For The Kids at Country Club Projects was a really fun and exciting exhibit of sports posters made in the 1980′s featuring athletes in awesomely over-the-top poses. And it kind of made me kick myself as I left the gallery about having not taken care of all [read more...]]]>

For The Kids at Country Club Projects was a really fun and exciting exhibit of sports posters made in the 1980′s featuring athletes in awesomely over-the-top poses. And it kind of made me kick myself as I left the gallery about having not taken care of all the cool posters I used to own as a youngster, since the pristine ones in this show were now worth a couple G’s. However, I really respected that Country Club Projects (in collaboration with No Mas NYC)  also had three different shirts available at accessible prices because it really showed that they cared not only about the big spenders, but fans of the work as well – which is really why these posters existed in the first place. Each shirt came with a trading card of the player on it and featured information on the back about how the photograph came to be, as well as interesting stories surrounding the shoots. This was hands-down one of my favorite shows of January 2012!

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COUNTRY CLUB PROJECTS: http://www.countryclubprojects.com/

THE COSTACOS BROTHERS:

NO MAS NYC: http://www.nomas-nyc.com/

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When do you ever get the chance to see punk rock bands perform at a museum? Never, right! So it was absolutely wild to watch X, The Dead Kennedy’s, and The Avengers play full sets on a stage setup outside the doors of the [read more...]]]>

When do you ever get the chance to see punk rock bands perform at a museum? Never, right! So it was absolutely wild to watch X, The Dead Kennedy’s, and The Avengers play full sets on a stage setup outside the doors of the MOCA. And to top it all off, you could still walk through the exhibit Under The Big Black Sun while listening to each group’s sonic bliss echoing throughout the walls. The Avengers kicked off the night and got everybody in high spirits by playing songs like “Uh Oh!” with more clarity and oomph then ever before. Then the Dead Kennedy’s came on and got everyone skanking in a mini-pit when they raged into “Too Drunk To Fuck” – which by the way sounded so much better live with their new singer then on the original recording with Jello Biafra. And finally X, the band the crowd was really waiting for, got the fans in such a frenzy that they nearly broke through the barricade and crushed the photographers in front of the stage. Luckily though, no one got hurt. And I don’t know if something like this will ever happen again, but it was just kind of beautiful to see punk rockers of all ages gathered in front of a museum to have a good time, get a little rowdy, and pay homage to the groups that gave the West Coast a whole new attitude.

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The Avengers

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Dead Kennedy’s

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X

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Robert Minervini’s exhibit, On The Nature Of Things, opened at Marine Contemporary on January 14th, 2012 to an awesome crowd. And one of the greatest parts about the show was getting to go up close to the work, since I was able to find all these details in [read more...]]]>

Robert Minervini’s exhibit, On The Nature Of Things, opened at Marine Contemporary on January 14th, 2012 to an awesome crowd. And one of the greatest parts about the show was getting to go up close to the work, since I was able to find all these details in each painting that I couldn’t see in photos from the web. For example, there was one piece that was HUGE named “Invisible Inane” in which things like a small car on a table really drew me in when I was standing right in front of it. If you like Robert Minervini’s work, you can read an interview I did with him HERE, or you still have until February 18th to check this incredible show out!

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ROBERT MINERVINI: http://robertminervini.com

MARINE CONTEMPORARY: http://www.marinecontemporary.com/

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Jill Greenberg’s exhibit, Commentary and Dissent, at Katherine Cone Gallery was so awesome that it made the entirety of Photo LA look like a tiny pebble on the beach. There was just this inexplicable magic about her work that totally converted everyone who entered the gallery into full [read more...]]]>

Jill Greenberg’s exhibit, Commentary and Dissent, at Katherine Cone Gallery was so awesome that it made the entirety of Photo LA look like a tiny pebble on the beach. There was just this inexplicable magic about her work that totally converted everyone who entered the gallery into full on believers of photography. I mean, I literally heard over a dozen people in one night tell me every single detail of their favorite images and that just simply doesn’t happen at any other opening reception I go to. However, one of the most talked about works amongst the crowd was a picture of a decapitated corpse, which Jill was able to capture in such a way as to make it look like it was still alive and ready to get up at any second. So, when I found out from her later on that it was actually a prop, I was quite relieved, since I knew that everything else was the real deal – including the tongues, testicles, and man pissing in his own mouth. And it wasn’t just the images themselves that were great, but their titles as well – especially the ones that referenced Monty Python! I’m so glad that Jill Greenberg and Katherine Cone had the the bravery to put this exhibit together, since it was the first time in a long time the I felt excited to walk around a gallery. After all, I truly believe that Jill Greenberg is the only photographer on Earth able to make a picture of a monkey that’s pissing and shitting at the same time look so freakin’ beautiful. *NOTE: The photo above is “Apocalypse And Carnival” [2008-2011]; Archival pigment print 76 x 63.75 inches

And Now For Something Completely Different, [2008]; Archival pigment print; 63.75 x 74 inches

The Caprichos (Upright Citizens Brigade), [2008]; Archival pigment print; 42 x 50 inches

Swallow It, Dog (Upright Citizens Brigade) [2008]; Archival pigment print; 42 x 50 inches

Nobody Expected The Spanish Inquisition [2011]: Archival Pigment print, 50″ x 42″

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JILL GREENBERG: http://www.jillgreenberg.com/

KATHERINE CONE GALLERY: http://www.katherineconegallery.com/

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Hanging out at Art In The Parking Space was a fantastic way to spend a Tuesday night. Performance art was going on all around you, including a spectacular piece organized by Gracie Devito that featured confetti canons, giant cheeseburgers, and men in golden heels. There was also a [read more...]]]>

Hanging out at Art In The Parking Space was a fantastic way to spend a Tuesday night. Performance art was going on all around you, including a spectacular piece organized by Gracie Devito that featured confetti canons, giant cheeseburgers, and men in golden heels. There was also a room set up called “The Sub-Standard” that was made to resemble an actual suite from the hotel above the parking lot, which was built by a collective of three wonderful artists – Katerina Llanes, Ania Diakoff, and Tova Carlin. Guests of the room, which was open to all, were encouraged to lounge on beanbag chairs, flip through magazines, and even put on bathrobes and take a nap on the bed inside. And then at one point in the evening two artists invited everyone in attendance to try and break the world record for the amount of people that could fit in one parking space. While at first guests were hesitant, they quickly crowded in once it was announced anyone partaking would get a free beer. However, my favorite work of the night was put on by an Untitled Collective who organized a tour of the parking lot as if it were still the retirement home it once was years before being The Standard hotel. We were given a map and told about the wild story of how syphilis spread from resident to resident like wildfire at one point. Pacific Standard Time’s event keep getting more RAD by the day! *NOTE: Art in the Parking Space is a year long project created by the artists Warren Neidich and Elena Bajo in association with LAXART

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PACIFIC STANDARD TIME: http://pacificstandardtimefestival.org/

FOR YOUR ART: http://foryourart.com/

LAXART: http://laxart.org/

RON COOPER: http://www.roncooperart.com/

SYDNEY COOPER: http://sydneycooper.com/

KRYSTEN CUNNINGHAM: http://krystencunningham.com/

TOVA CARLIN: http://tovacarlin.info

ANIA DIAKOFF: http://aniadiakoff.com/

KATERINA LLANES: http://dismagazine.com/tag/katerina-llanes/

GRACIE DEVITO: http://alum.calarts.edu/~studio/1338/1338/

NICOLINE VAN HARSKAMP: http://www.vanharskamp.net/

LINDSAY LAWSON: http://lindsaylawson.com/

THEO LITHGART: http://ligthart.de/

JOHANNA REED: http://johannareed.net/

MARC HOROWITZ: http://www.ineedtostopsoon.com/

SOCIETE REALISTE: http://www.societerealiste.net/

MATHILDE ROSIER: http://www.kadel-willborn.de/biography_english.php?id=81

GEORGIA SAGRI: http://georgiasagri.blogspot.com/

GABRIELE STELLBAUM: http://www.florencelynchgallery.com/stellbaum.html

RUBEN VERDU: http://www.peepingmonster.com/

UNTITLED COLLECTIVE: http://www.untitledcollective.org/

THE STANDARD: http://www.standardhotels.com/los-angeles/

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Kalpa was the name of an incredible performance at the J. Paul Getty Museum choreographed by the artist Hirokazu Kosaka. It was a cold night and even though we were all freezing, we braved the weather to watch the performers enact what could only be described as [read more...]]]>

Kalpa was the name of an incredible performance at the J. Paul Getty Museum choreographed by the artist Hirokazu Kosaka. It was a cold night and even though we were all freezing, we braved the weather to watch the performers enact what could only be described as a majestic 30 minute performance of enchantment. And who were we to complain about the weather anyways, when the dancers weren’t even wearing shoes or socks on the marble floor. We all lined up to the front of the stairs for the performance to begin, but it actually took us by surprise when it started in the center of the crowd and continued to spread out as more and more characters joined the plot. So that the audience was constantly on the move following the floodlights that pointed to the action. And what I took from the story of the dance personally was that it was about a warrior who goes into battle and unfortunately is slain at the end of it, which was beautifully enacted by Oguri –  a butoh master who tilted his back as if it had been nearly severed off and walked up the stairs to what I can only presume was meant to be Heaven. But before he does so however, the other warriors who he has fought through the night walked down from the top of stairs with hundreds of strings across their mouths, which eventually formed a sea of thread over our heads. There was also a soundscape that accompanied the performance, which included the sounds of nature and deep tumbling pads that enhanced the emotion of the dancers instead of distract away from them. And if you closed your eyes you could’ve easily come up with a similar story to what the dancers were actually portraying with their motions because of how well orchestrated the score actually was. I know that this performance has been done before, but to see it on Friday night, was truly once in a lifetime, since it will never be performed the same way again. Kalpa is proof that performance art can be beautiful and entertaining at the same time and it was one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen happen at the Getty since it opened in 1997. I’ll be going to more Pacific Standard Time performance events this week, but I believe the bar has already been set unmatchably high.

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THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM: http://www.getty.edu/

FOR YOUR ART: http://foryourart.com/

PACIFIC STANDARD TIME: http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/

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