Suzanne Muchnic of LA’s Culture Monster blog and the Los Angeles Times pays some attention to local galleries and their efforts to band together and fight the recession:

No sooner did Culture Monster get wind of the first Malibu Annual Contemporary Art Fair, to be launched Aug. 28-30 by seven L.A. galleries, than we heard about the evolution of Barnsdall Park’s fledgling art fair.

Zara Zeitountsian, director of Black Maria Gallery, spearheaded East of Eden, a contemporary art fair that debuted last year at Barnsdall. The idea was to provide a showcase for often overlooked galleries on L.A.’s Eastside.

“We just wanted to say, ‘We are here,’ ” she said. More than 3,000 people listened — and looked at works displayed by 14 galleries.

When it came time to plan the second edition, Zeitountsian and her colleagues decided to expand the event’s geographic reach, including Westside and mid-Wilshire galleries. And that called for a name change: Beyond Eden Art Fair.

East of Eden Turns into Beyond Eden Art Fair in Barnsdall (Culture Monster)