About

Tucked away between bao shops and warehouses in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, The Mountain Bar, which ambiguously doubled as an art installation and cocktail bar from 2003 to 2012, exemplifies Jorge Pardo’s long-standing interest in the aesthetic and phenomenological experience of the public realm, where the viewer might not be conditioned for art’s reception and recognition.

The crimson-lacquered bar occupied two floors under Pardo’s erstwhile studio. Prior to its planned closure in 2012, the space underwent numerous changes, including the 2009 addition of an upstairs area with its own …