Conveyor: An Elevator + Art

Porto Vista Hotel
1835 Columbia Street
San Diego, CA 92101

Article by Antoinette Genevieve

The collaboration between 1805 gallery and Porto Vista Hotel in Little Italy has brought together the art of spaces and the beauty of connection. Gallerist and artist Lauren Siry has worked with the hotel to integrate artwork into ‘unusual spaces’ utilizing The Glass Door (hotel’s bar + restaurant), elevator, lobby, and select guest rooms. Conveyor’s inaugural featured artist Daniel Barron Corrales, is quickly becoming a legend in the local art scene. Having recently kicked off his artist residency at Bread and Salt in Barrio Logan, and selected as Featured Artist for Vanguard Culture’s Experiential Pop-Up Art Tent – The SPACE, Corrales’s name has been popping up everywhere and with good reason. His playfully varied and integrative style make his pieces stand out. Maintaining the rationale that artists should be diverse with regard to their medium, Corrales has integrated his work into the hotel space in two very diverse ways. Vibrant color mixed with textural elements draw the viewer to the wall pieces, only to find that they are in the artist’s words, changeable.

One particular artwork allows the viewer to be interactive, pulling them from simply viewing to a physical interaction that sparks thoughts of alteration, beauty, and the elements of personal appreciation. I am a sucker for a thoughtfully presented interactive artwork, and this piece certainly entertains as much as it creates aesthetic. Corrales’s elevator installation is something of an experience. Not only do the colors ebb and flow with the movements of the elevator, but they play off the rotating space and ask that the viewer truly pay attention. The panels that have been installed could easily be mistaken for their true interior however, they are painted with the precision required to immerse the viewer in a manipulated space. A place that allows for depth, movement, and questioning. The Lobby Gallery exhibition will be on view through July 29, 2018. 

In The Glass Door, artist Samantha Louise Marett’s work is on display. The abstract paintings are lovely, brightly colored accents to the space. Deceiving in their brevity, the paintings mark some of Marett’s darker struggles and the beauty that comes from reclaiming one’s own power.

For more information visit 1805gallery.com
Photo Credit: Holly Sutor | www.sutography.com