[caption id="attachment_1524" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Eighth Veil opening night."][/caption]
The metamorphosis of Hollywood from a bastion of glamour to a gritty tourist destination is well known. Perhaps it was the iconic neighborhood’s semi-disintegration that lured gallerists to open spaces in the likes of Culver City, Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station and even Downtown’s Chinatown for the past two and a half decades. Yet with the latest emergence of seven galleries within a seven-mile radius, it would seem the tides in Hollywood are quickly changing. The most recent establishment to adopt the city’s zip code is Eighth Veil. The gallery launched its space this past Saturday, just one week before its first show, Charlie Foxtrot, featuring the work of Miami-based artist Daniel Newman. Guests who came to see Eighth Veil, housed in an art deco building on Sunset Boulevard, included Lisa Love, Vogue’s West Coast editor, Jason Schwartzman and Jared Leto. On the eve of the gallery’s first show, Whitewall sat down with its owners, Nicole Katz and Kane Austin, to discuss their initiative and what they see as the future for Hollywood’s contemporary art scene.
WHITEWALL: Why did you choose to open in Hollywood?
KANE AUSTIN: Hollywood is really the defining center of LA geographically and psychologically. It’s integral to the identity of the city.
WW: It's not your typical location to see art in LA, so what do you see as some of the advantages to opening there?
NICOLE KATZ: It’s central, which is very good considering getting around in LA can be so difficult. And when it comes to checking out a new gallery, people are less likely to go downtown or go to a neighborhood on the edge of the city. There is also something about opening on Sunset. The idea of the street, the name and the address, connotes so much. It has a meaning for everyone in some fashion.
WW: What kind of experience can patrons expect from Eighth Veil?
KA: We want to do things a little less conventionally in ways that I didn't see other galleries operating. Galleries follow a typical formula of whomever is in charge for picking, the owners or the directors, have a thread of continuity between the kinds of artists they show and the kind of work they make.
NK: They typically have a roster and give them six-week shows. The gallery belongs to the gallerist and the artist reshapes the innards of the space for this period and then its done. What Kane and I want to do is something that is more transformative—one of which is to not have a roster. Kane and I have distinct taste and everyone we work with will reflect a continued commitment to quality.
KA: When an artist comes in to Eighth Veil they will have more of a sense of ownership— they could dictate more then what they would hang on the wall, and work with us to transform the space and ideology of the space to reflect their own. There are so many great galleries that are reflections of the gallerist’s tastes, we want to convey something that is not signature to us.
WW: Do you believe there is a need for something like Eighth Veil in the art world?
NK: There is room for it. There are already a lot of great galleries that are identifiable by the people owning and operating them. The traditional make up of a gallery exists all over the place, but what we wanted to do was something that moves in a different direction.
WW: You share your space with Paper Chase Printing. How will you incorporate their facilities with yours?
KA: We plan on making short run, limited edition books in-house. Our artists oversee the whole process. By not sending things off to mystery overseas printers in China, for example, we have an opportunity to spend time with our artists and bring everything back to the kitchen table.
NK: It’s all about integrating and bringing a visibility to the artistic process.
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