Skip to Content
Art

Think Tank Gallery Pops Up at MacArthur Park Swap Meet

[dropcap size=big]O[/dropcap]ne of our favorite gallery spaces, Think Tank, was evicted earlier this year from their home in Downtown Los Angeles. After a city crackdown on unofficial spaces following the Ghost Ship tragedy in Oakland, Think Tank was forced to abandon their gallery, which you can read about in-depth in this LA Weekly feature. They're down, but not out, and today announce their return to producing art shows, this time in an unlikely venue with artists who may not be able to attend the show, because they're currently doing hard time in the nation's vast penal system.

The show is a loose expansion of Phil America’s “illegal galleries” series that has famously taken place in abandoned NY subways and at the border wall between America and Mexico. Highlighting what the artist calls “some of the most culturally relevant Outsider Art in America,” many of the show’s convict-artists were found via job offerings for felons only, on resources like Craigslist. Each was paid above minimum wage to create works of art using skills they learned in the prison system. “These goods are imbibed with spirit and the sheer human resilience that lives in creativity,” Phil says after serving time in prisons across the US and worldwide. “Materials are rarely provided to inmates except in very specific situations, and so they must improvise, using whatever materials are available to them: refuse and food packaging, fabric and strings taken from blankets and uniforms, or disassembled items purchased from commissary.”

The location is also unusual-- the MacArthur Park Swap Meet. A home for undocumented entrepreneurs who hustle daily, the venue will also host Phil America's photo essay of vendors paired with their personal stories.

YOU ARE HERE. 3 – Legal Goods is open to the public from April 1st – 30th, 2017, with hours from Thursday – Sunday 11am – 7pm while the swap meet is open, at Booth D3 of 620 Alvarado St. Opening night is on Saturday, April 1st from 4-7pm and will provide prison-made refreshments. There is no fee for entry, but the gallery asks that guests bring at least $5 to spend at one of the local vendors’ shops, which are found on the project’s Instagram account in weekly posts.

Please enjoy the following preview of work to be shown and preparations for the opening, including the redone mural at the Swap Meet...

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from L.A. TACO

Mountains Of Barrel-Smoked, Colombian Barbecue At Lake Balboa

Fat links of chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), crisp-skinned chicharrón (skin-on pork belly), tri-tip, and pork ribs, along with hand-shaped arepas and wedges of pineapple, plantain, and salted potatoes, await you in the Valley.

November 4, 2024

Empowering Latino Entrepreneurs: Four L.A. Dispensaries Partnering With Don Perico Cannabis For Retail Expansion

it’s rarely easy to know which brands and products you can depend on that will also bolster underserved individuals and their communities. Don Perico brings together great cannabis products and a mission for Mexican-American representation in the world of cannabis.

November 4, 2024

Photos: Over 100,000 Dodger Fans Flock To DTLA To Honor the 2024 World Series Champs

Trees were climbed and vehicles mounted in L.A.'s mass attempt to eke out a glimpse of their champions. The team came home to the hero's welcome they deserve, on a day of even greater significance for every L.A. baseball fan, given it's also the birthday of Fernando Valenzuela.

This Weekend: Tableside Baklava Service in Santa Monica, A NELA Bong Bar, and a Coffee Cafe Inside A Hollywood Strip Club

Plus wild caught Maine lobster rolls, Guatemalan garnachas on a lake, and a favorite for tacos al vapor.

November 1, 2024

Street Vendors Injured By LAPD Projectiles While Caught In Crossfire During Dodger Celebrations

A father and son team team selling bacon-wrapped hot dogs were in a state of shock after being hit in the dome and neck by 'less-lethal' projectiles fired by the police. Instead of rendering aid to his father, the son said police kept “aiming the guns at us again.”

October 31, 2024
See all posts