Most artists start their careers as young idealists, flinging paint at a canvas and hoping it ends up looking like a portrait of James Madison playing golf. Help nurture alternative artistic processes with today's Groupon: for $20, you get a Friend Membership (a $50 value) to Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) on Hollywood Boulevard.

A non-profit venue for and supporter of avant-garde contemporary art, LACE provides an artistic outlet unfettered by the demands of commerce. In its 30-year history, the organization has opened eyeballs to the work of more than 5,000 creative minds, including artists such as Martin Kersels, Nancy Rubins, and Johanna Went. Use your friend-level membership to preview exhibitions—such as the upcoming Los Angeles Goes Live: Exploring a Social History of Performance Art in Southern California, 1970–1983, opening in October 2011—before they're open to the public, giving you a small window of time in which to observe the art before children can attempt to smear it with peanut butter. Members also receive complimentary or reduced admission to special events such as the annual winter fundraiser and the LACE 10K, a steptacular art walk that immerses culture vultures in the greatest art form of them all, physical fitness.

Like membership in the Illuminati, your LACE membership includes a fully flashable membership card. You can also impress your newly made artistic friends by striding up to the LACE kiosk and demanding 15 percent off all your purchases, a request that will give you the appealing air of being both commanding and thrifty.

Valid for renewals.

Reviews

Though it hasn't been reviewed much, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions boasts more than 3,800 Facebook fans.