Testimonials From Recent Tour Participants

I went to a party at a friend’s house on Monday and studied a painting of theirs that I’ve seen many times before, and found myself thinking, “was this from the Pattern and Decoration movement?”

I was excited to come on your tour, but I was not sure what to expect–would I be overwhelmed seeing a bunch of galleries? Would it be uber intellectual and lead me to daydream? (Or worse yet, to nod off…you know that soporific feeling one tends to get after hours spent in a museum.)

Your tour was none of those things! First of all, you took me to places in Culver City that I have never been to, and opened my eyes to a town I thought I knew well. Secondly, I felt quite cool, hip and in-the-know, even a little edgy…while not being over-the-top, or too out there.

I think your choices of galleries were well matched to our group. And your ability to tailor to our whims and fancies on the fly, was much appreciated. I also found your comments to be easily digestible, and relatable…I could quickly and easily get what was important or interesting about a piece without getting lost in a bunch of artist-speak.

You made me appreciate contemporary art in a similar way to popular music; it was fun, hip, vital and visceral. You made me want to not only surround myself with beautiful things, but to actually start building a collection (and not by spending tons of money–even better!).

Our guide, Bill Kleiman, is a professional artist himself and knows the art world intimately. He gives you a real insider’s view and, after one of his tours, you really feel you have received a great survey of current work being done. Even if you don’t expect that spending part of your day looking at art would be all that much fun, Bill makes it an enjoyable and memorable afternoon.

He takes you out to see the real stuff and has it organized so you get to see a lot of interesting work in a lot of great galleries in a short amount of time. Many are places we might not otherwise have known about.

While most of the places Bill takes you to are serious galleries devoted to showing what their owners hope prospective collectors will also agree is the best being offered of important contemporary art, there is nothing at all stuffy, self-important, or pretentious about the art tour or Bill’s informed background commentary. The group discussions that inevitably develop about the art are open and invigorating, and no contrary opinions or tastes are ever discounted or discouraged. The typically good humored discussions within the group are enjoyable, and actually tends to help your appreciation even more. I have found that the whole experience tends to help me clear some of the stale air and cobwebs of ordinary issues and expectations out of my head. Bill has even taken us to interesting and fun destinations slightly outside the bounds of high art. For example, as part of his tour of the galleries in the Culver City area, he also took us to the highly improbable Museum of Jurassic Technology that is set up like a giant installation, chock-full of unexpected objects presented in a way that will absolutely hornswaggle you.