MFA's Work Breathes Fresh Air Into L.A.'s Art Scene

What is the MFAs of LA?
The MFAs of LA is an annual exhibition featuring the top emerging artists currently studying in SoCal’s top Masters of Fine Arts Programs. Hosted at Good Mother Gallery in Los Angeles, the show is a result of months of traveling throughout LA and beyond, from Santa Barbara to San Diego, studio-visiting with hundreds of artists in order to hand-select the participating MFAs. These young creatives receive exhibition exposure and experience, transforming them into working artists, ready to enter the art market. Art collectors benefit from MFAs of LA by enjoying, previewing, supporting and purchasing art from the artists our local institutions are graduating. It’s exciting to see what this up-n-coming generation is producing. We create community here. This exhibition is the only one of its kind.
2024, is the largest MFAs of LA edition yet. We’ve assembled 25 MFAs from the leading 11 graduate fine arts programs in our region. This year our exhibition includes emerging artists from ArtCenter, CalArts. Claremont Graduate University, Laguna College of Art and Design, OTIS College of Art and Design, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UC SanDiego and USC-Roski.

All Things Equal, is the title of this year’s MFAs of LA—what is the significance of this name?

All Things Equal is a response to today’s challenging contemporary art world. Given pervasive uncertainty in the art market and elsewhere, we posed the question: with these dedicated and talented MFAs about to graduate into an unpredictable economic climate, how does a gallery help them find a collector base to succeed? We considered the primary obstacles/excuses for collectors not buying art:
1. It’s too expensive.
2. It’s too large.
How to get collectors to “Yes”? In furtherance of our objective, we sought to remove these two potential deterrents, optimizing conditions such that collectors cannot say “No”. Hence, All Things Equal’s model shift. We set the following parameters:
- the standardization of price @ $1700 per work. the standardization of size @ 18” X 24” (landscape or portrait).

By equalizing these elements, we created a framework that democratizes the opportunity for most art-lovers to acquire a work (while the artist has full freedom to express their own genre and medium). And given the pre-presidential election timing of this exhibition, with democracy on the ballot, equality has been on our minds— hence the underlying theme: Art for Everyone.

How did the artists respond to these parameters? The 25 contributing artists in MFAs of LA: All Things Equal absolutely thrived with the challenge! Several are installation or performance-based, so for them, creating a smaller work for sale in a gallery was something they knew they needed to do, they had fun experimenting. Another artist, comes from the low-rider car culture—so this was an opportunity to step into the gallery realm. Another MFA is a ceramicist. She abided by the format requirements and hers was the first work sold. I find that artists, in general,respond well to limitations— it frequently propels creativity to soar. Additionally, I tasked everyone with leaning into their personal narrative and what they do best. They all rose to the occasion, as you can see.

What has been the collector reaction to MFAs of LA: All Things Equal? This show has 38 works on display. Good Mother Gallery just moved into this gorgeous large location on West Adams Blvd. which they built from scratch. The installed show looks beautiful as the dimensions of the works are all uniform so there is an inherent poetry to the room’s flow; and yet, with so many divergent mediums, genres, look ‘n feels—there is something for everyone. As a collector, if you don’t resonate or want to own a particular work, the others are there to regard and inspire. Opening night we had a 30% sell-through— the norm is typically 10%— that says a lot.The dense crowd loved the concept of all artworks yielding the same, relatively low, price. Also against the norm, we printed labels adjacent to the works that not only displayed the usual data on the work (title, size, medium, year), the label also succinctly conveyed the artist’s bio, artist statement, price, IG account, website and if it was sold—thus eliminating the need for the potential collector to take those extra steps, searching for a gallerist or me, the curator, (no easy feat in a crowd of one hundred), to talk them through the transaction, etc.—which can be daunting for some. We made sure all the information was there for the collector to make the decision on the spot—and they did. Ease-of-full-transparency is not typical in the gallery world. Take a look: https://privateviews.artlogic....

Anything else?

In presenting the MFAs of LA: All Things Equal, we want to celebrate the up-and-coming artists that make Los Angles a world-class contemporary art destination. The heavy concentration of best-of-breed art schools with their graduated artists has facilitated the exponential growth in respected art galleries opening here, as well as an enthusiastic and sophisticated collector base. It is so important to support the arts and your community!

Info
MFAs of LA: All Things Equal
October 19- November 16, 2024
Good Mother Gallery
5103 West Adams Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
Wednesday – Saturday, 12-5pm
@goodmothergallery
www.goodmothergallery.com