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Legendary Photographer Gilles Larrain Launches Salon Events to Keep Art Studio Culture Alive in NYC
Press Inquiries Contact: Gilles Larrain | gilles@gilleslarrain.com
 Artists Thomas Shelford and Louda sketch Mr. Larrain |
Gilles Larrain Studio
95 Grand Street, SoHo
Last Thursday of Every Month, 6-11PM.
$30 admission covers models, food & wine.
In an effort to preserve and extend New York City's dispappearing creative studio networks, artists are gathering together for a monthly event at one of the oldest studios in SoHo, the Gilles Larrain Studio.
Event attendees will enjoy live music and watch drawing demonstrations on the same stage that hosted iconic photo shoots with celebrity guests such as Glenn Close, Miles Davis, Jerry Rubin, Salvador Dali and other subjects of Gilles Larrain's photograhic explorations. The participating artists at this event are inviting the public to attend and experience the importance of the collaborative studio environment in an interactive format. This salon format will feature drawing demonstrations with live models, music, wine, food and debate.
This ongoing event provides an outlet for the work of local studio artists, and maintains a bridge with those artists who have moved out of the area but wish to preserve a connection to their creative roots in New York City.
Gilles Larrain and Louda have been hosting visual artsists such as Thomas Shelford and Sarah Bieda among other special guests in collaborative drawing sessions that will illuminate the beauty of the human form and provide attendees with an intimate closeup view of the creative process. This immersion experience has proven to be an inspiring educational event for attendees. Gilles Larrain is also a guitarist who maintains a strong connection with the world of Spanish flamenco and music of various forms plays an important role in this salon experience.
The Gilles Larrain Studio has deep roots in the SoHo comunity, as the 95 Grand Street location has served as the production center of legendary fine art photography for over thirty-five years.
Event Photo Collage
Addressing the Challenge of NYC's Disappearing Art Studios
 Drawing demonstration |
Artists' studios have served as the cultural anchor of New York City's thriving neighborhoods for decades, but due to the twin forces of gentrification and recession, these grass-roots cultural factories have been disappearing from the five boroughs.
Many sectors of the economy are suffering during these times, but artists' studios play a special role as the catalysts of neighborhood economic revival, transforming their communities into cultural destinations and providing an anchor for real estate values. During the past decade, artists indirectly benefited from gentrification, as galleries and collectors moved into areas and provided the sales revenue which allowed artists to keep pace with the rising costs of studio space. With the current economic crisis, however, artists' revenues have dried up while rents and maintenance costs have remained high. The result of this situation is a massive flight of artists from the city which is decimating New York's cultural heritage. The underlying trends behind this dynamic are well documented: New York Times, February 15 2009:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/arts/design/15cott.html.
Article in The Atlantic about the economic benefits of financial support for artists:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200907/ideas-artists
The studio provides more than a private workspace for individuals. Studio ateliers are a hub of teaching activity, where artistic practices are passed on, enabling each successive generation of artists to "stand on the shoulders of giants." The current flight of artists from the city threatens to break the artistic lineage which has guaranteed New York's place as the world's cultural capital. The physical presence of studios provides a hub for artistic communities to gather, share ideas, critique each others' work, and educate the next generation of artists and the collecting public.
 The Gilles Larrain Studio has hosted iconic photo shoots with Miles Davis, Salvador Dali
and many other artists and musicians during its 35-year history in SoHo
Recent Press
Scallywag & Vagabond, June 2010: "Kim Wayman wows us at Gilles and Louda’s Art Salon."
OpenLab Magazine, July 3 2010.
New York Times, June 3rd 2010.
According to G, June 4th 2010.
Salon Bohemia
NHK National News, Japan
Open Lab Magazine Review
S&V: Gilles and Louda Larrain’s Lucky 13th.
The Fashion Journal
"Flamenco stars at Soho Art Salon Party"
"Salon Party Redux"
Featured Artists
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| Photography by Gilles Larrain |
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Photography by Gilles Larrain
Gilles Larrain was first a painter who studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and then became one of the pioneers in kinetic art in the 1960's, using air, smoke, light, water and neon tubes. Fascinated by the relationship between painting and photography, he later became a fine art photographer in Soho, where he realized among other works well-known album covers and posters of Miles Davis, Sting and Billy Joel. Gilles has also photographed John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Jerry Rubin and Salvador Dali.
Captivated by the flamenco aesthetic, Gilles has since become a great follower of this art, even taking up the guitar. His camera has captured the soul of flamenco in one of those rare artistic conjunctions where technical wisdom and experience become melded with the most difficult to express emotions.
www.gilleslarrain.com
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| Portraits by Louda |
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Portraits by Louda
Louda will be drawing portraits of Art Salon Party attendees in the front gallery window. Louda captures the energy of her subject's personality with her expressive line quality and emotionally powerful sense of color.
www.loudacollection.com
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| Charcoal sketch by Thomas Shelford |
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Drawing Demostrations by Thomas Shelford
Thomas Shelford will host live figure sketching of our beautiful models during the party. His artwork emphasizes skill and beauty, combining a classical sense of sculptural realism with modernist compositional ideas. In creating his paintings and drawings Thomas works from life, and describes his work as "Classical Realism with Modernist guilty pleasures".
www.shelfordart.com
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Information for Attendees
Artists will gather at 95 Grand Street Studio from 6:00 to 11:00pm the last Thursday of every month. Funds to support the studio work of the participating artists and musicians will be raised through the sale of small drawings created on-site, and through a $30 admission fee which will cover the costs of the models, drawing demonstrations, musical entertainment, wine and food.
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