Sea and Space is artist run gallery I started in June 2007 that operates as an artwork. It defines a spatial location to be occupied by the artwork, statements, and thoughts of others: artist, guest curators, lecturers and collaborators. My role is currently as director of the space.

Lara Bank
MFA '98 CalArts in Studio Art
MFA '96 University of Maryland at College Park in Painting
Adjunct Faculty at Otis, USC, Pierce College, & Moorpark College
larabank.com

Sea and Space Explorations
4755 York Blvd
LA, CA 90042
tel 323-445-4015
fax 323-982-0854
info@seaandspace.org
http://www.seaandspace.org
Director Lara Bank
map

Gallery Hours
Sundays 1-5PM
Or call 323-445-4015 or email to make an appointment.

GOALS

I am attempting to steer towards work that resists capitalization as I am seeing the gallery as a capitalist critique of sorts. I am seeking to show works that are either relational, collaborative, large scale, ephemeral, video, performance, neo-conceptual, or in traditional mediums that would have a really hard time fitting into a commercial gallery. I really want to support work that is marginal and not as supported due to content, scale, longevity, or conceptual reasons. I am deeply committed to work that has strong content with little visibility. The space is more of an Exploratorium or experience than a gallery. And I am interesting in supporting artists and endeavors over objects. This is my way of making the art world that surrounds me into the kind of world that I want it to be.

COSTS

in 2007 the cost has been $800 a month. This includes rent, electric, half of postcard costs (I split this with artists), postage, beer, water, cleaning supplies, and repairs. I rent part of the space to keep the rent low.

I lose $9,600 a year on this project, not including the startup costs of the initial year ($4,000). The gallery made less than $200 on sales last year.

How do I afford to do this?
Through working multiple jobs and maintaining a very low cost of living.

I believe that these details are very significant as I feel that I am proof that if I can do this, many people can as well. It does cost and I feel that this is worth paying for. I also recognize my privilege to do this kind of project.

I am now incorporated and aim to go non-profit but am aware that I will still be providing the majority, if not all, of the costs for as long as the space runs with me as the director.

LABOR

Lara Bank, Director: conceptualization of the direction of the space, artist/curator selections, studio visits, website maintenance, promotion, press contact, documentation, repairs and maintenance, cleaning, gallery sitting, and errands (15-40hrs a week).

Chelsea Lewcow, Intern: February 2008 - May 2008. Chelsea (Occidental College sociology major) helped with all of the above. (8hrs a week). I miss you Chelsea.

ARTISTS' RESPONSIBILTIES

•hanging show
•part of postcard costs if they want them. I buy 150. I send out 100 to press and keep 50 for the gallery. Artist pays for additional postcards that they want starting at 150 for themselves at around $30.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

I accept submissions. If your work doesn't make sense with our mission and goals for the space, please don't apply. How do you know if this is you. Well, if the work you want to show here can easily fit within a commercial gallery and probably will eventually than don't apply.

Please send submissions in the form of an email with a link to work online or with only a few attached (under 500kb) images to info@seaandspace.org. Snail mail usually just piles up and is harder to get to or gets misplaced.

Turn around isn't always so good. I reserve Sundays for most gallery work as I teach the rest of the week. So, don't be offended if you don't get an immediate response.

MISSION STATEMENT

The sea and space are uninhabitable and inhospitable regions, yet they are essential to life. We navigate these environments using technology that provides only a dim understanding of what is both familiar and unfamiliar, easy to see but impossible to fathom. They are targets for conquest whose expansiveness resists us.

These two spheres bracket us, literally and metaphorically as representatives of worlds beyond, portholes into what we have yet to discover about ourselves. They are grounds for exploration and intense risk-taking; we rewrite and restructure our world with what we find.

Sea and Space Explorations strives to create a hiccough beyond the binaries of good and bad, market constraints, and notions of progress, where artists who are genuinely engaged in the specificities of their own practice can come to take the risks that are entirely their own. This space will primarily be dedicated to artwork that has historically been termed "conceptual," "theoretical," "political" or "alternative," terms that are loose and applicable to all media.

Sea and Space vigorously supports the autonomy of artists, lecturers, guest curators, and collaborators, especially with regard to the presentation of their work. This will be neither a profit nor a non-profit operation - artwork will be for sale as the artists see fit. For as long as possible, the space will remain outside of a corporate reality, quite open like the seas and the sky, yet confined by the laws of nature.

Lara Bank


Mug wall in gallery. Mugs are $3 to buy and free to borrow. All proceeds go to the gallery. Bought mugs can be taken or left in the gallery with your name (mark) on your mug.