Fran De Anda's paintings connect viewers to the primal urge to understand the surrounding world. A menagerie of human-like creatures that he calls “Magicians” populate Cactus Gallery’s website.

I didn’t know where the L.A. art scene rabbit hole would take me when I opened Rico Gallery in 1989. The space in downtown Los Angeles was raw and foreboding. It was dark and sooty with white chipped paint on the frames around the hazy windows. A dead fly always found its final resting spot at the bottom of the windowpanes. It was cold at night and hot during the day. While sleeping, a small space heater placed under the bed kept us warm.

While at the West Los Angeles College Gallery I bumped into art dealer and curator Molly Barnes. Her grandfather was a shipbuilder and helped construct the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

I was invited to see Mary Little’s new work at the iconic Frank Gehry Binoculars Building in Venice, California (the binoculars were designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen). I remember standing in a conference room Gehry created in the space. It was modeled with wood, like the skeleton of the inside belly of a whale.