STUDIO REVIEW: PHOTOLA

Courtesy of Tony Duran

This past Thursday, January 14th, we found ourselves at the 19th annual photoLA event in Santa Monica. It was the opening night to what is deemed as one of the foremost art fairs in the country co-hosted by photographer David LaChapelle and actor/photographer Chris Lowell. Galleries from Los Angeles to New York, San Francisco to Santa Fe, and Germany to China all displayed iconic and compelling images.

Although there was many die hard photo collectors amongst the masses, there seemed to be the fair share of those looking to rub elbows with LaChapelle himself. One had only to look away from the photos on display to spot him as his array of colorful characters escorted him to and fro around the gallery floor. Part of our own entourage was lost to the glitz (we won't name names),while others resigned to the bar/food area in hopes of obtaining one of the elusive sliders.

One of the most intriguing collections came from LA's golden boy, fashion/ celebrity photographer, Tony Duran. Shots from his “Porn Room” series made their debut at the Guy Hepner Contemporary booth. The limited edition 50”x60” prints were presented in all their glory and definitely were selling like hotcakes.

The $75 ticket benefited the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at LACMA.

Gabriel A. Guzman