As I blogged a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been taking a collaging class at Barnsdall Art Center in Hollywood. I’ve been intending to find local art shows for inspiration but before I could seek anything out, the art found me.
A mutual friend introduced me to Carlos Ulloa at Hollywood’s Yamashiro’s Farmers’ Market a couple of weeks ago. He’s the Designer and Project Manager of Yamashiro’s restaurant, but also a talented artist – collage, in fact. I saw a sampling of his work at the market, and he referred me to his show at Lab Art in L.A. – the largest art gallery in the nation dedicated to street art. I visited last week and fell in love with Carlos’ “Anchored Down,” as well as a number of other pieces by the incredibly talented group of street artists represented there.
I am so grateful the gallery allows photographs so I can share these amazing pieces with you (though nothing compares to seeing them up close and personal).
"Anchored Down" by Carlos Ulloa
"Jack 3" by Alec Monopoly
"Muse" by Cantstopgoodboy
"Morons" by Kai Aspire
"Untitled" by Sand Over
"Dancer" by Mar
Now I must say something about the gallery space itself. In a word, AMAZING – the light, ceiling height and general vibe of the place is truly inspiring. A lovely woman showed my friend and me around – Rachel Joelson, who it turns out co-owns Lab Art with her brother. They’ve only been open three months, but Rachel says traffic is great, and with good reason.
I took a couple of photographs of the space, but even these pretty good pics do not do it justice.
Lab Art Gallery is the largest gallery in the nation dedicated to street art, all in an amazing 6,500-square-foot space.
Some of the most talented street artists in the world have work on display in Lab Art Gallery.
SOCIAL MEDIA REVIEW
Website/Blog – Of all the social media reviews I’ve done, no website has impressed me more than LabArtGallery.com. As every website should aim to do, their virtual space perfectly reflects the essence of the brick-and-mortar business. And the site is filled with all sorts of information about the art, the artists, events and more, but manages to keep it all clean and organized. The blog frequency could be greater; I would recommend at least once a week. And beyond the pics posted there, some commentary would be nice, particularly keyword-rich text for SEO purposes. The site does a great job of integrating Facebook and Twitter, though it would be nice to see icons for them on the Home page.
Facebook – For a company just three months old, more than a thousand fans on their Facebook page is impressive. So is the frequency and diversity of posts. I would recommend adding an Events tab to reflect those listed on the website Events page.
Twitter – There is quite a bit of room for Lab Art’s growth on Twitter. They’re posting frequently – several times a day in fact – but it would be nice to mix up gallery announcements with more retweets of other Twitter users, as well as general engagement. And of all the Twitter pages begging for a customized Twitter background, Lab Art is it, as they have so much incredible artwork to draw from.
Flickr – There’s already an impressive collection of photos on Lab Art’s Flickr page. They need to be optimized though, with keyword-rich titles and descriptions.
Yelp – As of this blogging, Lab Art has five 5-star reviews. Great news, but as of this blogging Lab Art still needs to formally claim the page. That’s how business owners get access to Yelp page editing tools – for optimizing the business profile, adding pictures, making announcements, responding to reviews (when necessary) and downloading Yelp badges for website display.
I would also recommend Lab Art get its own YouTube channel, as gallery events are ideal for video ops. LinkedIn could be a good fit too, as they now allow businesses to create pages, a la Facebook.
VISIT
Bottom line, L.A.’s Lab Art should be included in any art-lover’s top 10 galleries to visit. Located at 217 S. La Brea Avenue, in Los Angeles, hours are:
- Monday and Tuesday by appointment
- Wed through Friday 11 am to 7 pm
- Saturday 11 am to 8 pm
- Sunday 11 am to 6 pm
But the next best time to go is Friday, August 19th, for the opening of the “Desire Obtain Cherish” show that runs through September 14.
With gratitude,
Meredith Simonds, Social Media Reviewer, Blogger and Consultant
The social media suggestions in this post are general and brief. To see what a comprehensive review entails, check out my Social Media Services.
