The Hole is proud to present our summer group exhibition featuring contributions from not just artists but also Los Angeles art galleries and collectors. Storage Wars grants visitors a peek inside the shipping crate, a hand-fabricated vessel that protects—and all too often entombs—some of the best and most precious works of art.
We stack the crates to the ceiling and open them! This long-standing curatorial project came from the grind of art fairs where we
would uncrate an artwork, have it out for just a few days, and then pack it back up in its little wood box. It came from selling art to collectors who had the works ship directly to their storage; and it came from working at museums where I got to poke around the amazing racks where true masterpieces were squirreled away from the public eye.
For this instantiation we wanted to offer our new West Coast neighbors a chance to air out one of their works from storage as well! Every gallery has some masterpiece that for whatever reason hasn't gotten to see the light of day in a while. We also wanted to offer our collector friends a chance to show off something incredible that they couldn't quite fit on their wall. And even artists often have a piece in their own storage racks whether unsold, unpaid or a special work that they decided to keep for themselves.
This show will feel like poking around the most amazing art storage ever, and what started out as a critique of this unfortunate aspect of running a contemporary art gallery has turned into a celebration!