During the heat of the summer, Adam Vlux has taken over theART-Dept. with an exhibition featuring 3D art, AI, and mixed media. Guests have been immersed in the exhilarating experience, featuring AR and VR, along with captivating visual art in the new three story creative space.
Located at the heart of the famous Sunset Strip, theART-Dept. is a multi-use, multimedia art gallery, storefront, and hyper-inclusive event space in West Hollywood. Founders Greg Bean and Keith Botha bring in unique artist exhibitions, revitalizing a much needed creative community for Los Angeles’ various siloed scenes and neighborhoods.
“The basement is all tagged up by great street artists. It’s perfect for old-school, late-night, speakeasy-style parties, DJs and bands, while serving as an ongoing studio for artists in residence, whether short or long-term. The middle floor is an interactive shop and upstairs is the gallery,” explains Bean.
This new curatorial operation also functions as a creative advisory platform capable of remote curation and pop-ups, as well as an online, simplified, direct-to-consumer sales platform for their artists.
“We like to foster fresh cultural movements. We pride ourselves in doing disruptive things that are not stale. We’re bringing in Adam Vlux, who will do massive digital mapping on the inside and outside of the building. It’s very cool stuff; very cyber-punk. He’ll also do a DJ set.” Botha said before Vlux officially took over the space.
Vlux utilizes AR and VR to craft immersive, music-inspired worlds, his work has gained notice at prestigious showcases like Art Basel Miami 2022, NFT LA, and FutureShape360, earning him recognition as the official artist for the Hollywood Music and Media Awards in 2022, thus continually pushing the boundaries of art and inviting audiences into his vivid creations.
Now as Adam Vlux’s take over comes to a close, theART-Dept. is hosting a closing party on August 12th. Serving as a celebratory culmination of his SoCal summer energy experience, the event will allow guests to experience the digital art medium with an exciting mix of 3D Motion Graphics, AI Animations, and his signature spray paint aesthetic.
Guests will have the opportunity to be immersed in the music, meet likeminded creatives, bid in the live art auction, enter a raffle for limited edition goodies, and participate in Vlux’s presentation on AI animation techniques with a Q&A session.
As theART-Dept. continues to push the boundaries of what an art space can be, the founders are building a community of likeminded creatives full of innovators, game changers, hobbyists, and professional creators at every event and exhibition.
“We have big aspirations. We’re really highlighting theART-Dept. as a space to show your art instead of being a remote audience member. We want you to be a key part of the greater reality,” says Botha.
Next on theART-Dept. agenda is another interactive experience by Sheila Darcey, an artist, mental health advocate, and NFT and crypto enthusiast. Darcey will invite visitors to interface with theART-Dept. storefront by placing their hands directly on the windowpane. Darcey will then trace their hands and fill the various outlines with her unique artistic language, creating designs based on the participants’ intimate thoughts, poems, fears, and dreams as part of her free flow “SketchPoetic” practice. Mediations, sound baths, and various holistic retailers, merchants, musicians, and mental health organizations will also be inluded as part of the interactive experience for guests.
“We’re just getting started,” says Bean. “This is our headquarters, totally. But all these artists, we can also help license their products and aesthetic.You can come to us, or we can come to you. We want people to get excited when theART-Dept is coming to town. The possibilities are literally endless.”
theART-Dept
theART-Dept. is a new, multi-use, multimedia art gallery, storefront, and hyper-inclusive event space in West Hollywood, emerging as a revitalizing hub for Los Angeles creative communities. A three-story creative space operating near the nucleus of LA’s famous Sunset Strip, close to the newly reinvigorated Viper Room and the latest Supreme flagship store, positioning it in the epicenter of West Coast retail, culture, nightlife, and progressive arts programming. This new curatorial operation also functions as a creative advisory platform capable of remote curation and pop-ups, as well as an online, simplified, direct-to-consumer sales platform.
