Los Angeles in January was as terrific as ever – OK a little cool and some much-needed rain – but still GREAT. At LACMA it was just lovely to see the Frank Gehry show (there’s never enough time!) and find the William Baziotes painting, Congo, 1954.

First there was the Los Angeles Fine Print Fair at Bonhams on Sunset Boulevard and then the Los Angeles Art Show at the Convention Center.

Fortunately we were able to start hanging at Bonhams on Thursday because we had much too much to install if everything had to be done on Friday, the day of the reception. The dark walls made everything look different I think. In particular colors looked brighter against the charcoal gray and subtleties of the Atelier 17 intaglio techniques showed up very well. The Howard Daum three-state set of Combat, 1947, was well received as were the Will Barnets, Peter Grippes, and Anne Ryans.

At the Convention Center of course the Baziotes surrealist wall, this time with a drawing by his pal Jackson Pollock, Mexican Bandits, 1939, was a more or less constant draw. Completely on the other side of the coin (and booth), the Peggy Bacons were popular. The main painting wall featured, from left to right, Howard Daum, Anne Ryan, Mary Sinclair, Hugh Mesibov, native Californian Claire Mahl Moore with Big Sur, 1960, a Baziotes pictograph painting, Young Clown, 1943, and Bernard Rosenquit.