Saturday Art

Artist, Danny Heller @ George Billis Gallery, "The LAX Series"

On Saturday we had another art-filled night on our end of town. There are lots of galleries on South La Cienega Blvd., between Washington and Venice, along with a few around the corner on Washington Blvd. too. It's an industrial zone that has turned slightly hip. On Saturday, we went to the George Billis Gallery to view Danny Heller's new series of paintings, "The LAX Series." Danny painted various views of the Theme Building at LAX, night time, day time, from the front, back and all around.

"LAX Panorama at Night"

It's a marvelous series. I would LOVE to have any one of these paintings in my house. Danny's statement about this series, sums up my feeling about the Theme Building too:

"I was initially drawn to the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport due to its defining characteristics of mid-century Modern architecture. Designed by master architect Paul Williams and the Pereira-Luckman firm, the soaring arches and space-age saucer hovering high above the ground had always captured my imagination and triggered my curiosity. I set out trying to capture this feeling of amazement, paying careful attention to lighting and vantage points, all the while becoming more and more enamored with its graceful curves and visual balance. But my investigations led to something more -– I would visit this landmark to take photos, but also when dropping off or picking up friends flying, or when I had to catch a flight myself. It came to symbolize the feeling of freedom, the feeling of adventure and the idea of not knowing what lies ahead at your destination. The Theme Building’s dynamic architecture and flowing design mirrored the dynamic feeling I would get while heading to my terminal. And in a post-September 11th world, where airline travel can be so daunting and burdensome, this building came to remind me of the pure joy of travel, the excitement that once belonged to boarding a plane and heading somewhere foreign. To put it simply, this group of paintings is meant to display that same sense of excitement and wonder I get when I pass the Theme Building on the way to my flight. And when I return, I look up at those soaring arches and know I’m home." -Danny Heller

Meeeee tooooooo, Danny! My photos do not do justice to Danny's paintings. Really. You should just hop over to the Billis Gallery and see them for yourself. The show is up through November 12th.

There's a lot of cool mid-20th century architecture on this stretch of La Cienega

After Danny's opening, we headed over to La Dijonaise at Helms Bakery for dinner. It was early, around 6:15, so it wasn't too crowded yet. I really like this little place. The food is good, reasonable and just being at the historic Helms Bakery makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I had the French onion soup and a Cobb salad...delish. Larry had the Chicken Dijonaise. It was a perfect dinner.

French Onion Soup

Cobb Salad

Chicken Dijonaise

Before going home for the evening, we stopped by Thinkspace Gallery on Washington in Culver City. The opening for this show was last week, but we always enjoy the art here.

painting by Mari Inukai

Amazingly, this was on the sidewalk near Thinkspace!! Many people call Mr. Larry Lar-Dog! I guess there's another Lar-Dog in town!