In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a handful of galleries in downtown LA’s Chinatown neighborhood opened amid souvenir shops and restaurants. With names adopted from previous businesses, China Art Objects and Black Dragon Society showed work by UCLA art students and became hubs of a burgeoning art scene. A DIY-inspired community of artists threw parties and staged concerts while selling their work at dirt-cheap prices, with some finding unexpected success.
The salon-style exhibition "Via Café" relives that heady time, bringing together work from about three-dozen old friends and UCLA alumni in a gallery in a small town outside Athens, Georgia.
