Orange County, the london bounty.

LONDON CALLING – LA

THE LONDON EMERGING ART SCENE HITS ORANGE COUNTY

CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

December 21, 2011 – January 12, 2012

 This December, an intrepid group of emerging Contemporary British Artists from London’s Debut Contemporary exhibit in LA at The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) – known to present cutting-edge artwork since 1980.

The roster of artists reads like a who’s who of the young, UK art scene with involvement from Rosie Emerson, Tahnee Lonsdale and Agnetha Sjogren, amongst others. The incredibly talented artists have a wide number of achievements amongst them including Nicola Anthony who has received exhibition sponsorship from Tate Britain, had pieces shown at Tate Modern; Tinsel Edwards who has both Saatchi and Banksy as collectors of her work; and Rosie Emerson who recently exhibited at The Southbank Centre as part of The Women of The World Festival, Somerset House, as well as being featured in Vogue.

Selected by OCCCA Executive Directors and Curators, the flavour is undeniably British. It centres around the culture and vibrancy of the London and LA scenes, with works such as ‘Benji’ by Victoria Heald which references a pose taken from Antonioni’s iconic 1966 film ‘Blow-Up’ – the epitome of 1960s ‘Swinging London’.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this collective is that in our climate of limited art funding, the artists have taken it upon themselves to promote and raise the profile of the London Art scene overseas. They are working collaboratively to come up with creative solutions, opposing the diminution of diversity in art, and extending the reach of UK arts: Fundraising to get as many of the talented artists to LA as possible, to be true ambassadors of the London art scene. They are empowering themselves to create their own opportunities. Find out more on their fundraising platform and Etsy art shop.

The Debut Contemporary artists were invited to show at OCCCA – having been discovered by their Head of Outreach,Joella March at a unique alternative LA Art Fair which they were showcased at during September 2011, alongside some of LA’s leading artists, curators and art industry heavyweights. During September, the artists attracted attention from the likes of LACE of Hollywood Boulevard and MOCA amongst other galleries from the buzzing Los Angeles art scene.

Samir Ceric, Director of London’s Debut Contemporary notes passionately, “I feel this is just the beginning of a very exciting project which has come out of this unique way of collaborating between Debut Artists and art professionals in the industry… One of Debut’s very important roles is to serve as conduits of information and opportunities between the Debut collective and community and the art world at large.”