Street Art Invades The Sunset Marquis’ Maximillian Gallery

Street art is argumentably the most controversial, edgy, and cutting-edge art form in existence today. With Los Angeles being the epicenter of this booming art movement, Melrose and Fairfax found it fitting to host their first curated street art show in West Hollywood.

Currently on display at ’ Maximillian Gallery is What Graffiti is to New York – Street Art is to Los Angeles, a unique exhibit that honors LA’s gifted emerging and established street artists.

The exhibit consists of a variety of paintings, photographs, sculptures, scenes, and pieces originating from the local street art scene. From the work of a 9-year-old street artist to a porn star street artist, the gallery captures the true essence of what street art means to the city of Los Angeles.

Sunset Marquis’ tiny gallery officially launched the exhibit on May 28 and has been experiencing a constant crowd of visitors ever since. “The opening was extremely packed – you couldn’t even walk in here,” said Maximillian Gallery owner and director Caradoc Ehrenhalt.

Ehrenhalt explains that after being hit with an overwhelming urge to host a street art exhibit in his gallery, he reached out to Melrose and Fairfax’s Greg Linton, who was more than excited to collaborate on the exhibition.

“I just thought this would be a very appropriate setting, you know as the hotel is celebrity filled and it’s sort of at the center of things, so to bring this element here and to have this kind of upscale crowd have such easy access to this work I thought would be really exciting for the artists, for the gallery, for the guests," said Linton.

Out of all the works at the show, the piece that caught the eyes of most was a giant guitar set in the center of the room.

“You can see my sparkplug sticker that I threw on right here,” said KH no. 7, one of the featured artists at the exhibit. “I’m a street artist in LA, but I’ve been showing at some galleries lately. The turnout here has been fantastic."

Jonathan Lee was seen browsing through the gallery taking photos of everything he passed by on his cell phone.

“Everything here is so cool. I definitely want to come back with my buddy who is an emerging artists on the streets here," said Lee. "He won’t believe half of this stuff, so I need to grab some pics to show him."

What Graffiti is to New York – Street Art is to Los Angeles is currently on display at the Sunset Marquis’s Maximillian Gallery through June 30. The gallery will be open from 1-8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday (closed Monday) and by appointment.