Mondrian Pop-Up Brings Artspace Virtual Gallery to Life

What do superior pieces of art, a luxury hotel and the Worldwide Web have in common? The answer can be found behind a set of frosted doors in the lobby of the .

Artspace.com, the premiere online marketplace for contemporary works by the world’s best artists, has teamed up with Mondrian Los Angeles to bring an innovative pop-up gallery to West Hollywood, running through June 15.

The gallery features a 16-piece collection of limited edition works—including Jeremy Kost's unstaged Polaroid celebrity photographs and Nick Cave's transformative flea market sculptures—at price points from $250 to $4,500.

“Our idea is to bring together great contemporary artists, leading cultural institutions and galleries all in one destination online to make fantastic art affordable to a broader group of people,” said Chris Vroom, co-founder of Artspace.

The idea behind Pop-Up is to get people to come face-to-face with artwork and to become inspired to go home and discover more at Artspace.com, Vroom said. The gallery even offers a laptop set up on a table in the center of the room with the browser set to Artspace.com as an open invitation to jump on the site.

“We want people to be able to come see the work and feel comfortable that they can buy it online,” said Vroom.

The theme of this particular series is "pleasure," with pieces centered around the bedroom and intimacy, according to gallery manager Meredith Marlay.

"There is no plan set in stone; however, rumor has it that during the gallery’s time at the Mondrian, the theme will change several times, resulting in a rotating set of physical artwork set inside the retail space," Marlay said.

Artspace Pop-Up Gallery officially opened its doors on April 28. During the launch party, attendees sipped cocktails, nibbled hors d’oeuvres and bestowed compliments upon the art. The tiny gallery had a continuous stream of art lovers filtering in and out, and the staff was incessantly flooded with questions as well as purchase inquiries.

“I think that it’s just an amazing way to collect photography and art,” said Marlay. “People can come in and actually order prints and also go home and see them on the website. It’s such a fun idea.”

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