Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler McMartin and Peter Zellner.
Tyler and Peter, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We have both been making art alongside making architecture for some time. This is the first time we created an exhibition of our art together in a two-person show.
We’ve known each other for almost a decade, first at SCI-Arc (the Southern California Institute of Architecture in the LA Arts District) where Peter was a teacher and Tyler was completing his Master’s degree.
A few years later we worked together as architects at AECOM in Downtown LA. Tyler is now an Architectural Designer at Gehry Partners and a founder of Pentagon (pentagon.la) in Los Angeles. Peter is the principal of his own firm (zellnerandcompany.com) and is currently teaching at the University of Kentucky where he is the Visiting Chair in Urban Design.
Tyler originally studied art at Skidmore College and recently exhibited ‘Natural Selections’ at the 2019 Bombay Beach Biennale.
As an architect, Peter has designed numerous art galleries on both coasts including Matthew Marks Los Angeles and Night Gallery. He had a solo exhibition if his paintings in 2017 at Substrate Gallery in Hollywood.
Pattern Language was our first non-architectural collaboration. We installed over 70 new works in a vast 5,000 SF former industrial space along the West Adams gallery row.
Has it been a smooth road?
Installing Pattern Language as a pop-up gallery was fun but pretty tough because we both work during the day so a lot of the prep work happened late at night and on weekends.
We not only made all the art, but we also had to locate and secure a cool space, act as gallerists, installers, cleaners, publicists and even bartenders for the opening. Tyler secured a great musical duo, O Future, for the opening so, in a way, we also act as a talent booking agency! They really brought the fire. It was a remarkable performance.
It paid off in the end. The opening and one month run of the gallery was a success with great attendance and sales. It also opened an opportunity for us to show in Mexico City during the Zona Maco Art Fair in 2020. We are very excited about this!
We’d love to hear more about your art.
McMartin Zellner is a not so much a traditional art gallery as a pop-up art concept shared between friends.
We hope that going forward it can be a bit like a moving feast, sort of an itinerant party with music and art mixing with friendship. Our opening was photographed by our friend Gwendolen Squires who is an amazing emerging photographer based here in LA.
Because we are both architects and artists McMartin Zellner is also an important vehicle for us to try to bridge making buildings and making art. Hopefully and our two practices, like most good collaborations, make something better than the sum of the parts.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
A lot of it is our desire to show work and contribute to a discourse surrounding Art and Architecture. This is followed by our ability to move quickly on our ambitions, that is one of the best things about creating an artist-run gallery. Enjoyment also plays a big part.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mcmartinzellner.com
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Portrait: © 2019 Gwendolen Squires
Exhibition Images: © 2019 McMartin Zellner
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