IRIS: Act 1 at Innerspace Gallery DTLA

One Friday afternoon — specifically, Friday the 29th of April, 2022 — I was walking around Downtown Los Angeles with nowhere in particular to be.

I saw a small crowd of people gathering around the entrance to a place with flashing lights and booming music, so I headed over to the front door of 110 Winston Street and discovered it was a small independent art gallery called Innerspace Gallery. (See also: their instagram.)

The gallery was hosting an event called IRIS: Act 1.

Part of the interior of Innerspace Gallery.

From IRIS’s description, the event was “an immersive experience featuring NFTs, live house music DJs, a bar, and most importantly a vibrant community.” When I first went in, I didn’t know it was about NFTs. I don’t personally support NFTs in any way, and none of my art will ever be minted into NFTs. I will never, ever make an NFT.

That being said, it was still a very cool art show. One of their goals was to exhibit NFT art in real life, but that’s… that’s just an art show. I mean who cares if you put the word NFT in there? What’s it going to do, make it more difficult? The whole NFT thing makes absolutely no sense.

Bar and projections at Innerspace Gallery.

Although I can’t link to artist NFT websites, I can link to their social media. The show featured work by Proof of Consciousness, Monks, Stardust Society, and Z-Hovak. The DJs were Furious George, Kristian Sabatino, and Styling with Ease.

The space itself was really cool too, I love how it was set up! The back opened up as a garage into an alley.

Rugs and a makeshift lounge under the basketball hoop – and more art.

They had a great bar full of moss and rocks and plants, carved into an amazing old piece of wood. I really loved this bar, what a cool idea.

The mossy wooden bar.

The drink selection wasn’t that great – just mediocre canned cocktails, blech – but the bar decor was very cool.

I also liked the trash can. Almost seemed like it was part of the show. Certainly it was part of the overall vibe.

Art, blood-like paint splatter, and the trash can.

An additional room off to the front side with more art, including digital pieces on display monitors.

Here are some of my favorite pieces.

A very different type of abstract art. I love the skeleton parts.

I love how these two pieces complemented each other, and I love how the cord and the space worked as a whole.

Big fan of such different pieces like these together too.

The mushroom painting was cool, and the constantly moving projection on top of it was very cool, very trippy – together it was a great effect.

Innerspace Gallery had a room right in the middle with more art as well as this big hole in the floor with plants. Very cool installation piece.

My Mirror Selfie Progression

A mirror leaning on the floor – starting with 100% of me.

A couple of smaller mirrors together – a much smaller amount of me.

A tiny little mirror and only my hand. This is still a selfie, right?

The Bathroom

I’m always a big fan of when artistic places have more art in the bathrooms. I hate it when I go somewhere cool and the bathroom is plain. Expand the theme into the whole building! Innerspace Gallery did a good job.

The interior of the bathroom door. “Pay Your Due”

Some more interesting designs around the bathroom walls.

The toilet, with the toilet seat broken off to the side, toilet paper hanging on chains, and a graffitied mirror right above the toilet tank. Very interesting.

In the corner, this says “Crack Graffiti Is Besttt”

Overall

This place was great! I had an awesome time and really want to go back. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like they’ve held another event since. I met a lot of cool people here, artists, owners, dancers, etc. and there was a ton of interest in the space, so I’m not sure what the issue would be. But the space seems inactive now.

A polaroid photo gallery of all the guests, as they came in – a very cool idea, something I might have to replicate one day. I wonder if it’s still hanging up in that space now. (I’m in the center in this pic.)

I hope they put on another event, perhaps less NFT-focused, because I’ll return in a heartbeat.