Art, unfortunately, spends a ridiculous amount of time not being enjoyed. There are great swaths of time in which paintings lie in wait, impotent, in dark and cool crates, until it comes time for them to be displayed or purchased. Many, many brilliant works of art are assigned to this fate, banal and lame, ensconced in plywood. Kathy Grayson, longtime lover of and attendant to art, takes inspiration from this stillness. In curatorial project, Storage Wars, to be debuted at The Hole on La Brea Ave from June 24-August 19, Grayson has stacked these crates to the ceiling and granted visitors access to art that has been kept in the dark.

Featuring masterpieces that just don’t quite fit for some reason, the project invites artists and collectors to display works from storage– whether they be unsold, unpaid or a work that they decided to keep for themselves. Boxes, usually utilized to protect and to withhold, are used as frames upon which art is displayed for consumption. Over eighty artists will be on display in this curatorial exhibition, which aims to negate the often unfortunate side-effects of contemporary art marketing and distribution. 

In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Grayson remarked: “Art should be for everybody…You should use your art gallery to broaden the audience of art. Everybody should be able to walk into a contemporary art gallery and have a meaningful experience with art. It should be as popular as music or literature.” Indeed. In order to open art to everyone, sometimes you just have to open the box.