SIG-ALERT

- John D. Spiak

    In Southern California today, a Sig-alert is a radio announcement sent out by the California Highway Patrol to make the community aware of any freeway incident that will block one or more lanes for at least thirty minutes.  The term is synonymous with the need to look for an alternative route because of freeway congestion.  It was named for Loyd "Sig" Sigmon, its inventor, who was co-owner of radio station KMPC in the 1950s.  Sigmon's original idea was to give L.A. radio stations direct access to emergency public safety information from the Los Angeles Police Department.  Each radio station participating in Sigmon's program was given a receiver that had "Sig-alert" stamped on its side.  Announcers quickly embraced the nickname, and it stuck. (1)

    What does this have to do with the artists in this exhibition?   "Sig-alert," the exhibition, examines the work of artists at different levels in their careers who are actively involved in the current Los Angeles art scene.  Just as Loyd Sigmon took responsibility for creating community awareness of emergency situations on L.A.'s freeways, these artists are taking responsibility for energizing and promoting the L.A. community by finding alternative/non-traditional approaches to exhibiting not only their own work, but the work of others.   Along with traditional gallery shows, they have curated exhibitions, organized art spaces and exhibited in venues such as the Hollywood Department of Motor Vehicles and Pavilions Supermarket to bring art awareness to the L.A. community.  Through focused commitment and dedicated entrepreneurial efforts, they have created a new shape for L.A.'s ever-evolving art scene.  Instead of waiting in traffic, they are finding new routes around the roadblocks of the art world.

MERGING 

    Any driver knows the inherent anxiety and exhilarating sense of discovery attendant to learning an unfamiliar city's freeway system.   These feelings are similar to those being experienced by artists Danielle Abrams, Tetsuji Aono, Colin Cook and Christel Gruenewald.   These artists are beginning to discover the highways of the Los Angeles art world and are quickly learning their way around.  They have been very successful in other cities around the world, but Los Angeles' art networks, so spread out and congested, are some of the worst -- a frustrating experience for any newcomer.  With recent exhibitions at galleries such as Deep River, 207 and Richard Heller, these artists will be cruising L.A.'s fast lane in no time.

    Danielle Abrams, a performance and video-based artist, is fairly new to the L.A. scene.  She grew up in Queens, New York, with her Jewish mother and African-American father.  Abrams' parents raised her with their "double vision" belief, one that allowed her to view the world through the lenses of her two cultural backgrounds.  Abrams' video and performance work derives from blind spots she discovered in her parents' "double vision" notion.  The work deals with her consciousness of the disparities between the black community and the "white world."