Whitehot Magazine

News: Wind and Fire Devastate L.A.’s Art Community: Loss of Homes, Studios, and Collections

Los Angeles CA, January 2025, photo by Eric Minh Swenson
 

By LITA BARRIE - Los Angeles January 12, 2025

Los Angeles weather is the weather of catastrophe, of apocalypse, and, just as the reliably long and bitter winters of New England determine the way life is lived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, its unreliability. The winds shows us how close to the edge we are.

- Joan Didion, “The Santa Ana” Slouching Towards Bethlehem, 1965

Joan Didion, Raymond Chandler and Nathaniel West ( in The Day of the Locust ) have struck the collective Los Angeleno imagination of a city burning in fire. And yet our tolerance for apocalyptic notions is undercut by an enduring optimism that our world will always improve because we can rebuild better - which is part of what being a Californian means.

This positivity is more evident now in the way that the art community has rallied. Houses can be rebuilt but art that is destroyed is gone forever. Artist Yvette Gellis, has packed and unpacked three times, to evacuate her house during fires in Woodland Hills. She told me, Artists are already repainting in their minds imagery changing their work. You will see a whole new body of work permeating the art world because of this apocalyptic tragedy. Los Angeless groundbreaking history is always being rewritten. 

Los Angeles CA, January 2025, photo by Eric Minh Swenson

Nobody could have really predicted the hell-scape on January 7th when wind blown wildfires suddenly turned L.A. into a burning inferno. January is not usually fire season but there had not been any rain since last October, so it was unusually dry. It was a perfect storm because L.As outdated infrastructure has not been upgraded to support population growth and denser housing and has also been neglected. A reservoir in the Palisades that holds 117 million gallons of water was empty - because it had not been properly maintained - when the fire exploded.  Then 50 mph and 100 mph wind gusts fanned the wildfire flames from the Pacific Palisades - where A-list celebs and art collectors have luxurious mansions - blowing the embers eastbound through the hilltops quickly igniting a second furious fire, The Hurst fire in Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre where many artists live in an art community. Wind and fire were fast and furious - burning homes to the ground in short hours.

 Mother Nature  showed humans that she is really the boss lady  by creating the worst climatic catastrophe in recorded history when humans were least prepared.  Almost like avenging the greed of  billionaire property developers like Rick Caruso who have raped the wild lands by overdeveloping them into expanded urban areas- for profit. Although, in fairness, he saved the Palisades Village Mall with private firefighters.

Los Angeles CA, January 2025, photo by Eric Minh Swenson

L.A. was so dismally unprepared on the first day when it was not possible to do air drops of water because the winds were too dangerous and there was not have enough water pressure. Residents evacuated immediately but in narrow hill streets the cars were grid locked and they abandoned them to run for their lives - but could not keep up with the speed of the winds. Cars were left blocking the narrow roads and bulldozers arrived to pile them up, to create room for fire engines. The devastating images were broadcasted  all over the  world and we all watched in horror and disbelief.

 Los Angeles CA, January 2025, photo by Eric Minh Swenson

Tragically, the following day wind fueled fires spread with flying embers igniting more fires in the Hollywood Hills above the iconic Sunset Boulevard - the most famous boulevard in the world. Luckily, by then the city had fixed the water supply and fire engines rushed in, aircrafts dropped water so that the fire was quickly contained, saving many structures. The first fires, the Palisades, Hurst and Eaton fires continued to burn with zero containment for four days and have now only achieved 8% containment with air drops, fire engines and lower speed winds. On a positive note The Getty Villa and The Getty Center are both fire-proofed and survived the Palisades fire with no damage to artworks, when surrounding houses burned to the ground. 

 Los Angeles CA, January 2025, photo by Eric Minh Swenson

Grief scrolling through Facebook and Instagram we could read the heartbroken posts by artists and art workers who had homes and studios burned to the ground. Paul Schimmel, the legendary museum curator and art director shared photos of his Mediterranean historic home in Altadena which housed an art collection of legendary artists his curatorship put on the global map. Kim McCarty, an artist and collector (who owns Michaels restaurant with her husband Michael, the restaurant displays art) lost her Malibu home and separate studio and her extensive collection of art, mainly by LA Louver artists. 

Los Angeles CA, January 2025, photo by Eric Minh Swenson

The Hurst wildfire destroyed many artist homes and studios in Altadena: including Coleen Sterritt's, Ann Goodings and Robert Kingstons homes and studios in Altadena. Artist-couple Gary Brewer and Aline Mare also had studios burned to the ground, in Altadena. Isabelle Albuquerque is evacuated from her home and studio in Sierra Madre. Mary Anna Pomoniss gallery Alto Beta in Altadena burned down and her exhibition was destroyed.  Currently, many galleries are closed, operating on shortened hours and postponing openings this weekend because like the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery team, they had to evacuate their homes.

Los Angeles CA, January 2025, photo by Eric Minh Swenson

The Palisades and Altadena fires have thus far destroyed an area more than four and a half times the size of Manhattan Island - and the wildfires are still spreading - with 16 people dead. Orders to evacuate homes in fire hazard areas have created space for firefighters, law enforcement and the home guard. Firefighters have been recruited from nine states, Canada and Mexico. The Home Guard and extra law enforcement officers protect the worse hit areas from looters and evacuations have been made mandatory.

 Los Angeles CA, January 2025, photo by Eric Minh Swenson

Many people in L.A  are hosting evacuated friends and relatives, in addition to contributing food and clothes to shelters. Several restaurant chains offer free food to fire evacuees and Chef Jose Andres World Central Kitchen is sharing food in the Pacific Palisades. Grief and Hopeis a gofundme seeking to raise $500,000 to be distributed to artists and art workers who have lost their homes and/or studios as a result of the Eaton ,Palisades, Sunset and other fires in the Los Angeles area.The plan is a centralized fundraiser in response to inquiries from contacts outside of Los Angeles.It was launched by: artist Kathryn Andrews, artist Andrea Bowers, gallery director Olivia Gauthier, arts professional Julia V. Hendrickson, and gallery director Ariel Pittman.

 Los Angeles CA, January 2025, photo by Eric Minh Swenson

As Didion wrote The city burning is Los Angeles' deepest image of itself.” However, In a city made up of diverse communities who understand that when the going gets tough the tough get going, the best way to avoid feeling like a victim of a tragedy is to step up and help others - or  to make art. Houses  and businesses can always be rebuilt but culturally important art is irreplaceable - however,  the loss can lead to more heart-felt art that reflects the new chapter of climate change that causes wind driven wildfires. NASA reports that last year was the hottest year in recorded history.

As sculptor Coleen Sterritt told me  “ A traumatic loss of our Altadena home and my studio of the last 27 years. Everything is gone. The entire neighborhood; the entire community. Making work will happen again maybe not in the same way, but it will happen. As a devoted object maker, I need a space to work in. When, where, how??? I don’t know but it’s hard to think of being anywhere in L.A. other than here. Beautiful Altadena is a hymn to America.”

Right wing politicians might try to lay blame where it does not apply for their own petty political advantages and looters and arsonists might try to make the situation worse. But the real story of the worst climatic catastrophe in  American history is a more Shakespearian  morality tale of the ongoing  resilience, bravery, unselfishness, self-sacrifice and optimism of communities like the L.A art community who have stepped up like Good Samaritans to support one another and save a art city we love.

WM will continue to cover the impact of the ongoing L.A Wildfires on the citys art world in further news reports by Lita Barrie, L.A. Advising Editor.

 

Lita Barrie

Lita Barrie is a freelance art critic based in Los Angeles. Her writing appears in Hyperallergic, Riot Material, Apricota Journal, Painter’s Table, ArtnowLA, HuffPost, Painter’s Table, Artweek.L.A, art ltd and Art Agenda. In the 90s Barrie wrote for Artspace, Art Issues, Artweek, Visions andVernacular. She was born in New Zealand where she wrote a weekly newspaper art column for the New Zealand National Business Review and contributed to The Listener, Art New Zealand, AGMANZ, ANTIC, Sites and Landfall. She also conducted live interviews with artists for Radio New Zealand’s Access Radio. Barrie has written numerous essays for art gallery and museum catalogs including: Barbara Kruger (National Art Gallery New Zealand) and Roland Reiss ( Cal State University Fullerton). Barrie taught aesthetic philosophy at Claremont Graduate University, Art Center and Otis School of Art and Design. In New Zealand, Barrie was awarded three Queen Elizabeth 11 Arts Council grants and a Harkness grant for art criticism. Her feminist interventions are discussed in The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand and an archive of her writing is held in The New Zealand National Library, Te Puna Matauranga Aotearoa.

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