Van Gogh: An Immersive Phenomenon
Illustration by Aminata Diop
The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit will hit the city of Los Angeles mid to late 2021, promising its audience a new perspective on Vincent Van Gogh’s masterpieces.
Attendees can expect to walk into a digital art experience with 90,000,000 pixels and 500,000 cubic feet of Van Gogh projections covering the walls. Van Gogh’s most popular paintings will be displayed, including "The Starry Night," "The Bedroom," and "Sunflowers," in addition to his still images, and self-portraits.
A magical aspect of this exhibit is that it gives attendees access to examine Van Gogh’s Impasto Technique, maximized into a 50 foot animated film, implemented by Vittorio Guidotti. Each brushstroke and paint speckle of this thickly textured three dimensional artistic style will be visible in a very precise way. Visuals will be accompanied by a soundtrack from composer Luca Longobardi.
There is much mystery and anticipation surrounding the exact location of the exhibit's venue, which has not yet been announced. Corey Ross, Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit co-producer, added to the anticipation. “We got a place in Los Angeles that I’m very excited about. It’s got a great history in entertainment and it’s wonderful to be repurposing that,” said Ross.
Last summer, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ross didn't sway from his determination to bring the Van Gogh phenomenon to life in Toronto. “When you’re a producer you have this gene that says to you ‘the show must go on’ and there’s one way or another that you’re going to fight [for] it,” said Ross. “We had over 100 art workers involved in the show... I was determined to keep everyone employed.”
The Toronto exhibit was a huge success, incorporating two galleries — one for walk-ins and one for drive-in cars. Rather than shutting down show production due to pending COVID-19 restrictions, Ross came up with the idea to build a drive-in version of the exhibit inside the printing press room in the Toronto Star building.
The exhibit's cross-over into the U.S. was met with even more excitement after Netflix's "Emily in Paris" episode 5 Faux Amis, featured exhibit creator Massimiliano Siccardi’s Paris exhibit. Tickets for the LA exhibit went on sale in February 2021, with basic tickets immediately selling out through January 2022, and VIP tickets selling out through October 2021.
LA will follow San Francisco and Chicago's lead in using circles projected onto the ground, in order to comply with local health and safety protocols, while moving the crowd safely through the space. “Massimiliano had this idea for the social distancing circles...there’s so many circular shapes in Van Gogh’s art that these [circles] almost become part of the atmosphere in a very cool way,” said Ross.
According to Ross, Los Angeles is also one of the few Van Gogh Immersive Exhibit cities that will feature the works of local artists, yet to be named, inside and outside the venue building.
Ross feels this is an event that everyone deserves to experience — embracing art through Van Gogh’s eyes, and creating a bright spot as art exhibits return to Los Angeles.
Update: The original version of this article included that the opening date of the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit in Los Angeles was May 27. The Opening date for the Immersive Van Gogh in Los Angeles has since been postponed and a new date has yet to be announced.
