Antebellum Gallery

The shop keep is great, and the vibe is great, and the welcoming feeling to al people is even greater. I haven’t been able to make it out for tea yet but will as soon as I’m able to.

The Antebellum is probably the best erotic gallery and artist gathering spot on Hollywood! Always a good turn out of artistic folk, always great and interesting artwork, and some fabulous conversation!

Going to Antebellum Gallery can be like going to a Fellini movie such as Satyricon when the phase of the moon is right & the stars are aligned correctly which usually happens when there is a new opening. Unfortunately, on the night I attended, the level of the surreal did not reach that of another amazing Italian director by the name of Pasolini.
However, Rick Castro, owner of Antebellum, does a good job as impresario and organizer drawing interesting, colorful, performance artists & others to his small intimate gallery. Rick seems very understated & conventional, but under that unruffled, conventional exterior must exist a very wonderfully twisted, kinky, lascivious entrepreneur par excellence. Rick may be the Walter Hopps of the erotic, louche underworld of art.
I was made aware of the gallery opening of Robert Opel/​Fey Wey on the website by the Tom of Finland Foundation, another way kinked out, art as erotic expression preservation & promotion site. Robert Opel was a very early Gay activist who had his Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame when he streaked naked across the Oscar Award stage back in the 1970’s. He also defrocked at a hearing at the Los Angeles City Hall which was then having a hearing on nudity in public places. For that mild prank, Robert got 6 months in jail which seems rather unreasonable today. (like who cares?)
Due to the conservative environment on L.A., Robert Opel moved to San Francisco which was reveling in the first wave of Gay liberation which was started in June 1969 at the Stonewall Riots in NYC where the first defiant salvo was initiated by the tough drag queens who were sick & tired of being harassed by the police. San Francisco in the 70’s must have been a breath of fresh air for Robert O. who eventually started a gallery called «Fey Wey» which specialized in erotic, fetish, kink Gay art. It was the first in the nation to establish such a commercial venture.
Robert, being a very politically aware person, was in the Gay Pride Parade with cutting, acerbic, ironic remarks about Dan White, a former policeman & supervisor who killed Mayor Moscone & Gay supervisor Harvey Milk and was acquitted due to the infamous «Twinkie defense» when he said he had a sugar overdose which lead to the killing of two city officials. Very shortly thereafter, Robert was killed in a robbery attempt at the Fey Wey Gallery. The Gallery lasted not more than a year.
Fortunately, the contents of the gallery eventually made its way to Robert Opel’s nephew, Robert Oppel. The Antebellum Gallery was able to put up & replicate the art work found in the Fey Wey Gallery for one last time before the collection is sold off piece by piece in a sale lasting 5 weeks starting 14 Feb 2014. Anyone wishing to see the Robert Opel/​Fey Way collection should go quickly before the break up.
There was performance art at Antebellum: Robert Oppel did two rousing rap numbers, one of which paid homage to «SEX», of course. Also Clownilyn did a strip tease number as well as another young man doing sensual drag. Our «bartendress» was in drag, but mostly naked. Don’t know what he used as a swizzle stick to stir the drinks.
FYI: Antebellum does a nice little Tea at 5pm on Wednesdays. Call ahead to reserve a seat. The back patio can be a pleasant place in late spring to early fall.

If you are into fetishes, kink, erotic art this is the place for you. Located right off Hollywood Blvd. The gallery is intimate with a diverse collection of art that is sexy, erotic but not filthy. Loved the Tom Of Finland art they had displayed and the owner, Ric, is very friendly.

Amazing Gallery!
On Dec 6^th they held an art exhibit to bring awareness about prop 8 that was just amazing.
Not your average art gallery!