by Anne Gabriel
Jeffrey Deitch, art world fixture and New York to LA transplant by way of a handful of tough MOCA years, seems to have a three-way split personality.
The first of the three personalities is housed in his large flagship location at 925 N. Orange Drive where what he seems to miss is museum days at MOCA and where he has created what looks and feels like his very own private museum filled with decidedly museum-like expansive, difficult to sell, highly curated exhibitions. Please see the attached photo of red walls and a very expansive Statue of Liberty sculpture.
His other gallery, at the corner of Orange Drive and Santa Monica Blvd—conveniently down the block and within walking distance of his older space—stands in sharp contrast. Here, in a decidedly smaller space, Deitch seems intent to give free reign to his more commercial self. Eminently saleable works share space with an almost hidden on-site bookstore. The more commercial Jeffrey shows works of manageable scale by well-known and fast-rising artists meant to sell quickly and efficiently.
It’s not a bad combination. A small traditional gallery that acts as the “little engine that could” to finance the rest of Deitch’s more megalomaniacal impulses.
A third Jeffrey occupies the occasional marketplaces that are held in the back courtyard of his massive flagship location. These markets, curated to include local street and edgy artisans, often handpicked by Jeffrey himself, offers yet another interesting counterpoint to Deitch’s regular curatorial choices. Zines and prints in the two-to-three figure range seem to signal an impulse to give back to at least some slices of the community his exhibitions have frustrated and inspired over the years.
What will this trio do next?
Image: Staff