Date/Time
Date(s) - 9th May 2024 - 2nd Aug 2024
4:00 pm - 2:00 am

Location
Akbar

Categories

• Exhibitions - Other Artists

VENUE INFORMATION

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday 9th May from 7-10p
AFTER-PARTY: Thursday 9th May from 10p-2a

T’ART Gallery: Tearoom Art Installations at Akbar is pleased to present the work of frank.xarate. Making use of wall space in the hallway leading from Akbar’s dancefloor to the toilets, T’ART Gallery delivers a rotating schedule of dynamic and diverse artist projects. Each cycle features an immersive, large-scale work. Each new project includes a public opening reception, and the storied and iconic Akbar dance floor serves as a space for the featured artists to exhibit and sell work. The installations are on view for three months whenever the dancefloor is open. Pronounced tart (like the pastry, or slang for sex worker), T’ART Gallery likes to keep it sweet, fun, and loose.

frank.xarate is a Black and Indigenous artist originally from Buenaventura, Colombia, now based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His work explores connections between the foundational imagery of his childhood dreams, Indigenous heritage, and modern life. He is also interested in the relationship between digital and manual techniques which embody the past and the future. Each material he uses has an emotional background, a meaning, and a story, which builds his own symbolic universe in context. He recently exhibited his work in Sexy Lil’ Art Show at And Pens in Los Angeles and AlgoRANDOM x Kolors Fest in Buenos Aires. frank.xarate will be in Los Angeles from May through July 2024 as a Tom of Finland Foundation Artist-in-Residence.

T’ART Gallery Tearoom Installations at Akbar, facilitated by David LeBarron, Albert Loya, and Darin Klein, is one more way for this local watering hole to connect the dots between nightlife and the arts. Why tea? Let’s dish, bitch (and do it in the bathroom). The concept of the tearoom (from toilet room or t-room) has a long history in gay culture as a space for cruising and sexual encounters, and the word has entered the lexicon of homosexual slang—among a variety of other terms—referring to the clandestine ways in which gays can find one another. Tea is also southern slang for gossip, and you know we love to spill it! Akbar has literally been serving the artistic community of Angelenos and out-of-towners alike for 27 years, not only with stiff drinks, sweaty dance parties, and beloved DJs, but also with regularly scheduled performance events, film screenings, karaoke, craft night, bingo, and more.