The opening reception Saturday night at James Gray Gallery at Bergamot Station Art Center in Santa Monica was where I was introduced to the work of some incredible and incredibly eclectic artists: Morris B. Squire, Susan Rosman, Thom Surman, Marylyn English, David Cook, and Kitty Rocquemore. James Gray Gallery is divided into five separate spaces. Strolling through the gallery, I got my fill of some of my favorite components of art: colors, textures, composition, and fantastically disturbing whimsy.

In the spirit of the obsessive list-making that has become the traditional way to mark the end to calendar years in the first world, here is a guide to the previous 3 years ending in 9 (in no particular order). Happy 2010!

In the past, personal information existed in dusty file cabinets, spread across multiple Midwestern states. People were ashamed to be file clerks, or if they weren’t ashamed, they at least had the decency to be drunk whenever possible. The notion of privacy—something which we eagerly gave up about a decade ago, but are only now starting to miss—was sacrosanct. You could actually talk about how something was ‘an invasion of privacy’ and people would not think you were aiming to shack up in the woods and pen a manifesto.

This past Saturday night, a large crowd of twenty-somethings braved the drizzle and traffic to support Brandon Francis’s art ehxibition opening at Archrival Clothing Store. Brandon, a staff artist for Forth, had new pieces from his Curious Beings Collection on display and for sale. His work has appeared in the past three issues of Forth Magazine, most recently in the T.C. Boyle feature article.

Cloistered in Miracle Mile’s notable art district I made my way to the Lawrence Asher Gallery for its opening exhibit which showcased artists Lola del Fresno and Bianca Kolonusz-Partee.