With Keith and Jack busy today in the back of the galleries preparing collector and designer packages for the Los Angeles Antiques Show, I thought it might be worthwhile to peruse the Los Angeles Antiques Show website to see what’s new.
What’s new presents itself subtly, with the LA Antiques Show preview party benefiting PS Arts, lists as two of its newest host committee members Ellen DeGeneres and Tobey Maguire. Will they grace the preview with their presence? Highly likely- we were pleased to see Diane Keaton, last year’s most prominent host, making her way around the show preview night. I think I watched ‘Annie Hall’ five times the following month in obeisance.
No question, the celebs are a draw to the show, and I’ve got to say, some we see every year- David Hyde Pierce, Steve Martin, and Martin Sheen are annual attendees. Do they make purchases? What are their collecting interests? If I reported that, it would doubtless be the end of their show attendance. The discreet answer, and one that accounts for the involvement of Ellen and Tobey in this year’s show is that, yes, they are collectors and, clearly, benefactors. Their beneficence, in the first instance, supports PS Arts, a charity that brings art instruction to public schools throughout California where the local districts can no longer afford to provide it.
I was about to say that the host committee members beneficence also extends to the art and antiques dealers who make their way to the Los Angeles Antiques Show. True, all of us are thankful for each sale, but I hardly think that those who make a purchase are exactly distributing largesse. What anyone, host or not, can expect to get at a show of the caliber of the Los Angeles Antiques Show is value for money- that nearly all the dealers are accredited and all the material is vetted for quality assures this.