All Photos by Billy Bennight for The Los Angeles Beat
Zadik Zadikian, sculptor and installation artist, had an impressive grand opening for his group show at Produce Haus in late April, featuring his own work with artist Andy Moses, Marjan Vayghan, KuBO, Kaloust Guedel, Rouzanna Berberian, Gary Brewer, Clayton Campbell, and Yvette Gellis. Produce Haus, formerly known as Zadik Zadikian Production Studios at the 7th Street Produce Market has 60-foot long walls and 16-foot high ceilings with panoramic views of DTLA. It’s an exquisite space to take in large-scale works of art and massive installations that both inspire and illuminate.
All of the above artists were in attendance with a smattering of VIP guests, art devotees and other artists. Art critic Peter Frank, Shana Nys Dambrot and Art Photographer Osceola Refetoff joined in the festivities as the crowd in the main room grew substantially. Shana and Peter sat down to offer their insights and critiques of the work inside Produce Haus. Zadik’s gold work dominated the space, while other areas represented various artists’ sensibilities and inspirations. The VIP reception was a fascinating exploration of the historic DTLA location reimagined and transformed by talented and brilliant works of art.
Photo Gallery after the Break
Zadikian’s work comes from an iconographic point of view intended to open up the mind to a larger perspective using its tone to inspire and illuminate. Art critic Peter Frank put it this way, “The…artists treat the wall as a site not for composing a mural, but for composing an expanded physical and aesthetic experience. The space is raw; the outside light and atmosphere penetrate it; but the work maintains its self-possession precisely by responding to the vagaries of space, light, and material.” For a more informed and insightful perspective you can visit art critic Shana Nys Dambrot’s article WALLS: A quest for immersive space in DTLA’s newest collaborative studio/project, PRODUCE HAUS on the direction and inspiration this collaborative work is coming from.
For the rest of the afternoon we succumbed to the rather intoxicating beauty of this DTLA space – a 100-year-old building inside the colossal produce market that runs the full block from 7th Street to 8th Street in between Central and Alameda. As the afternoon waned, we were treated to a gorgeous sunset over Los Angeles. It was a rich. opulent and satisfying experience that won’t soon be repeated.
