Art, Artful Affairs

Street Smarts: New Image Art’s Marsea Goldberg

This year has seen the premature deaths of modest but mighty Los Angeles galleries like d.e.n. contemporary, The Lab 101, and Gallery Revisited.  Though our current economic crisis has unfortunately seeped into the visual arts, some spaces have been fortunate enough to dodge the bullets.  But perhaps it’s not just luck that gives these galleries staying power.  Located at the nexus of Santa Monica Boulevard and Fairfax in West Hollywood (removed from the gallery meccas of Culver City or the Miracle Mile), rebellious New Image Art celebrates it 15th anniversary in 2009. Ask owner Marsea Goldberg how she has remained a strong player in the game and she’ll attribute it to her sincere passion for art.  “There’s a continuum in the force of art that flows though me,” she explains, “It’s my life’s work.”

New Image Art began from what Goldberg calls “a really innocent place.” As early as 1989, the Connecticut native and University of California Santa Barbara graduate originally had the space as a studio for her textile design.  Following a trip to Africa, prominent labels for surf and swim were taken with her day-glo ethnic prints for trunks and bikinis and she was quickly immersed in the surf culture. Marsea had already become enamored of the sport during her time in Santa Barbara and with the aid of her former husband, who she describes as “a Venice guy who surfed and skated with the Dogtown guys as a kid,” she quickly became a part of that scene.

The 1990’s were an exciting time to be involved in the skate/surf world, as artists of that community began to develop the DIY street art collective known as the Beautiful Losers.  Such artists were of the belief that there should be no divide between graphic artists, filmmakers, commercial artists, and so-called “fine artists.”  Goldberg describes, “It used to be taboo to be a commercial artist…but with this generation, all the rules were broken.”  Graffiti, record covers, and skate decks all became things worthy of gallery space and artists like Ed Templeton, Mark Gonzales, and Cheryl Dunn were among those to successfully blur the line from “street artists” to just artists.  As a textile designer, Goldberg was also restless to marry the genres.  The goal was to not only bring “the street” into the otherwise intimidating world of art, but conversely to make art accessible to all members of the community.  It was exactly this belief that shaped the direction of New Image Art.

As she casually exhibited friends’ work, Goldberg’s design studio organically evolved into a gallery.  What once was a party spot for Marsea and company quickly turned into something more serious when the public seemed to gravitate to the aesthetic she presented.  Because of her connection to the skate/surf genre, the inclusion of artists affiliated with the Beautiful Losers was only natural.  In 1998, the relationship was official as urban artist Rich Jacobs curated an exhibition at New Image. “Most of the biggies were in that show,” she shares, “Ed Templeton, Shepherd Fairie, Margaret Kilgallen, Twist, Chris Johanson…there were many of the artists from this movement that showed with me simultaneously and some that showed first with us.”  And while Goldberg feels that recent coverage of Beautiful Losers via books and films, such as Aaron Rose’s recently released documentary “Beautiful Losers,” tends to ignore its’ West Coast representatives, she is thankful for the significance the movement had for the future of art and specifically the future of her gallery.  “It gave all of us a huge jolt,” Marsea confesses, “…if you were around the scene in LA you remember the fun, crazy early days of New Image when the whole thing was raw and new.”

Those aforementioned adjectives are still cornerstones of the scope of work Goldberg selects for her gallery.  With the popularity of the urban art movement came a wealth of copycat artists and galleries.  Los Angeles is saturated with spaces looking to cash in on the trend but Marsea Goldberg is careful to weed out the followers and wannabes.  In looking for work for inclusion at New Image, she aims to find artists capturing the energy and determination of those pioneering street artists, not just biting their old style.  To her, originality is a key component.  “I’m looking for something manneristic…something that is its own genre,” she elaborates, “It’s not about how many cool tattoos you have.”  Such a philosophy has led her to be one of the first galleries to show of-the-moment contemporary artists like politically emphatic Shepherd Fairie (of Obama poster fame) and The Date Farmers (Armando Lerma and Carlos Ramirez), local favorite Kime Buzzelli, indie music phenom Devendra Banhart, and Sean Cassidy.  Among the So Cal-based newbies, Goldberg is particularly excited about the work of embroiderer Megan Whitmarsh and San Diego’s Kelsey Brookes, whose work she deems “dramatic and humorous, but also very spiritual.”

Part of New Image’s success can be credited to Goldberg’s close relationship to her artists.  “If an artist needs to crash on my couch for a month, so be it,” she muses.  The gallery owner blames her own background as a struggling artist as the source of her sympathy, “I understand them.  I know what it’s like to be broke…I’ve lived on lettuce and spaghetti, too!”

Though Goldberg searches the globe for her next artist savant, she has called Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood home for the past 15 years and is content to keep it that way.  “I love LA,” she says, “I think people leave me alone here!”  Still a surfer girl at heart, she needs her ocean, her Venice Boulevard, her yoga practice.  In her own neighborhood, she’s also found spots to quench her thirst for great local design like women’s boutique Matruska Construction, where each piece is completely original, Junc Gallery at Sunset Junction, and the lively shops along Los Feliz’s Vermont Avenue.

After such a significant chunk of time in the business of art, Goldberg hasn’t lost the mentality of her anti-establishment roots, perhaps what draws people to her exquisitely crowded little gallery.  “I like being in the trenches,” Marsea laughs, “…you can quote me on that!”

New Image Art Gallery
7908 Santa Monica Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90046
(323) 654-2192
Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Saturday 1pm - 6pm or by appointment
www.newimageartgallery.com