By Lori Bartlett
Daily Press Staff Writer

BARKER HANGER Now in its 12th year, the Los Angeles Art Show promises to bring a visual overload of artworks to the Santa Monica area next week. The show, presented by the Fine Arts Dealers Association, serves as an opportunity for art collectors and the general public to view and purchase works from more than 80 domestic and international galleries.

With works ranging from impressionists to the abstract to contemporary, the show has something to whet the appetite of any art aficionado.

For the past four years, the LA Art Show has been held at the Barker Hanger at Santa Monica Airport, this year doubling in showroom size. Thousands of drawings, paintings, videos, photographs, prints and sculptures will be featured by a multitude of artists in varied mediums. The hanger will host 40 exhibitors, with the new pavilion building featuring an additional 41 participants.

This year’s event contains an additional 32,000 square feet of space adjacent to the hanger.

“We actually had to build a whole new building with a sub-flooring and everything,” said Kim Martindale, the producer from KR Martindale Show Management who is handling the event. “Although the exhibitors didn’t double in number, the floor space that they are using has doubled in size.”

The addition is testament to the success of shows in past years, with approximately 20,000 visitors expected to take to the hanger for this year’s fete.

In addition to the galleries exhibiting, several local museums will have their art and wares on display. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Autry National Center, Irvine Museum, Los Angeles Art Association Gallery 825, Museum of Latin American Art, Ventura County Museum of History and Art are just some of the institutions that will have their collections represented.

Along with viewing works, patrons can take in a number of speakers. The lecture topics cover areas such as interior designing with art, how to approach art with open eyes, the thrills and pitfalls of being an artist and an art collector’s boot camp, which allows each person to spend $50,000 of virtual money to create their dream collection.

Martindale thinks the boot camp is another fun aspect of the LA Art Show.

“You get to pick out what you’d like from the whole show, and we’ll take pictures of it and put it up, have a discussion on how to create a collection and what are the positives of what you put together,” said Martindale. “It’s really a learning process through this boot camp.”

All of the artwork, with the exception of some special installations and some student works, is available, for the right price. The price range goes from around $1,500 to more than $1 million per piece.

Still, Martindale insists the show is for everyone, not just serious collectors.

“It’s a really good experience for learning and discovering art,” he said on Thursday. “For me, I do this show out of the passion for art. It’s what I love, so I hope people can share some of that by looking at art and receiving that reward I receive.

“So, I would tell people to either enjoy and discover art, or if you are a serious collector, this is the opportunity in the lesser United States to see the amount and the quality of art ... There’s no show like it west of the Mississippi.”

A opening night gala for the LA Art Show will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 24, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets for the gala are $175 in advance and $200 at the door. Proceeds benefit LACMA’s Art Museum Council to underwrite the exhibit “The Arts in Latin America.”

Regular gallery showings begin on Thursday, Jan. 25, and run through Sunday, Jan. 28. Admission is $18, however a coupon worth $6 off the price of admission is available at www.laartshow.com. The show opens at noon and closes at 7 p.m.

The Barker Hangar is located in the Santa Monica Air Center, 3021 Airport Ave.

For more information or to purchase tickets for the gala night, call the Art Museum Council at (323) 857-6501. For general information, go to www.laartshow.com or call (310) 822-9145.

lorib@smdp.com