A visit to the Los Altos Arts & Wine Festival (EkaBlog - Site Blog for Ekaweeka the Small Business Community)

A visit to the Los Altos Arts & Wine Festival

Posted by Ellery Long on August 6, 2007 12:18 PM

In my conversations about ekaweeka with fellow creatives, entrepreneurs, and artists, I frequently find myself comparing it to a virtual artist’s collective or an online art fair. In creating an online space for artists to showcase their wares and interact with other artists for advice and inspiration, I find this to be the simplest way to describe it. On the flip side, I also try to visit as many physical collectives and fairs as possible, both to meet new artists who might be interested in the site, as well as to get ideas about what could make ekaweeka a better resource for all involved.

On my recent trip to California, I was able to go check out the Los Altos Arts and Wine Festival on July 14. There were many talented vendors at the show (not to mention tons of wine, which never hurts), but three artists in particular really stood out for me. They stood out for various reasons, but primarily I was drawn to their booths because their art represented styles that I don’t see much at art fairs. These three unique styles were the kind that I can see fostering new ideas and creativity in other individuals, the same kind of vision that I have for eka users.

The first booth that caught my eye was the textual collage work of Richard Curtner. Curtner uses small cutouts of words, phrases, and passages that create images when looked at as a whole. The themes and overall images are quite striking, and because of the amount of detail, I found myself looking at his pieces far longer than I usually look at other work. With the amount of text that goes into each piece, I could easily imagine being able to come back to a collage time and time again and always have new thoughts from it. Much of Curtner’s work is viewable on his website, so do have a look around.

Another booth that drew me in for a closer look was the batik work of Amos Amit. Amit does not have a website, but you can email him any questions about his work here . Amit is an Israeli born artist who currently resides in Los Angeles. Batik is a beautiful and involved art form using fabric, wax, and dye to create gorgeous, intricate prints. I have seen batik around (most often on cards I received at my Bar Mitzvah, lol), but Amit seems to take the form to a different level, moving beyond the traditional batik themes to make beautiful, modern pieces in a range of formats and sizes.

Finally, one artist at the event was so different from what these fairs usually showcase, I had to make mention. Nelson De La Nuez creates pop culture art and what he describes as humor art prints. Both styles are witty, colorful, searing, and infinitely fun to look at. Moreover, these are the kinds of pieces that, if hanging in your home, would incite tons of conversation. And if art, in part, isn’t to get people thinking and talking about it, how successful could it really be? My favorite piece from the Los Altos show is titled “Holy Dominatrix, Batman!” (see inset) and depicts little old Robin getting the full bondage treatment as Batman helplessly looks on. Not sure about the crime-fighting duo, but the ladies sure seem to be enjoying themselves! De La Nuez showcases his work on two websites (see links above) and has a pretty busy upcoming festival schedule. Do yourself a favor and check his work out one way or another.

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Posted by Ellery Long on August 6, 2007 12:18 PM | Permalink

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