TTINLA (crawling for you)

Treiops Treyfid Personal Art Vlog #01

2011-11-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd finally put together a true vlog about my "art life". You know, just set a camera up and start talking. Here's the introductory vlog. I'm mostly talking about my art space. The later ones will have info on events, projects, process. That sort of thing.

Crawling All Over Myself

2011-10-06T00:15:00.000-07:00

Hello fine friends! Treiops Treyfid here. You of course have noticed with much alarm the demise of this here blog in recent months. Such a shame as it was gaining steam over the years collecting dozens of hits and subscribers into the double digits. Well, the deal was, me not being much of a writer it became difficult to sustain the energy to update it with new and exciting journalistic content. It became a chore. So, it died a quiet, unremarkable death.

But, now it's back! I've decided to repurpose this "blogorpse" (sure to be the next new meme) with my own content. I'm going to populate TTINLA with tales, video, and photos documenting what I've been doing lately. And it's been a lot. I'm now the new official vlogger for Ink Pen Mutations Press. Over the past few months I've been documenting the shenanigans of the IPM crew with my Rubber Band Cam (my home made steady cam). The results have been wondrous and majestic. Take a look at this triad of vlogs from our trip to Comic Con.

Pretty crazy huh? These people are true rock stars. Expect many more fun vlogs and blogs in the future. TTINLA is back, alive and cold-kickin' it once more.

http://www.youtube.com/inkpenmutations
http://www.youtube.com/rubberbandcam

MOCA Versus Yves Klein Butoh

2011-04-22T23:14:00.001-07:00

I was fortunate enough to be invited to vlog a Butoh Protest Performance at the MOCA Art in the Streets opening last Saturday. Jeffrey Deitch and friends at MOCA decided to whitewash an anti-war mural painted on the Geffen Contemporary by Italian artist Blu causing a huge controversy. The Butoh performers were protesting that act of censorship. Their performance was fantastic. Check it out!

Bughouse at Peepshow Gallery in Hollywood - VLOG

2011-03-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Kids, I caught the Bughouse clan during their opening at Peepshow in Hollywood last week. The Bughouses are a fantastic artsy husband and wife due who have been a force in the Los Angeles art scene for many years. I'll stop writing now so you can look at the video.

http://www.bughouse.com

Five at The Hive (gallery)

2011-02-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

Howdy, here is my first attempt (who knows maybe the last) at doing a video blog. I went down to the Hive Gallery in downtown Los Angeles yesterday (Saturday, February 5th, 2011) with my new Flip Mino HD. I interviewed 5 of the most manly creatives who inhabit the place. Randy Wall, Sensei, Greg Gould, Nathan Cartwright, and Patrick Haemmerlien are well represented. Playboy centerfold model Laya Bella was in da house. She apparently brought her own magazine and was showing interested patrons her fine work.

Emptiness is not an Option

2011-01-22T17:47:00.000-08:00

So, I went to see some gallery shows this afternoon as I sometimes do. I wasn't in the greatest of moods but, I wasn't figuring on becoming intensely depressed and confused about art in general as well as my own art life. I went to this place which had a show by a performance artist. The show contained almost nothing. There were a couple extremely dull and non-changing videos showing, and a piece of paper with writing on it on the wall. There was also a small painting made with one color of paint and no content, on a wall painted with the exact same color. I went downstairs and there was a large empty room. There was a ceiling light on in the opposite corner showing a small piece of wood leaning against the wall. There was another piece of paper with writing on it by the door. I read the first paragraph which started "I wanted to create a piece about nothing". And that's when I got really worked up.

Not only is this sort of thing mediocre but, it's been done countless times. Now is not the time to make art about nothing. There's a lot happening in the world. The way we communicate has completely shifted in the past 10 years. We're in the midst of a revolution in technology. Humans are putting stresses on our natural world that will change the way we live in the very near future. Robotics, plastic surgery, DNA synthesis, video games, autism, so many things to think about. I could go on and on. This is really probably one of the most exciting times in the history of humanity. A lot of good and bad but, lots of stuff is going on.

After seeing this insult to the eyes I became very upset and depressed. I started to think about my own "life" as a performance artist and to question what I was really doing. What am I doing and why am I doing it? I don't even know! What IS a performance artist? What is my goal? I make so much effort to do something different and new. I spend loads of money, I organize people, I do large and small productions involving movement, technology, humor, strange visuals. Who am I doing this for and who am I trying to impress? Is it the gallery owners and directors? Am I trying to impress the same people who curated this show I just saw? Am I trying to impress those art intellectuals who can justify curating a show about absolutely nothing? If so, what I'm doing is futile because they will never understand me. My art is about something.

The only real answer I have is that I cannot stop doing art. An artist is what I am. I'm a creative thinker and idea man. THE IDEAS HAVE TO LIVE! I don't know why exactly, but, they just do. They are burning inside of me and they must come out.

The artist's roll is to inspire, is it not? Our role is to express ourselves and to make people feel or see something differently. We give meaning to other people's lives. We are important. It's mind-boggling how this artist failed so miserably in this instance to be inspirational. Having an idea is not enough. It needs to be developed. It's called "art". That means there's an ART to doing it. A lot of contemporary art these days is so very similar. So very empty, undeveloped, pointless and lost.

Airom Inc.

2010-11-07T23:54:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Airom Bleicher on his new gallery (Caporale/Bleicher) located on LaBrea Ave. next to Jack Rutberg. So glad he has added a new eastern wing to his growing art conglomerate which started (and continues) with the Bleicher/Golightly location on Ocean Ave. Santa Monica is essentially Siberia as far as I'm concerned and traveling there from Los Feliz was always a schlep for me. I'm happy that I'll be able to attend more of the many art & music events Airom puts on.

At Bleicher/GoLightly he is renting a partition of an existing gallery so his space there is severely limited. This new joint is gigantic in comparison and actually big enough to hold more than 5 people. And there were definitely more than five here at the "Worlds Within" grand opening. See the pictures for proof. The place was filled with important artists and art luminaries, a large foresty installation, a Bleicher brother, and at least one person named Calethia.

Airom has been doing the gallery & artist representation thing for a few years now. He has been tireless in his effort while at the same time living on the ultra cheap. The man doesn't even own a car for Chissakes! Couldn't happen to a nicer guy and I'm really happy for him. Yes, Airom is a great lad and I hope he is able to remember and appreciate all the fine work he has done even after he goes broke. Just kidding! Congrats Airom!

Greene Sculpture Park

2010-10-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

So, I drove downtown to see a couple Chung King Road openings the other night. I had a good time and liked some of what I saw. But, as I was mysteriously disappearing (it's my way) I noticed a fine group show at a temporary space called the Greene Park Gallery. It's just up another few days so you might not catch it in time. But, I thought I'd throw a few words around about some great sculptures by Peter Wu.

This is the new TTINLA so no deep analysis here, just snippets of appreciation for the nuggets I come into contact with. These sculptures feature all sorts of common objects like crappy figurines and cheapo coffee table gifts that would end up at a garage sale. This stuff is arranged and worked in such a way as to sublimate (I love that word) the original meaning of the objects. It's very obviously lovingly done.

There was other great work in the gallery but, I thought I'd focus on my favs. Keep your eyes peeled for Peter Wu in the future. http://www.drpeterwu.com

A Lowbrow Quickie

2010-10-23T02:19:00.000-07:00

So, all I basically had to do was to get up from my early evening nap and walk up the hill across the street to see Beyond Eden Art Fair at the Barnsdall. I couldn't really pass this up, it would be shamefully sloth-like. The Barnsdall is a great place to see an art show but, whenever I go I keep thinking how horrified Frank Lloyd Wright would've been to see his beautiful gallery filled up with contemporary art pieces. He's been turning over in his grave for almost 50 years now and this Lowbrow show will for sure keep him spinning.

I'm not really a lowbrow guy but, there were a few really excellent artists who's work I really dug. One was Christopher Ulrich. I first heard of this guy from the Youtube show Artist Unusual. This is a really well done little series of art interviews by Randy Wall in his Andy Warhol wig. Check it out: Artist Unusual There's some crazy energy that Christopher is focusing in his work. Very detailed, bold and powerful stuff.

There were tons of people at this show including local art scene regular and idea man Aaron Landy feeding his video hoarding addiction. I think there needs to be an intervention. Don't tease us Aaron we need to see this shit before we die! Later, I asked a guy who I thought was Seth Carmichael if he wanted to buy a donut. It wasn't him and he didn't want to buy one. Guess it's been awhile since I've talked to Seth. Here's some info about the event: http://www.lamag.org/home/beyond-eden/

Oh No! Google just took over Blogger and they're screwing everything up. My settings are toast! I have to go in to the HTML and delete all the new crappy stylesheets they forced on me! Fuckers. Ever heard of Scroogle? Makes me feel better using it. Check it: http://www.scroogle.org

I've been Resnick-ized!

2010-10-21T01:30:00.000-07:00

I've been a busy bee. All sorts of performance art projects have kept me away from blogging. Frightfully busy have I been. Take a look at my site if you're interested to see what's been taking up my time. http://www.treiops.com/art But, also, I've realized I've become too much a journalist. Instead of just riffing on the crazy night I had I'm starting to do actual research! Damn my perfectionism! If'n I'm to keep this blog going I've just got to wing it. So, wing it I shall. Expect less details and more immediacy here on TTINLA.

I can't believe I've never been a member of LACMA. I love the place. But, I go there not often enough. So last Saturday I just decided to walk in and sign up. Lo, and behold they had built a whole new exhibition space called the Resnick Pavilion. It was full of mostly interesting objects. I'm a big fan of history especially ancient American history.

Did you know 95% of the people who originally lived in the Americas died of European delivered diseases? Often entire communities and populations were wiped out even before they had peered onto a white face! This isn't propaganda it's the real truth! Check out this fantastically detailed book called 1491 by Charles C. Mann.

Anyway, a lot was happening back in the good ol' Mesoamerican days, like the Olmec. You know those big heads? Well, the Resnick has a few of them along with some other grand Olmec items. They also had a couple other fine shows, one was a really fascinating assortment of high fashion clothing from 1700-1915. Hey Adele, you need to go!

The other an assortment of 18th century paintings & sculpture from the Resnick collection. I must admit I'm a sucker for these romantic sculptures featuring all the Greek gods and such. I know it's cheezy but I just can't help myself.

It reminded me of my trip to Copenhagen a few years ago when I happened upon the Glyptotek. http://www.glyptoteket.dk/ I spent most of the day there admiring Greek & Roman period sculptures along with reproductions and works in the same style from the 19th century. They also do this crazy thing in their museums of putting contemporary items along with the old stuff. Mind blowing. Go to Denmark!

Anyway, go to the Resnick too. It's good. Nice new building. You will like it. Don't worry, they still have the life-sized Michael Jackson and Bubbles ceramic sculpture next door.

A Daytime Culver Crawl

2010-08-18T02:37:00.001-07:00

My day job has been frustrating of late. The economy sucks and there isn't enough staff to do what needs to be done. Everybody is stressed out. I needed a couple days off before I acted on the fantasy of putting my foot through the CPU. So, I chilled out and did mostly nothing for a couple days except take a fun trip to the Culver City galleries. I had missed all the current show's openings due to intense busyness in my life so, some of what I'm going to write about won't be available to view much longer but, I thought it worthwhile to highlight the outstanding work I saw.

At Walter Maciel there was a fine group show called Valley of the Dolls. A diverse assortment to be sure. My favorite was Andy Diaz Hope's strange and meticulous works which were sort of photographic mosaics using dark and moody subject matter. What started as a large photographic print was cut up into hundreds of tiny pieces. Each piece was then put into clear gelcaps which were glued onto a perfect grid in correct order, reconstructing the picture. Talk about yer OCD! Beautiful stuff. There was actually another artist who did a similar piece in the show, Beverly Rayner, who used gelcaps but put a photograph behind them instead of inside (far right).

At Angles Gallery was a fascinating kinetic piece by Joseph Kohnke called launch. As you entered the installtion room a motion detector activated a series of antique lunch boxes to come alive. The boxes slowly open at different intervals creating a creaking, whirring din. Each box had inside a thermos that would rise and aim, then descend back into it's silo. The artist was inspired by North Korea's bleak reality of not being able to feed it's populace but at the same time building a massive army.

I was pretty tired and ready to split the scene until I walked into Honor Fraser and saw Israeli artist Shiri Mordechay's bizarro mixed media installation. This totally took my breath away. It's just one of those indescribable explosions of expression. A sculptural collage-maze set before me. A vomit of grotesque bodies painted on paper and shaped into some crazy floating and creepy world. Contorted erotica and mythological creatures caught in a spider's nest of string and scraps. A Bosch-esque parade of fuck-sexy vagina-cock corpses. All of it painted on paper, cardboard, and fabric. Glued, wired and sewn together hanging from the ceiling, and standing on the floor. I don't even want to read the press release, I'd rather go back to see if I could figure out what's going on. A must see. Go see it before it's gone. Quick!

http://www.honorfraser.com
http://www.waltermacielgallery.com
http://andydiazhope.com
http://www.josephkohnke.com
http://www.anglesgallery.com

Perform Now! in Chinatown!

2010-08-14T17:27:00.000-07:00

I caught some groovy Performance Art at the Chinatown Galleries Perform Now! event last week. I'm glad they are holding this event yearly now. Also, last year I believe it was just one day but this time it was a three and a half days, Thursday night through Sunday. I didn't see as much as I wanted as I was all over the place during the weekend. But, I did catch a few interesting gems.

I've always liked Tiffany Trenda's work. It's well planned, thoughtful and compelling. She employs video projections, video cameras, bizarre costumes, and usually an interactive element. She was performing her piece Terrarium which included all of the above. Trenda was wearing a white body suit with an LCD and camera headdress. She crept around in slow motion on lucite heels reaching out to audience members behind a rope barrier mimicking their slow movements but never touching. All the while various futuristic city and environmental scenes were projected on top.

I've always liked Lucas Murgida's work as well. In his piece The Oracle he cuts out the wise sage middle man who is normally called upon to form riddles for you to figure out and thus find your path. In this version you are your own sage. The viewer is invited to enter a phone booth-sized box with two way mirrors. Inside, all your questions are answered. Lucas stands outside like a barker, the truth is his con to entice people inside.

Perform Now! is really a fun event. The Chinatown Gallery area is perfect for it as it has a nice inner courtyard and a large secluded cul de sac. Be sure to take the time to check it out next year.

http://performnow.tumblr.com
http://www.tiffanytrenda.com/home.html
http://lucasmurgida.com/

NYC Exploits Part 2

2010-07-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

After the Chelsea death march on Friday what I really needed and was hoping for was a crazy night at some bar in Williamsburg. Luckily, Justin was spinning at a bar down the street from where I was staying. He used to have 80+ Prince singles but, I don't remember hearing him play any during his set. Actually, I didn't remember much after the 4 1/2 margavesas and a whiskey shot. But, I checked my Facebook status in the morning and apparently I had a lousy milkshake at Kellogg's diner for a nightcap.

After a hazy morning my mates and I went down to the Whitney. There was a Charles Burchfield painting show there. I totally loved this stuff. It reminded me a lot of William Blake's work for some reason. My favorite works were the watercolors in which he seemed to render energy emanating from trees and other flora. He portrayed nature's invisible biorhythms in a sort of spiritual way with glowing yellow and white light. Very psychedelic and visionary. I'd have more pics but... No Bigture No Bigture! I had to pull these from the interwebs.

Later, it was a distressing afternoon for the members of Violent Bullshit. We missed the set but not the aftermath. Apparently, a string had broken, and their 11 minute set was lacking in focus and energy. I tried to console the bassist but I just made it worse. The guitarist was surprisingly upbeat though, ready to get on with his new life without his girlfriend who just dumped him and without his band who he was dumping. Only a crazyman named Sam Tobin could resuscitate this gloomy ex-pool supply store.

On Sunday Scotty RV and I took a ferry to historic Governor's Island. It was free except for the 2 bills we lost playing blackjack in the casino on the lower deck. On this barren outpost the lonely soldiers stationed here would put on elaborate shows to liven their dreary and desperate lives. Some times it was dinner theater featuring saucy vignettes while other times it was a musical with costumes. They would often fight each other to play the female rolls. One of the goals of my trip was to visit a bar in Manhattan called Max Fish where we used to hang out during the band years. Never got there but, I did get to see the t-shirt at the Meatopia festival on Governor's.

After meeting Justin & Stacy later in the afternoon for the end of the World Cup match at a bar in Greenpoint I went to a local recording studio to see what Turing Machine was putting together. Gerry Fuchs, their drummer had passed away late last year and Scott and Justin were trying to cobble something together from various demo recordings to put out a third album. Andrew, their producer played me a couple of things, one of which was a fantastic improvised jam recorded at Scott's upstate NY home. Very exciting driving Turing Machine style stuff. Can't wait to hear what they come up with. But, it will take some time.

While in the studio I took a couple hours out to meet an NYC performance artist, Shaun El C. Leoardo at a bar called the Pencil Factory down the street. I had seen one of Shaun's performances that he did at LACMA in LA awhile back called Bull in the Ring. My cinematographer friend Brad Cooper was filming it for him. It featured Shaun leading football drills and then being pummeled by 10 burly linebackers. It was pretty intense. Shaun's performance work involves personifying masculine role models in order to "truly experience the psychology and pain involved with representing the hero figure". In another performance called Battle Royal he got in a cage match with several blindfolded professional wrestlers for 3 hours! I had a great conversation with him and his artist friend. Hopefully I'll catch one of his upcoming projects when I visit NYC again. Go to his website to read about his interesting work.

Whitney Museum of American Art
http://whitney.org

Turing Machine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYReXckG7Ys

Shaun El C. Leoardo
http://www.elcleonardo.com

Bull in the Ring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FioYRo77sd8&feature=related

Battle Royal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pdFkcMW9fE

Endless Arts in Chelsea

2010-07-18T23:41:00.000-07:00

Being "based" in LA (whatever the hell that means) I write about LA arts here at TTINLA blog. But, last weekend I had a bit of an NYC art trip so I thought I'd write about it. I was mainly out east to see my mates who I was in a band with in the 90s (pitchblende). But, I had enough time to go arting too.

I had never visited the Chelsea gallery area in Manhattan's lower west side so I took an afternoon to peruse it. Vast! I had no idea. In about an 8 square block area it seemed like almost every building was a gallery, or a building full of galleries. It took me 4 hours and I was passing up probably two thirds of the spaces. My head was spinning and my feet were aching. 100 degree temperatures accompanied me.

I can't begin to start writing a review of this, it's just too much. So, I just picked some things out that seemed interesting to me. At the Carolina Nitsch Project Room was a fantastic show of strange artworks. Richard Dupont had some bizarre and compelling figurative sculptures. Honestly, this shit just kind of freaks me out. Little naked and bald men on a table all contorted in slightly different ways. I would assume in a 3D program and then somehow cast in polyurethane resin. Want to try some DMT? No need, just check this stuff out.

My favorite show in Chelsea ironically, featured an LA "based" (there it is again) artist, Tim Hawkinson. I've always loved his inventive and complicated work. He's a true mad scientist. The Pace Gallery was displaying Tim's "One Man Band" series. These are works that are musical in nature and have scores sort of like old player pianos. But, the scores are on plastic film, a row of beads, or screws in an old thermos. When the pieces are activated by a motion detector they spring to life and start making "music". It's mostly dissonant patters as far as I could tell. Fantastic!

At Slag gallery were some bold and slaggish busts by Kristian Kozul. They were sort of emulating classical busts of Roman generals and politicians but they had a modern twist looking like they were dripping in crude oil and featuring contemporary clothing. One called Guardian of Prosperity appeared to be a cop in riot gear including a gas mask. I thought these were brilliant.

Ok, I think I got a couple more episodes for this trip so stay tuned for parts 2 & 3.

Slag Gallery
http://slaggallery.com/home

The Pace Gallery
http://thepacegallery.com

Carolina Nitsch Project Space
534 W. 22nd St. New York, NY 10011

Walk west, Drive north

2010-07-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

I had a nice walk through Beverly Hills last Saturday. No, I didn't stop at Dior for a $5000 black satin leather jacket. A super lady (Micol Hebron) was talking a super walk in her silver superstar outfit all the way to the ocean from downtown via Wilshire. Friends were driving and biking by to give their farewells on her journey. One cohort was walking the entire 16 miles with beachball in hand. This was Micol's final "act" in Los Angeles as she is off to...Paris? No, Utah to pursue other artistic endeavors such as being the Senior Curator at the Salt Lake Art Center. I hope she doesn't forget about us here in LaLa Land. Once she realizes she has to join a private club to drink a Coca Cola maybe she'll spend her weekends here.

Later that day I went to a great photography show at Cella Gallery in North Hollywood. Disambiguations featured the work of Sinan Revell. There were actually 3 separate bodies of work being shown all from the last few years. In the doppelgANGER series Sinan plays chameleon by posing as every character in her photo montages. Sinan appears as glamourous LA trophy wife and gardener, busy business woman and homeless person, police brutality victim and policeman, as well as many other pairings that represent social and class opposites.

All the work was of the highest quality in execution. The various characters are seamlessly composed in the environments. All the characters looked surprisingly natural and legitimate especially considering that they are all the same person. Very fine work indeed!

Also present were Homeland Security Blankets featuring some of the crime-orented photographic images made into tapestries, and Sinan's Color Blind series. A really amazing display of work which I've seen parts of in past shows but having it all together was really very impactful. Brad Cooper was at the opening as well, Sinan's collaborator.

So, take a trip up to North Hollywood's Cella Gallery and view this fantastic show up through July 26th. It's actually the only art gallery in North Hollywood's "Art District" according to the young and attractive interns.

Cella Gallery
5229 Lankershim Blvd.
North Hollwood
http://www.cellagallery.com

Sinan Revell
http://www.sinanrevell.com

Avant-Garde Music Night delayed by Lakers Game Result

2010-06-18T01:49:00.000-07:00

Now that's a headline I thought I would never write. Yes, even some members of the commie-pinko alternative music community in LA cannot help but show their local pride in mass-market athletics. As the final game of the NBA championship was winding down the ResBox show was pushed back, until curator Hans stepped in and restored order and sanity.

ResBox is "A monthly event featuring the world's best experimental music, curated by musician and filmmaker Hans Fjellestad." It happens the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Steve Allen Theater at Center For Inquiry West (CFI) in Los Feliz. I've been to ResBox a couple times now and it's a great night if you love avant-garde music, Musique concrète, improvisational jazz, performance art, or live electronics. The musicianship is really pretty impressive and tonight was no exception.

The lineup included the SCOTT HEUSTIS GROUP featuring Breeze Smith + Jeff Schwartz + Robert Leng + Scott Heustis, a quartet of sorts including ANNA HOMLER + TED BYRNES + JORGE MARTIN + STEUART LIEBIG, and the FPR TRIO featuring Frank Gratkowski + Phillip Greenlief + Jon Raskin. I know, a lot of names and if you're not into this scene it wouldn't mean much to you probably. But, it was good stuff I tells you. There were three very distinct sets.

First a lively set from a quartet of electric guitar, drums, saxophone and standup bass featuring dynamic, improvised jazz in front of clips from old silent films. It was out there but still probably the most standard and identifiable music of the night.

Next was a free form weirdness. Anna Homler was in da house with a table full of noise-making toys. Robot rayguns, pull string dolls, and various other beeping, crying, and clicking plastic devices were held up to the microphone and then further manipulated with an array of pedals and effects. This set also featured the first 6 string bass sighting of the night, and somebody torturing a drum kit while crumbling up aluminum cans. Pretty nutty.

The 3rd set featured a fantastic saxophone trio. Apparently deciding their music was not quite bizarre enough, they all decided to play separate compositions simultaneously overlapping them. But, somehow it worked, though I probably wouldn't have known if it didn't.

STEVE ALLEN THEATER
 at the Center For Inquiry
West 4773 Hollywood Blvd
http://www.steveallentheater.com

ResBox Facebook Page

The Relentless Ride On The Zebra

2010-06-06T15:00:00.001-07:00

Going to clubs that usually have a velvet rope outside the door is not high on my list of priorities but, I was assured from the invite that Robert Vargas' Red Zebra at the Crocker Club (Kojak reference?) would be FREE to the public. Why th' hell not? And that indeed was the case, I wasn't even padded down at the door.

Inside were beautiful people of all sorts dressing to impress for the most part. In the "Ghost Room" (legend has it that someone was shot and killed there) was a comedy show MCeed by Rick Izquieta. There was some really funny stuff! Some of the comics had actual jokes too. The hilarity could not even be dampened by the relentless heckling from the front row. The intrepid and scrawny comics held their ground during the onslaught. Also, kudos to the organizers for having the balls to combine a comedy show and avant-garde fashion show in the same event. A dangerous combination to be sure.

A little later, the Makers revved up their various jazzy instruments. They just kept playing and no one wanted them to stop. No one wanted the sexy dancers to stop writhing around on the table either and to capture the moment just about everything that resembled a camera in the joint was flashing away. Warning, epileptics need not apply! Probably best for you to stay at home the first Thursday of the month. Vargas even brought out his charcoal and started a portrait on stage during the set and still there was no pause in the sound. Relentless they were. Makers play 7th & Grand on Tuesday nights. Did I get that right? I'll see you there.
http://themakers.bandcamp.com

Rick Mendoza was in da house sporting some serious looking camera equipment. He wasn't kidding around and was snapping some impressive portraits. The event featured a good assortment of his photography work including some collage-esque pieces, a few portraits and some downtown alley scapes. Nice stuff.
http://www.rickmendoza.com

The avant garde fashion show by Omega Collektiv (it's intentionally spelled that way you sap!) was bizarre and interesting. Flanked by a pair of fantastic hooded and laser-weilding gargoyle-men, out from the vault marched a parade of unisex spadex glam creations. Vargas would occasionally pull one of the models out for an impromptu portrait or some punk style body painting. The irony was absolutely not lost on the audience when a model holding a thought bubble sign that read "Boycott BP" walked out in a full spadex fish scales body suit and was sloshed with black latex paint. It was dramatic I tells ya.

Well, I know where I'm going to be the first Thursday of every month. Great event and $10 for a Jack & Coke isn't that expensive.

Red Zebra at the Crocker Club
www.vargaspresents.com

Walking Down to Love Street

2010-05-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

Saw a great show at Charlie James Gallery last weekend. Orly Cogan's Love Street featured many elaborate embroidered pieces done on reused vintage quilts and fabrics.

My mom is a big quilt buff and I've bought her some antique quilts on various occasions. I wonder what her reaction would be to get one with naked women doing lines of coke embroidered on it. Abject horror, I would suspect. But, maybe she would appreciate the fine needlework and skillful use of colored thread. The technique is quite good. Still, I think I'll get her some flowers for her birthday instead.

A few of the pieces had the feel of Henry Darger's work with various naked men and women inhabiting a strange and fantastic nature realm complete with mythological creatures. There was one large and dense horizontal piece that seemed to be almost an homage to Darger. Most of the pieces depict nude women in contemporary settings, lounging about on lawn chairs, vacuuming, doing lines on a mirror, all very sexually charged.

There was also a large table full of sculptures resembling cakes and pastries. As far as I could tell these were made out of crocheted yarn. I can't even imagine the work that went into these.

This is the kind of stuff I really dig. It's edgy, unique, unusual, meticulous, thought provoking, and beautiful. There's so little beauty out there in contemporary art I really appreciate it when I see it.

This show is up until June 19th so there's plenty of time to catch it. Well worth the trip.

Charlie James Gallery
975 Chung King Road
http://www.cjamesgallery.com

Standard Oblivion

2010-04-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

I love living in oblivion. I never quite know what the hell is going on. It can give you the opportunity to see things in a different way. I also love it when I get the occasional call from Paige inviting me to an art related event. This time it was an invitation to view some video art at the Standard. Why? I don't know. I figured maybe I'll find out why eventually, maybe not. It's all good in the Land of Oblivion.

I show up on time as most midwesterners will to a hotel room on the 7th floor. I should've left details to my whereabouts with some friends. What if I were to get jumped and robbed or abducted into a cult? Well, I decide I'm still pretty spry for 42, so I took the chance and walked in. I meet some pretty ladies including the Art Director for the Standard and notice a gigantic black foot in the huge bathroom.

Eventually people start to filter in. We start to taste the strange h'orderves inspired by the videos we were to watch. Macaroni & Cheese Balls a la Marinara my favorite. David Stone starts handing out the Champagne and is heard regaling the young ladies in the room with his tales of meeting Warhol. It's a party! We sit down in front of a TV and start watching. I'm waiting for the pitch to buy the Timeshare but it never comes. No Amway products either. What we did see were some interesting video art pieces chosen to play at the Standard on their StandART channel. Ok, now I get it. Apparently some of this stuff is being projected somewhere in the building as well as through the room televisions. Pretty cool idea.

My favorite was Mika Rottenberg's Time + a Half, which deals with women making worthless consumer items in a sweat shop setting. Other notables were Martha Colburn's Triumph of the Wild, a fantastic stop motion animated opus of violence and weirdness. Also, Neistat Brothers' Yogurt VS.Gasoline, was a humorous documentary about a race in NYC in which a yogurt powered man is set against a motorcycle. Also also, Gonzalo LeBrija Asterion, features a businessman with briefcase riding a bucking bronco.

Well, unfortunately the mystery was solved but I did get a few free beers out of it. Next up, who will win the art debates? Porn? Yep, porn wins. Might be best to hold my tongue this time around.

StandART Video Series

Permission to Fail in Chinatown

2010-04-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hey, I saw a good sculpture show at Sam Lee Gallery on Hill street last Saturday. It was the opening of Macha Suzuki's Permission to Fail. I've known about Macha's work for awhile now as he was renting a work space in the same building I still rent in downtown. I love his work, it's easy on the eyes.

This new show is similar in style to the pieces I had seen previously. Macha continues with the use of the figure, an almost digital use of materials, clean and precise execution and a mostly inner narrative conceptual approach. Hey, I'm being to sound like I know what I'm talking about!

One of his works explores the idea of what if god designed life the same way people design consumer items. There's always a series of simple failed prototypes that don't quite make the mark and get thrown away. So, Macha's prototype for a sheep features an extruded octagon with cottonball fur and no head, an early iteration to be sure. On top of the sheep is a figure adapted from a childhood memory of himself and his friends incompetently trying to imitate cartoon characters . Hope I got that right.

Another large standing piece explores the idea of the birth of generosity. The intent is present but the actual form of the giving is undefined represented by a wireframe polygon waiting to be skinned with the gift once it is realized. Anyway, this is good stuff. I hope you catch the show down at Sam Lee before May 15th when the show closes.

Sam Lee Gallery
990 N. Hill Street #190
Los Angeles, CA 90012
http://www.samleegallery.com

Totems in the Forest

2010-03-20T17:22:00.001-07:00

It was an Ace Gallery kinda Saturday. First day of spring, perfect LA weather. About time! I went first to the Eastern campus. This is such a beautiful and large space in The Wilshire Tower, an old Art Deco building on Miracle Mile built in 1928.

The current exhibition was a series of mostly gigantic paintings by John Millei from his Maritime series. There must've been more than a dozen rooms of various sizes all full of huge paintings, some of the rooms with great views of Wilshire Blvd. I kept thinking what a shame it was that the space was barely utilized. It's just begging for various functions including Avant-Garde art performances, yoga classes, lectures, parties, book signings.

Then it was off to the Western campus in Beverly Hills. Amazingly, there were even more paintings by Millei from a different series of gigantic Picasso studies. Some of the Maritime series were pretty but, I'm not sure they warrant 10,000 square feet. The only excuse would be if the artist were actually a 50 foot tall giant and even then it's a little excessive.

But, what I was really there to see was Herb Alpert's Black Totems and luckily I came on the perfect day. Later in the evening a Chamber Music recital would be performed in the large room where the totems were set up. So the floor space was filled with chairs and a stage. There was also large sound baffling foam on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. It created an environment reminiscent of a rain forest. Ok, maybe that's a stretch but I loved how the primal black trunks were seeming to grow out of the underbrush of chairs and up into the floral-like baffling. I kept expecting to hear water droplets or some exotic bird calls as I explored. The sunlight through the skylight was reflecting off of the metal chairs and the white walls infusing the room with a soft, full light. It was dim in places but no dark shadows.

This is not how the sculptures were supposed to be viewed of course but I was fascinated by this temporary accidental installation. I would've loved to see these powerful sculptures anyway but the added environment made me feel like I was seeing something special. I love the large abstract work, it sometimes almost approaching representational forms, like people's bodies or animal shapes. They do seem to be alive and growing or shifting. Very mysterious. Show is still up through May 25. It's free, be sure to see the totems before they disappear in the mist.

ACE GALLERY
5514 Wilshire Blvd. (Mid-Wilshire)
9430 Wilshire Blvd. (Beverly Hills)
http://www.acegallery.net

One Trick Dragon?

2010-03-07T18:48:00.000-08:00

There were a couple performance events last Saturday I wanted to attend. I have been experimenting a bit with performance lately so I was interested in seeing what others had put together. Unfortunately there were two events at the exact same time on the same night. One was "Live Sprawl" by Lucky Dragons at MOCA's Geffen Contemporary, the other was "Gutted" at LACE featuring a couple dozen performance artists. Having recently seen a few of their videos I went with Lucky Dragons, little did I know I probably could've seen both.

I'm from the midwest and one of our habits is being on time or early for shows, parties, events, etc. I get burned by it every time in LA and Live Sprawl was no exception as I got there a little before 7. MOCA claimed Live Sprawl would "engage partygoers in a collaborative construction of their environment using sound, video, lighting, physical contact, conversation, and other surprise elements." Well at around 9:30 the only conversation I was hearing was "when the hell is the performance going to start?" The same 20 minute long video of various banal strobed imagery was playing all night long on a large screen in the main performance space. And the only "interactive element" was a few people aimlessly tooting on some recorders (those crappy flues they gave you in elementary school music class) that had been given out during the evening (for no clear reason). I had to entertain myself by going back to the scene of the crime in the main gallery and taking another look at their lackluster 30 years show.

Finally at 9:45 some languid boys and girls started to shuffle onto the stage. What ensued was a mostly improvisational, and somewhat rhythmic electronic sound collage. There was some acoustic drums, moaned vocals, electronics, all loaded with delay and effects and a few obligatory laptops. This sort of musical style has a long history. I was in the "cassette culture" back in the 80s & 90s and the label that I ran had a lot of similar sounding music. This was really a basement version of what was going on back in the 60s and 70s when experimental electronic music was first starting out. But, I have to say that what was going on back then was a little more exciting. Geek infused projects like the No Thing Ensemble, Randy Greif, New Carrollton, Thomas Dimuzio, Throbbing Gristle, Merzbow, Harrison & Chapelle, Smersh, all had charm and power. The Lucky Dragons set just seemed like an echo of an echo of an echo.

The one element that was fantastic and totally fascinating was when LD passed out some sort of electronic instrument to the crowd that was hooked into the sound system. This was the true interactive element I had been waiting for all night. There were half a dozen or so small devices that were on the ends of electric cords. When manipulated by the audience a bright, swirling, tonal, wash would rise and fall. It seemed like the intensity would shift and increase when people would touch each other or bring the cords closer together. This was truly compelling. But after a 3 hour wait and little else to keep my attention I left thinking are they a one trick dragon?

Spelunking Nick Cave

2010-02-21T17:33:00.000-08:00

Adele, Roger and I took a recent jaunt over to the Fowler at UCLA to see the Nick Cave show. I have been wanting to see this for some time. I'm glad Adele took the initiative to organize the trip. I had already missed a couple performances featuring the costumes (or Soundsuits) so it was mandatory I saw the show.

No photos and no touching. Are they serious? This is the modern age, there are tiny cameras in every pocket. How do museums expect to enforce this rule? Futile. Anyway, I was able to sneak a few shots in.

Nick Cave's elaborate Soundsuits are immaculate and refined. Their height is impressive and seems natural at about 8 feet. Steel welded armatures hold various assortments of consumer items like old toy tops or in a couple cases porcelain figurines. The suits display complicated designs done with sewed sequins, crochet, fun fur, buttons, lots and lots of buttons. They had a folk art feel to them. Fantastic. You gotta see this show.

Next door in an adjacent gallery was an exhibit called Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives. In it were folk items from all over the world, some contemporary, some ancient. The exhibit included masks and costumes used in various folk and religious ceremonies. The resemblance to some of the Nick Cave items was remarkable. There was even a video of a folk ceremony in New Caledonia I think that featured and outfit with long fringe similar to one of Nick's. The movements of the performer (shaman, priest, not sure) in that costume were almost identical to the video of the dancer in the Nick Cave suit. Pretty fascinating. What Nick Cave is doing here seems to be a contemporary version of these folk ceremonies.

Adele, Roger and I got to talking about the inspiration for the dances. We were wondering if the concept came first for the dance or did the costume design the dance itself. I leaned toward the idea that the suit designs the choreography. The materials and the sounds they make demand certain movements. Anyway, judge for yourself. The show is still up through May 30th.

Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth
January 10, 2010 to May 30, 2010

Artillery and Art History

2010-02-09T00:26:00.001-08:00

It was an art history kinda night down in Chintown last Saturday. At the Box on Chung King Road was a show featuring works of Robert Mallary, an abstract artist know for his unusual use of materials who was active starting in the 1950s. His work is somewhere in between sculpture and painting, incorporating materials like resin, cardboard, concrete, dirt, wood and canvas. It was the perfect show for a rainy, overcast, LA winter evening. The pieces looking like exhibits excavated from a petrified shanty town. Really bold and beautiful stuff.
http://www.theboxla.com

Later at Artillery and Ammo it was "going off" for the closing party of Friends of Ours, a 3 person show. I've never seen Patrick Hammerlein so intoxicated. Must've been huffin' some of those underpass fumes.

These three artists presented a concise and efficient assortment of illustration, and collage. It was pleasing to the eye in so many ways. Patrick's always excellent manipulated photo collage work fit in well with Bill Donovan's surreal and meticulous pencil drawings, and Maureen Shields' nostalgic collage experiments.

I was finally able to fight may way through the crowd (and the cloud) to congratulate Deryke on his adept curatorial effort. It's well worth the trip to visit A & A. You probably drive over it every day on your way to work.

Artillery & Ammo Gallery
1162 Glendale Blvd.
Echo Park , CA 90026

Lada Adventures

2010-01-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

Free admission, free parking space, free glass of wine. Now that's the way I like to roll.

I was lucky enough to get a last minute invitation to attend the Los Angeles Art Show opening Gala at the LA Convention Center last Wednesday. I slogged down there in the rain and parked and must've walked a mile though the cavernous and seemingly deserted convention building. I was beginning to think there had been a mistake. Did I get the wrong address? But, eventually I saw some signs of life, artsy-looking people in the distance.

Once I entered the gallery partition area though I realized I was going to have to throw out any notion I had of doing a review of this event. It was simply sensory overload. A maze of hundreds of galleries displaying their wares. I attempted to document some of my favorites but, things broke down very quickly.

So, I had a glass of wine and started to explore. Find below the highlights.

left - Artist Patrick Quinn standing in front of a Jackson Pollock inspired painting (not his). Don't worry Patrick I Photoshopped your double chin out.
center - The Pyo Gallery had some interesting pieces by Sung Tae Park made with metal screen mesh. Nan Chao had some bizarre concave relief sculptures. Very striking. Interesting technique.
right - A couple of wealthy patrons shelling out some dough for an abstract painting. So sophisticated they were. Vertical lines are making a comeback in 2010.

left - Look! A shark made out of old tires!
center - Hanging out with my friends L. Installácion, Deborah Martin Deborah, and a Glenna Jennings impersonator. How did these scruffs get in? Security!
right - Not photogenic? C'mon Kate, you are my Lucky Star!

left - Bert Green in da house in front of one of Peter Romberg's enigmatic portraits of identityless, handicapped children. Luckily, the Clippers were in better shape as they were taking it to a scrappy Bulls team next door at The Staples Center. "I love to see Derek Rose & Eric Gordon go at each other", Peter excitedly states. I concur! Take it 2 th' hole Kaman!

left - A giant chocolate kiss installation!
center - Look! A Ram made out of old tires!
center - Wow, how much do you think that giant glass lynx weighs? How the hell did they get it here?
right - The most inappropriate shot of the night. Kim and Jill with a furry pillow. Salacious!

http://www.laartshow.com

Faces of Indusrty

2010-01-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

So I sauntered down the 110 to the vast industrial park that is Torrance last Saturday to see a great portrait show at Torrance Art Museum (TAM). Many fine and diverse works did I see at "The Reflected Gaze - Self Portraiture Today" show. There was painting, sculpture, electronic media, even a massive Futurism inspired machined tapestry by Chuck Close.

Perhaps the most curious object was a volcanic self portrait by Emily Counts featuring multiple detailed ceramic pieces in the likeness of the artist as well as inset lighting. The piece was very bold and enigmatic. I endeavored to interview the artist (I can do that sort of thing now that I'm a "journalist") and it turned out that I had met her years earlier at a mutual friend's wedding. Yes, I know, the world, it is small, especially the "art world".

Other thoughtful works included Dane Picard's electronic portrait that included photographs morphing together in cronological order from childhood to present. Ariel Erestingcol's Add Me made with fusion beads features a recreation of Facebook spam reminding us that many of our portraits already exist in the cloud.

Other favorites include Julie Heffernan, KAW, Gavin Nolan, Jennifer Nehrbass, and Justin Bower. But, I though the entire show was very good as a whole. So, if you find yourself touring the Caterpillar Plant, or thinking about getting into the Petrochemical or Aerospace industry, keep in mind Torrance has some culture too.

http://www.torranceartmuseum.com

...later that night

Cal Arts sure does throw a miserable desert party. Maybe they should send reconnaissance out to Moontribe for some tips. Up above the Grape Vine The rumor was that the Cal Arts music department was organizing an event. When we drove up and walked into the ravine we heard the Lady Gaga pumping through tiny speakers in a cramped underpass featuring a mosh pit! A little later, racist skinhead locals from Valencia were roaming around looking for trouble. Jaw-droppingly pathetic.

Later, Electric Cocoon at Area 33 saved the night. So good couldn't stop dancing. Greatest of vibes. "Tall puddle" on the mezzanine, a sight to behold! 417 Wall in da house!

Crawling in a Fresh New Decade

2010-01-11T20:29:00.000-08:00

So glad the ghost town that is LA in the xmas season has repopulated. People have come back to sweep away the cobwebs and corral the tumbleweeds that have blown through the streets in their absence. It was nice being able to get across town in a half hour but, I'll take that inconvenience in exchange for boredom any day. So, I'm back and crawling anew in a fresh decade. I saw some good work at a few openings last Saturday.

There were some fantastic large portraits painted on transparent drafting film at Koplin Del Rio Gallery done by Shay Bredimus that I saw. I'm a sucker for this sort of dramatic work if it's done well, and that is definitely the case here. Beautifully rendered pieces done in sort of a distressed, romantic style. Somewhat nostalgic and spooky. All in greys and blacks. Painted on both sides, very nice. Sorry for the sentence fragments but, it's a blog so deal.

Lenticulars are those double image thingys that go back and forth between 2 or more scenes when you change your point of view. It's the kind of thing you used to get in cracker jack boxes or would see simulate Jesus crying tears for all of our sins. Barbara Strasen has employed this method in her work to good effect. She seemed to choose images in her lenticulars that were unalike in content but similar in feel. Maybe I'm wrong here but, that's what I saw in them. On top of the lenticulars she painted elaborate line drawings. Certainly a very clever and fascinating effect. I love clever effects. Clever is good. But, don't get me wrong, I'm not a "Cleverist." The show was at George Billis in Culver City.

At Charlie James gallery in Chinatown was a bizarre show by conceptualist Lizabeth Eva Rossof. The gallery was filled with many works which had all been made by artisans in China through commissions by Lizabeth. The paintings depict various subject matter such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Falun Gong spiritual movement, and porn sites. This sort of subject matter is basically illegal in China and the paintings were smuggled out in a roll disguised by a Mona Lisa reproduction. In the center of the Gallery was a sculptural representation of China's famous Terra Cotta army in miniature, except the heads were famous pop culture icons from the US: Bart Simpson, Mickey Mouse, etc. Great show.

http://www.koplindelrio.com
http://www.georgebillis.com
http://www.cjamesgallery.com

Morphine Miracle for Xmas

2010-01-05T00:13:00.000-08:00

I have never been a fan of the xmas season. I'm so secular-minded that using the correct spelling of Christmas makes me feel a little uncomfortable. And I'm such an active person that having to wait around while the Holidays pass by is very frustrating for me. So, I'm predisposed to be cranky the last couple of weeks of December. It didn't help that I spent most of xmas eve writhing on a gurney at the Kaiser Health Village down the street from my apartment building. I had just gone to bed after preparing for my flight to the Chicago area to see my family. I was dreading the trip as I thought I'd be stuck at the airport while the various massive storms were swirling about the country. Then the slow realization came that I might not even be going.

Ever have kidney stones? Not much fun at all. Extremely sharp abdominal pain that builds up over hours, sometimes days. The kind of pain you can't ignore or escape effectively. Not really much you can do. I had to be sure that's what it was though, so I walked down the street to the hospital. Strangely enough I've walked to the hospital before while thus afflicted more than 20 years ago in Washington DC when I was going to art school at the Corcoran.

An IV of Morphine and Dilaudid later and I was singing a different tune. Heavy medicine is just so grooovy sometimes. It's an interesting sensation to be in serious pain but not able to feel it. I'm not sure exactly when the stone passed but, it really just didn't matter anymore. I had just enough time to walk home and get an hour of sleep before my flight.

And then the xmas miracle happened. Walking toward my gate at LAX an island of splendor filled my view. Truly a vision of crafty refulgence charmed me behind the pexiglass case. A little art show in the aisle, how quaint. Now I know how the three kings must of felt as they walked through the desert wilderness, guided by the light of a supernova toward a glowing Jewish baby in a manger.

Ok, maybe it was just the Morphine but I was fascinated and impressed by the whimsical display. All the art pieces were made from items bought at 99 cent stores. A clever idea. I like clever. The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs put this show together that included assemblage, sculpture, and collage by Los Angeles area artists.

My favorite was a futuristic, Metropolis-esque cityscape made out of children's supperware, toy cars, and Spice Girls by Elena Siff. Other highlights were Bill Anderson's Bones and Roses made out of dog bones and plastic roses, Matthew DeHaven's Artemis Ephesus - Allegory of the Easter Eggs made of plastic Easter eggs, plastic flowers and basket. Also a favorite was Carolyn Mason's "Collection" made from various kitchenware items presented like a cache exhumed from an archeological dig.

Boombox Army invade Party Walk

2009-12-12T02:31:00.001-08:00

I was part of Unsilent Night, an annual sound event which is performed during the holiday season in many different cities. This performance had been performed at Pan Pacific Park the last few years. This year Downtown Art Walk was the new venue Thursday, December 10th.

The deal is, you sign up and bring a boombox or other portable amplifier to the event. On it is played a sort of modern classical experimental piece which was either on CD, MP3, or the beloved cassette tape (remember those?). I figure there must've been 40 or so people with boomboxes who participated. There was one person on rollerblades with a groovy retro backpack boombox. Sweet!

I had organized a sound performance a month earlier for Art Walk and so had available a loud, homemade-ish, portable amplifier ready to go for some more fun. I met a few friends there also participating, Tommy, Jud & Jodi. We started on Spring street at the Arcade Building. We walked up and down Spring and Main street in between 4th and 9th roughly for around 45 minutes. The song had a lot of dynamics going from crinkling, tinkling bell sounds to loud clangings and tonal washes.

It was pretty fun. Our sound army got lots of curious stares as we rumbled into the bustle of the downtown crowd. The walk also gave me the opportunity to see all the new stores that have opened up downtown and some of the new ones about to come in. It's changing so quickly now. The stores are getting more expensive, corporate, and grandiose. Is an ominous "fratscape" a'blooming in downtown? Maybe a corner is being turned from artsy and up and coming to Mallville? Still I guess it's better than Crackton. Anyway, next year be sure to be part of this fun and interesting event.

http://unsilentnight.com

No Beauty at the Geffen

2009-12-02T01:04:00.000-08:00

I enjoy a lot of conceptual art. But, in order for it to be worthy of my attention it must have beauty. I'm not talking about pretty flowers here. I'm talking about some sort of perceptual experience of satisfaction beyond the idea (thanks wikipedia). Over the years the curators at MOCA have evidently declined to pay any heed to beauty as evidenced in their current show: MOCA'S First Thirty Years.

I haven't seen the entire show though, only the 1980-NOW section down at the Geffen which has mostly sculpture and installation. So, who knows, maybe there's some beauty hanging out down at Grand Ave. though I'm certainly not inspired to see it after wandering through this maze of horrors. I have been in LA for over ten years (making me officially from here) and I've seen many shows at MOCA that have had stand out, jaw dropping, exceptional work. The curators apparently neglected to purchase any of that for their permanent collection.

Is it just me or is this stuff intensely ugly? Seriously, some of this looks like rubbish left by the assembly crew. I mean some of this crap is not even good enough for LACE. Whoops, did I say that? I think I know why MOCA has had it's recent money woes. It's not mismanagement, it's because their collection has not aged well. It is the equivalent of sub-prime mortgage backed securities or junk bonds traded into worthlessness. It doesn't even look antique, just out of date.

Even the things that are supposed to be ugly are ugly. Just in time for xmas is Paul McCarthy's horrifying Tokyo Santa, installation. Don't get me wrong, I hate xmas as much as the next guy and I appreciate the punch below the belt to the season. But, this gratuitously retched half-naked santa montage is just so predictable.

But, it wasn't all bad. As I exited I saw a man taking some photos of the most compelling scene at the Geffen, the tinted late afternoon sunlight shining through the windows at the front door. Too bad it wasn't part of the show.

ARTRA Feeling Lofty

2009-11-19T23:52:00.000-08:00

I shouldn't have given them my email. Now TLofts will be spamming me with ads for Real Estate till the cows come home. I thought it was the curator list. How naive I was. But, it was worth it. I saw some fantastic work at Here and Now, ARTRA at TLofts last weekend.

A fantastic concept, really. Art patrons, prospective renters/buyers, and other interested folks get to check out art from all over Los Angeles at a new loft building during an open house. Reminds me a little of the Phantom Galleries concept as the curators capitalized on this temporary space, though the focus here is more comercial. ARTRA is a curatorial group formed "in answer to the restrictions in exhibiting opportunities for artists following the economic meltdown". Hopefully the economy will continue to be crap so ARTRA can set up more fun events like this. It's a little less stuffy than a gallery show and more fun to explore.

As far as TLofts go, it's nice I suppose. If you're looking for a 2 level concrete box with 3 toilets (is that really necessary?) TLofts in west LA is the place for you. Features fantastic industrial views and geometric artificial turf in the courtyard. 3 toilets, really? Do people really pee that much?

There were dozens of artists represented here featuring a lot of interesting 2D and 3D work, all different styles and techniques. My favorites were Macha Suzuki's flowery conceptual self portrait, Jaime Scholnick's styrofoam monoliths, and Justin Bower's bold oil paintings. It wasn't all top notch though. There were a few units that were really sparse where the work really didn't fill the space. The 1st floor seemed to have the stronger work for the most part.

ARTRA - http://www.artrala.org

East Energy

2009-11-11T22:59:00.000-08:00

I started out in Culver City last Saturday hoping to find something to write about but was disappointed in the galleries new selections. George Billis had some interesting work but, it didn't really kick me in the solar plexus so I headed east.

I eventually ended up downtown at the Hive Gallery on Spring st. I have a long association with the Hive having been a resident artist there for it's first 2 years. I usually go to their openings but have been so busy I haven't been able to in the last few months. I was pleasantly reminded of what an alive place it is.

The Hive's selection of Lo Brow, Visionary, Illustration, Pop Surrealism, and Outsider work may or may not be your thing. But, what the Hive has that no other gallery in Los Angeles can compete with is ENERGY. It bursts from every saturated cranny in that long and narrow space. There is always lots to see and hear. A swirling din of performers, live painting, working resident artists, costumed freaks, and young hipsters greets you as you step inside for a first Saturday of the month opening. This month was a rare sculpture show for the Hive which usually features painting. Insanely meticulous work is a constant for the Hive and this show was no exception.

One of the highlights for me was Randy Horton's bizarre miniature conceptual pieces. They feature landscapes and pastoral scenes set next to proportionally gigantic fast food. I'm not even sure how to describe this but, they are fantastic. With titles like "The Tragedy of Latin American Monoculture" you can tell there is something going on here. I'm not sure what but, I want to know more.

Another of my favorites was Akihito. The sculptures feature flowing, ornamental shapes and are semi figurative. There are lots of metallics and embellishments. Victorian Futurism? Who knows. Just look at the pictures!

"MASTER BLASTERS OF SCULPTURE" show up through the end of the month.
The Hive Gallery
729 S. Spring st.
http://www.hivegallery.com

Heavy Spraypainter

2009-11-01T22:02:00.001-08:00

While crawling last week Deryke and I came upon some great artwork down at Whole 9 gallery in Culver City. Greg Boudreau's spray paintings of industrial cityscapes are bold and complex. The artist has a really unique way of using stencils.

We met the artist and had a very nice time discussing technique. Greg uses dozens of colors in his pieces starting with the lightest shades. All of them on wooden slats arranged together. And they are heavy! If you buy one of these make sure you find the stud or expect your new acquisition to bounce off your couch and smash your glass coffee table into little bits. There are several more of Greg's pieces currently at Peter Schulberg's Eco-Logical art gallery in Culver City.

He wouldn't give me his business card apparently fearing a reprisal from the character actor guarding the door. Is it a cult? Maybe it's a Scientology thing. I didn't notice any unusual handshakes but you never know. Anyway, check out Greg's work. The show runs until November 21st.

Unique Techniques
The Whole 9 Gallery
6101 Washington Blvd.
Culver City 90232
http://thewhole9.com

Eco-Logical Art Gallery
4829 West Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90019
http://www.eco-logicalart.org

Too much hairspray - westside

2009-10-26T00:51:00.000-07:00

A gallery full of photographs of toddlers dressed as adults. Sounds simple but the reality is complex and disturbing. Susan Anderson's collection of oversized portraits of child beauty pageant contestants at Paul Kopeikin gallery is a thought-provoking spectacle. See children in tiny cowboy hats, caked-on makeup and hair extensions wearing forced smiles. See ribbons for "best smile" and "best eyes" along with elaborate rhinestone crowns for a few of the lucky future debutants. French style nails, fishnet stockings, these Mothers are NOT kidding around.

The question arises, are Mothers setting up their children for disappointment as they guide them to strive for unattainable perfection? Is the sky blue? My friend Deryke had some other great insights and I would've remembered some of them if he just didn't talk so fast. But, what is the difference between these Moms and other ambitious parents pushing soccer, piano, and ballet on their children tall Veronica asks? Some sort of grasp on reality perhaps?

The photographs themselves are very matter of fact with the girls posed with a set background and professional lighting. They could easily hold a prideful place above the mantle at any of the participating Mother's living rooms. The same photos here at Paul Kopeikin are looked upon mostly with horror and revulsion or at least with amazement. The issue of child pagents is here brought to light while at the same time seems to subvert the artist. The only clue we get of the artist's point of view is when we see a photo of one of the girls with a morose look next to a photo of her with a practiced smile.

Go see this show. Then talk about it. It's fun.

Kopeikin Gallery
8810 Melrose Avenue
www.kopeikingallery.com

Chinatown Wonderment Part 1

2009-10-17T23:35:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day to take in some exciting contemporary art in LA's quaint Chinatown. Here's a weird little place, one half sculpture gallery the other half full of vending machines and a large picnic table. Very avant garde! Oh wait, Devita tells me KMLA (Katherine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects of Toronto) is sharing space with an automat. Those crazy Canadians!

In a five foot long glass case a weird little world is displayed. A button camera on a screw conveyor slowly passes in front of miniature flora and fauna. There's a jungle scene complete with little plastic trees and mirror as water reflection, a cotton cloud scape, an oily rag as foothills, and a rotating dead cat. An old Phonograph plays a droney soundtrack which is kept repeating by a tiny helicopter. On a TV close by the environment is realized. It appears amazingly lifelike (and kinda scary during the dead cat closeup). I stood and stared at this thing for several minutes, for three full cycles. Artist John Dickson's "Redux" is an impressionistic reworking of Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness themes in sculptural form. Follow the link for some of his other works.

http://www.katharinemulherin.com

So, come on down to Chinatown and have a Jarritos Mandarin or an Oolong Tea and a Twix bar while you discuss art concepts or important issues of the day.

KMLA
936 Chung King Road
LA, 90012
http://www.katherinemulherin.com