Around The Corner: Art Bar Magazine Issue #3

In my experience there’s not much good waiting around corners.

Unwanted birthdays you can’t avoid. Piss puddles masked only by the stench of rancid hot trash. One ways. Wrong ways. Dead ends. People you hoped to never see again. And the few with an open hand and a clenched knife, happy as hell to see you. Just to name a few.

But had you rounded the corner of Winston Street in Downtown LA Saturday, April 11th, you’d be gifted the contrary. Following the black hike-covered fencing and through a welcoming open-door to the second floor was the celebration of Art Bar Magazine’s third issue.

And after just three issues, founders Sarah Ingram and her husband, Ira, also known as “Curbkiller,” have proved two things: they can make a great magazine, and throw one hell of a party. Somehow, the duo was successfully able to harness their expertise in fitting a world’s worth of unique artistic expression into one set space, much like the magazine itself, which can be no easy task.

When you stepped in, you were immediately greeted by photos from Tobin Yelland, who has even covered some familiar faces like a young Jamie Thomas, Elissa Steamer, and Jake Phelps. The carefully curated show presented a mixture of media and styles as diverse as the artistic crowd that gathered. Paintings, sculpture, and multimedia entwined. Coca-Cola signs repurposed to almost reflect sticker-slapped street signs found outside the venue. Psychedelia nightmare sculptures. Horror and humor and all that holds us close just a few steps from one another.

And beyond those huddled by the open windows to catch a hint of the cool night air was a small room, carved out at the back of the venue, where a forty-five-minute film looped as a guitarist seemingly improvised its soundtrack. Driving footage that captured cruising around the late evenings where hands danced against the winds beneath attention, centered around bright neon lights.

Through initially a tighter location for the amount of people that wanted to join the festivities, the party spilled out into the stairwell and street out front. Folks drinking, smoking, conversing about everything present.

Stepping out and trekking back around the corner, the rest of the world waited. Where I witnessed a group of teens violently attached a masked peer, allegedly retrieving a stolen bike back. And then they all disappeared back down the street, hidden by the headlights until gone.

So a good night was had by all.