First it was a MOCA exhibition, then it was a warehouse-filling pop-up and now, after traveling the world, this popular street art show is coming back permanently as a gallery and retail space.
Beyond the Streets is returning to L.A. this month with a storefront and exhibition space on La Brea Avenue. Like many of its Fairfax District neighbors, the Beyond the Streets flagship will specialize in limited-edition product releases, but also a mix of historical and contemporary graffiti and street art exhibitions.
Shows in the venue’s two galleries will rotate roughly every six to eight weeks, starting with “Post Graffiti,” a celebration of the evolution of street culture. It includes pieces from early figures like Futura 2000, CRASH, Eric Haze, Lady Pink and Kenny Scharf—street artists who’ve managed to find new canvases for their work on, you know, canvases—and continues up to today with artists who build on that legacy (taggers like KATSU, who employs drones to paint, or Felipe Pantone, who specializes in interactive op-art installations, a touchable pair of which are on display).
“As we have taken Beyond the Streets around the world, we wanted to find a home for the brand and this gives us a chance to make L.A. the epicenter of what we do,” said founder Roger Gastman in a statement. “As the culture I have helped support for so many years has continued to expand, it feels like the right time to give back and broaden my vision so new artists and genres I care about can find a place in L.A. as well.”
The complex will also house Control Gallery, a collaboration between Gastman and Sky Gellatly, the founder of creative agency ICNCLST/. Though two galleries basically blend together, as they inhabit one connected space. But they might not always be mounting the same show: “Post Graffiti” is spread between both sides, but in the future, each half might be hosting a separate exhibition. Both will specialize in community-facing events, as well, like a zine fair with 30-plus vendors on October 15 that’ll inhabit both the gallery and the parking lot behind it.
As for the retail portion of the space, though it’s certainly in a neighborhood full of hypebeast-baiting shops, Beyond the Streets isn’t necessarily taking aim at a line-around-the-block sort of crowd. Yes, there will be limited-edition merch drops and a rotating selection of prints, T-shirts, books, paint and skateboards, but Gastman tells us that the space really reflects the sorts of pieces that the artists are excited about putting out there—and that hopefully visitors feel excited about, too.
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Beyond the Streets lands at 434 North La Brea Avenue with a grand opening on September 24 from 11am to 6pm. The gallery and shop are otherwise open Wednesday through Saturday from 11am to 6pm.