Trouble in Santa Ana

01 Jan Trouble in Santa Ana

I ran over to the Santa Ana Artists Village tonight to drop off some artLA post cards, catch the show "post" at OCCCA and make the final opening at Bob Pece’s gallery in the Santora building.

After 10 years of showing many notable OC artists Pece will be closing his space (pictured) at the end of the month.

It seems the inevitable is happening in Santa Ana. It’s the same old story, the artists move in for the cheap rents and then the shops and restaurants follow then the developers come and the rents go up. Bob told me his rent has nearly doubled. I haven’t been to the Village for a few months so it was a little disheartening to see all the for-lease signs where various art spaces resided. It was a ghost town. I think the end is near for the artists village and it was sad to see.

In a time were the art market is hotter than ever OC still seems to be struggling to find it’s niche. We lost Square Blue in November and now these recent developments in Santa Ana paint a bleaker picture than what is going on with the rest of the country.

But having said that, I’m still a believer. OC has the foundation to be a great regional center for contemporary art. Primarily we have the most important asset…the money…but on top of that we have two great museums that are getting stronger with each new show, local university MFA programs (UCI, CSULB, Fullerton) that are growing in quality and reputation. We have a community of great artists who want to be close to LA but don’t want to live in LA and a sizable population of potential collectors.

So in other words, keep the faith and support your local artist/gallery. It will be interesting to see where all the displaced artists/curators set up shop next…..because you know they will.