintings by

Pattern and Decoration A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated li ...

pioneer Kim MacConnel. In April 2016, the gallerist Rosamund Felsen received a four-page profile in the culture section of the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

by writer Caroline A. Miranda, documenting Rosamund Felsen Gallery's move along with the cultural migration eastward in Los Angeles & the transitioning cultural landscape of Los Angeles during this time. In June 2016, Rosamund Felsen Gallery announced that it would be closing its Downtown Los Angeles location with the show ''Celebration,'' slating it as a “tribute not only to all the extraordinary artists who have filled both the gallery space and the gallery’s identity over the years, but also as a marking point for the current gallery artists' ongoing careers.” ''Celebration'' would include pieces by each of the Rosamund Felsen Gallery artists at the time. Rosamund Felsen Gallery continues to represent its artist and maintains a presence online. In April 2017, the film ''Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405'' by director Frank Stiefel, which profiled & documented the story and works of gallery artist Mindy Alper, won the 20th Anniversary Full Frame Jury Award For Best Short.

List of Represented Artists

* Mindy Alper *

Judith Barry Judith Barry (born 1954) is an American multimedia artist, writer and educator.McQuaid, Cate''The Boston Globe'', January 26, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2024.Barry, Judith''Public Fantasy. An anthology of critical essays, fictions and project desc ...

Morton Bartlett Morton Bartlett (1909 in Chicago – 1992 in Boston) was an American freelance photographer and graphic designer who, from 1936 to 1963, devoted much of his spare time to creating and photographing a series of intricately carved lifelike plaste ...

*Jenn Berger *Jacci Den Hartog *Andrew Falkowski *

*Kathleen Henderson *Nancy Jackson *

Joan Jonas Joan Jonas (born July 13, 1936) is an American visual artist and a pioneer of video and performance art, "a central figure in the performance art movement of the late 1960s".Jean Lowe Jean Lowe is a California-based painter and sculptor. She creates installations and sculptural works of enamel-painted papier-mâché. Education and career Lowe earned a B.A. from UC Berkeley in 1983. She earned her MFA from UC San Diego in 1988 ...

* Kim MacConnel *John Mills *

*Patrick Nickell *Marc Pally *M. A. Peers * Jon Peterson * Renée Petropoulos *Ann Preston *Marcia Roberts *C. K. Wilde

References

External links

* {{Coord, 34.022351, -118.230495, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title Art museums and galleries in Los Angeles Contemporary art galleries in the United States Art museums and galleries established in 1978 1978 establishments in California Buildings and structures in Los Angeles