Meet René-Julien Praz and Bruno Delavallade of Praz-Delavallade Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to René-Julien Praz and Bruno Delavallade.

Thanks for sharing your story with us René-Julien and Bruno. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Our first encounter with the City of Angels took place at the end of the 70s. At that time going west was some kind of an adventurous trip for two European teenaged boys. We fell in love with the city right away. Thanks to family links, we enjoyed the privilege to meet the right people and never felt uprooted. We took nothing for granted and enjoyed every single visits we made over the years. Soon we could feel the vibes of this mythical city where glamour meets vulgarity and highbrow culture, the mainstream. It is only in L.A. where kitsch can rub shoulders with the sublime and seduction with repulsion – this city is a world of contrasts and we got trapped in its claws. Los Angeles was waking up and we could feel the pulse of its artistic community; a mutation that began back in the 1980s, in parallel to the development of its museums, a period marked in particular by the opening of MOCA that hosted an exceptional exhibition in 1983. ‘Paintings and sculptures 1940 – 1980’ brought together eight collections, including those of Dominique de Menil, Dr Peter and Irene Ludwig, Guiseppe and Giovanna Panza di Biumo, Charles and Doris Saatchi and the Weisman Family collection.

What was a marvel for us, led years later to the founding of our Parisian gallery. From that moment we started representing Los Angeles based artists. L.A.’s art was drawing its creative nourishment from the very complexity of this city/world where underground movements mingle with more mainstream Californian culture and its communal expression, as seen in such makers of dreams as Hollywood and Disneyland.

So we became strong advocates of this artistic scene. Today, more than ever, Los Angeles is seen as a model, an alternative scene that retrospectively transforms our perception of American art, by taking it beyond the theoretical and structural frameworks of identified movements. Reminiscent of its urban model, which is noteworthy by its uniqueness, its immensity and multi-cultural dimension, L.A.’s art stands out by its protean nature and a proactive dynamic that means it is in constant renewal. “L.A. is more than catching up to New York — in some ways, it’s moving past it,” says Agnes Gund, a prominent New York-based art collector who used to run the board of trustees at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and served on the board of Los Angeles’ J. Paul Getty Trust. The art world is a very fluid place, but there is no question that L.A. is very hot at the moment,” says Glenn Lowry, the director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Over the years we made friends with a lot of artists and art dealers, many of them thought we were already part of the LA art scene. In 2016, after years of thinking we thought it was just about time to go ahead with our LA outpost. We toured the city all over for months before having an unexpected luck, bumping into the right spot on the Miracle Mile, 6150 Wilshire Boulevard, what a treat, next to one of our favorite L.A. galleries, 1301PE. We couldn’t dream of a better location.

L.A.’s transformation into a world-class contemporary art city is an overnight sensation several decades in the making. It has long been bolstered by rich cultural institutions like the museums of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the LACMA, MOCA, the HAMMER Museum, the BROAD and more recently the MAF: Marciano Art Foundation, ICA the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We didn’t think in term of obstacles, but mostly about challenges! As we pointed it out, we spent an entire year looking for the right place, then we had to hire a contractor and work with him – Not an easy task when you’re 7000 miles away to keep an eye on the built out. Hiring trustful guys for managing day to day business was tricky too, like getting accustomed to State and Federal regulations and laws, dealing with artists and expanding our artists’ roster was another issue to handle. To sum up our first year, it was not quite a path paved with roses – let’s say we had a lot on our plate.

PRAZ-DELAVALLADE LOS ANGELES – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We founded Praz-Delavallade in 1995 but by moving to Rue Louise Weiss, the eastern part of Paris in 1996 we begun representing a number of renowned and emerging contemporary artists; Sam Durant, Jim Shaw, Jim Isermann, John Miller, Marnie Weber, by doing so the gallery started playing an important role in introducing Los Angeles based artists to French audiences and helping to establish a vital dialogue among artists and institutions working internationally. Initiated by Bruno Delavallade, the concept of Rue Louise Weiss was the very first contemporary art gallery hub to be set up in the city of Paris by putting young hype galleries on the same spot. The project was inspired from Bergamot Station which was going strong at the time in Santa Monica, Praz-Delavallade was the first French gallery to curate a group exhibition rallying Benjamin Weissman, Mike Kelley, Raymond Pettibon, Jim Shaw and Paul McCarthy. In 2017 with celebrated with a solo show at FIAC 20 years of representation of Jim Shaw while his stunning exhibitions at the New Museum NYC and his stellar show at the newly inaugurated MAF: Marciano Art Foundation gained a lot of praises. Hard to say what set us apart from other galleries, probably we would define ourselves as a French gallery with a strong penchant for Los Angeles based artists.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success can be very versatile, so it doesn’t mean much to us if we’re not involved to our artists and collectors. Being part of the artistic crowd over two decades is very rewarding even if you have to fight hard every single day. We feel so grateful for the support we get from the art community.

Contact Info:

• Address: 6150 Wilshire Boulevard LOS ANGELES CA 90048
• Website: www.praz-delavallade.com
• Phone: 323 917 5044
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/prazdelavallade/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prazdelavallade/

Image Credit:
Courtesy of Praz-Delavallade Los Angeles

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.