My phone rang last Monday, I answered, “Karla, you have to go outside, its the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen.”  My phone rang Tuesday, I answered, “Karla, you have to go outside, its the most beautiful sunset ever.” I looked out my window on Wednesday, out in the middle of the street I saw my father in law capturing the most beautiful sunset he had ever seen. My father in law and his camera are like peas in a pod, they are always together. The sunsets, along with thousands of items surrounding us, be it a plant, the way a calendar looks hung a certain angle or the way the sun hits the building across the street, they are all art pieces as seen through the eyes of my father in law. He is passionate about everything he captures and deleting a picture from his camera is like taking one of his children away.

On Wednesday I went to the LA Art Show in downtown LA. It was the premiere party for the opening night of historic, modern and contemporary art. You knew walking in that you were surrounded by artists by all the different pieces of clothing everyone was wearing, from a paper bag necklace to a silk prom dress with a tail. The Southwest wing of the convention center had all the sculptures. Scary. It was as if I had walked into the made up world of Guillermo del Torro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. Enough said. But there was also art that I found breathtaking like the painting below, part of the Tibet Pure Child series by Li GuangLi, Trustwin Inc. from Beijing China. When I look at this painting I feel like I’m looking into this baby’s soul.

Tibet Pure Child

So it is true, the old cliche, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to art. Then the next question is how do you put a price on what you believe to be beauty? How do you place value on what you deem important and how do you get everyone else, or at least a niche of people, to see the monetary value you have given your item. For example, this door, or what appeared to be some kind of door, to me, did not look to be painted with half of the intensity that the Tibetan child was painted with. But how do I know this? I don’t. Grey Painting #6 by Tom Kirby may have been painted with just the same amount of intensity but what’s coming through when I see this door is no emotion. I feel cold and alone. But this is my interpretation.

Tom Kirby

So maybe I should look outside more often when my father in law tells me to check out the sunset. After all, life is a series of events bound in a book, each one of us decides what we put in it and that’s how we form our memories.

Check out the LA Art Show, it will definitely give you something to think about.

Happy art shopping 😉