It’s the Battle of Los Angeles, Art Show Edition

January 19, 2012
Blue Cars by Johnny Taylor at Affordable Art Fair

It’s a big art lover’s weekend in Los Angeles as several art fairs hit town, from downtown to Santa Monica, and we got a chance to preview two of them.

 

The Affordable Art Fair is at the LA Live Event Deck downtown, featuring galleries from around the world showcasing contemporary art by almost 3,000 emerging and established artists. It’s the first edition of the show to be held in Los Angeles, and since its debut in 1999 in London, is now held in eleven cities around the globe.

 

While your definition of “affordable” might be different, event organizers say the works range from $140 to $10,000—with half under $5,000. We particularly were taken with colorful, graphic works in acrylic by Johnny Taylor, repped by Artspace Warehouse on Beverly Blvd.in LA, with many of his 18” x 18” canvases for sale at $625.

 

The opening night benefited Free Arts for Abused Children, with all of the proceeds donated to the organization, which helps about 30,000 kids in foster case and those who are homeless or at risk due to violence, poverty or substance abuse.

 

The fun and friendly environment was made even more so with a lively bar and food station with items from Wolfgang Puck.

It’s an ambitious undertaking, and organizers have supplemented the exhibits with a series of talks with artists and curators, including one with producer/director Morgan Spurlock on collecting.

More info: www.affordableartfair.us

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Rocking the House of Burton With a New Concert Series

July 8, 2011

 

More music on the Miracle Mile! You probably know about LACMA’s free Friday night jazz series on it outdoor plaza. But now there’s a new concert series in town that showcases the Los Angeles independent rock scene.

It was the brainchild of LACMA Muse director Jason Gaulton, who oversees a series of events, like Young Director’s Night, for the younger crowd of art enthusiasts that belong to Muse, one of the museum’s support groups.

The concert series kicked off with a pair of powerhouse performances by The Silent Comedy and Saint Motel, who took the stage in front of the Urban Light installation at LACMA’s BP Grand Entrance, with the glow of Chris Burden’s 202 street lamps behind them.

“This new celebration of music further expands Muse’s goal of celebrating art in all its forms while providing a platform for emerging artists,” says Gaulton.

Not only that, all guests were treated to a private after-hours viewing of the acclaimed Tim Burton exhibit at the Resnick Pavilion, which runs through Halloween– along with a limited edition poster commemorating the event by artist Patrick Haemmerlein.

It was a very successful template for a summer night at the museum. Gaulton says concerts in this series will  combine music with after-hours access to exhibitions, visual programming, and a limited-edition print by a local artist.

The must-see Burton show explores the full range of his creative work as a director of live-action and animated films, and as an artist, illustrator, photographer, and writer. It features more than 700 drawings, paintings, photographs, moving-image works, storyboards, puppets, concept artworks, maquettes, costumes, and cinematic ephemera, allowing viewers to trace Burton’s development as an artist from the time he was a high school student in Burbank in the 1970s.

More info: www.lacma.org

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You’ve Got the Talent, You Get the Prize! The PDC Honors 8 Groundbreaking Stars in the World of Design

March 24, 2011

Graphic designer John Van Hamersveld, known for album covers for the Beatles and Rolling Stones, receives his Stars of Design award

The artistry of design across a multitude of disciplines, from architecture to interior to graphic, took center stage as the Pacific Design Center presented its 17th annual Stars of Design awards during WestWeek.

Taking place at the somewhat hidden but worthy of finding Wolfgang Puck restaurant Red Seven, and emceed by PDC prez Charles Cohen, who is developing the new Red Building at the Blue Whale, the intimate awards dinner honored eight individual’s achievements in their respective fields.

From the man responsible for the design of iconic album covers for the Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones to the woman who has a commission to create a piece that will greet every international visitor to Los Angeles for years to come, viewing the work– and meeting the people behind it—was inspirational.

Here is a look at those who took the podium to accept their heavy solid crystal design awards

Marc Appleton, Lifetime Achievement

Marc Appleton is Principal and President of Appleton & Associates, Inc.  Known as one of the most noted architects in today’s design hemisphere, Appleton has received multiple awards and is one of the most published architects/designers in the industry.  He has consistently been named one of the Architectural Digest’s top 100 designers since its inception in 1991.  A noted author, Appleton has had numerous books published including California Mediterranean by Rizzoli in 2007 as well as Casa del Herrero: The Romance of Spanish Colonial, Rizzoli, 2009.  A graduate of Harvard College, Appleton has a Masters Degree from the Yale School of Architecture.

Marc Atlan, Product Design

French born creative director for Marc Atlan Design, Inc., Atlan is one of the creative forces behind some of today’s most iconic brand packaging including Comme des Garcons, Helmut Lang, Tom Ford, Yves Saint Laurent, James Perse, Philippe Starck and Prada, to name a few.  The recipient of more than forty awards within the design world, Atlan also holds the honor of having been featured as a Top 10 Design of the Year by Time Magazine. 

Pamela Burton, Urban Design

Pamela Burton & Company is an internationally recognized and respected landscape architecture firm that specializes in integrating the disciplines of art, architecture, and landscape.  Her education includes a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Architecture and Planning at UCLA as well as education at the University of California, Los Angeles in Environment Design.  In 2003, Burton completed her first book, Private Landscapes: Modernist Gardens in Southern California and is currently in its fourth printing.  Along with her design business, Burton is a sought after speaker on the international circuit.

James Cutler, Architecture

James Cutler received a Master of Architecture Degree from the Louis I. Kahn Studio program as well as a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.  Established in 1977, Cutler Anderson Architects is nationally known for its environmental awareness and attention to detail.  Dedicated to design excellence, the firm has received six National Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects and over 40 other national regional awards.  Cutler lives in Bainbridge, WA.

Mary McDonald, Interior design

Los Angeles based designer Mary McDonald is one of todays most sought after designers and is consistently ranked one of the House Beautiful “Top 100 Designers.”  With her work published worldwide, McDonald recently just released her first book, Mary McDonald: Interiors, The Allure of Style, published by Rizzoli in October, 2010 and currently in its second printing.  Raised in Brentwood, McDonald attended Parsons School of Design and began her career as a milliner with her designs featured in Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Vanity Fair. 

Jim McHugh, Photography

A resident of Los Angeles, Jim McHugh is a highly accomplished lifestyle photographer who has been widely exhibited on a global basis as well as published.  McHugh’s extensive resume includes multi awards as well as prominent collections in the Museum of Modern Art, The Walker Art Center and the Polaroid Collection.  His is known most recently both for his large format Polaroid photographs of vanishing urban landscapes and his portraits of contemporary artists.

John Van Hamersveld, Graphic Design

John Van Hamersveld is an artist and designer known worldwide for his enormous catalog of iconic music industry and pop culture-related images. From his early works on the promo poster for the soundtrack for 1966’s ground-breaking surf-culture movie The Endless Summer and his cover work for The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour and Jefferson Airplane’s Crown of Creation, to his iconic 70’s covers for the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street, The Grateful Dead’s Skeletons from the Closet, KISS’s Hotter than Hell, and Steve Miller’s The Joker and Fly Like an Eagle. His imagery helped introduce the world to Punk Fashion, with covers for Blondie’s Eat to the Beat and Autoamerica and John Lydon’s post-Pistols solo efforts This Is What You Want, This is What You Get. Van Hamersveld’s images set the path that the rest of the industry followed for style and substance.

Pae White, Art

Los Angeles artist Pae White is one of the most significant American female artists participating in the international dialog on art and design today.  Her work continually blurs the boundaries of fine art, graphic design, furniture design, and advertising. Native to Pasadena, Pae received her M.F.A. from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and her B.A. from Scripps College in Claremont, California. She was a featured artist in the 2007 Skulptur Projekte Münster, the 2009 Venice Biennale, and the 2010 Whitney Biennial.  Her work can be seen later this year at Site Santa Fe, and at solo exhibitions in Milan and Los Angeles.  Upcoming public commissions include special projects for the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles International Airport, the London Underground, and the new Berlin Brandenburg International airport.

The honorees were chosen by a panel of are experts in the fields of home furnishings, architecture, design and art.  This year’s distinguished panel of judges included Rose Tarlow, Wallace E. Cunningham, Jorge Pardo, Ron Flemming, Suzanne Rheinstein, Brandon Morrison, Karyn Millet, Sean Knibb and Jeffrey Deitch.

The Pacific Design Center is undergoing some major changes with the construction of the Red Building, with the major one being that the parking lot entrance on San Vicente Boulevard is closed. 

The main parking entrance is on Melrose Avenue. The center is now opening one Saturday a month to the public, with March 26 the next opportunity to peruse the showrooms, normally open only to the trade.

Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, 310.657-0800,  www.pacificdesigncenter.com

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Lights, Cameras and Action: LACMA Muse’s 10th Annual Young Directors Night

March 6, 2011

There can never be enough support for emerging artists, but for film directors, LACMA pulls out a lot of stops with its Young Directors Night program. For the tenth year running, the museum showcases—and then celebrates– the emerging talent of LA’s film community in a night that provides cinema, audience participation and a late-night afterparty to mix and mingle with the filmmakers.

A sold out crowd at the Bing Theater saw six short films, culled down from hundreds of entries, with subject matter ranging from a Victorian period piece to the new lives of Iraqi refugees in the United States to an exploration of out of control young male violence.  After the screening, a Q&A with the directors: Jordan Bloch, Cat Youell, Fady Hadid, Thouly Dosios, Sylvia Sether and Alex O’Flinn. Along with a host panel (Elgin James, Paul Wolff and Jennifer Wilson) the audience cast votes for the best film.

In keeping with the indie spirit of the evening, the afterparty was in held in a parking lot behind the A+D Museum and Edward Cella Art+Architecture. Guests were treated to big boxes of movie candy (Reese’s Pieces, Hot Tamales and more) plus other sweet treats from Frosted Cupcakery and Popcornopolis. Drinks came courtesy of Russian Ice Vodka, Hornitos Tequila, Karl Strauss and Malibu Family Wines. Komodo and Patty Wagon food trucks were on site.

Sylvia Sether takes the prize for directing the comedy "Overdrawn"

Director Sylvia Sether took home the Art of Film Award for “Overdrawn,” a comedy about a disgruntled bank teller who puts up with obnoxious co-workers, an out of touch boss and overly demanding customers before she’s pushed over the edge, and makes a dramatic life change with a hunky security camera repairman. Sether received an all access pass to the Los Angeles Film Festival plus a $2,000 credit at Samy’s Camera toward making another film.

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Art Lovers Unite at ALAC

January 28, 2011

It would be dismissive to call them the artsy-fartsy crowd, as thousands of art lovers turned out for the opening night reception of Art Los Angeles Contemporary, fondly known as ALAC, at Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar. The show runs through Sunday, January 30.

Under the supervision of director Tim Fleming, who has produced some of the country’s most notable contemporary art shows over the past decade, this fair  further solidifies LA’s position as a major contemporary art destination.

ALAC presents about 70 established and emerging galleries from all over the country, including 12 international shops, showcasing some of their finest works– everything from an 11 foot in diameter circular rainbow by Gary Lang (repped by LA’s Ace Gallery and listed for $150,000) to a blue sculpture called Upside Down Man to a giant tablet of aspirin with teeth marks in it.

If you’re looking to acquire some showpiece art, bring your credit card and this is the place.  If you get hungry or thirsty during your quest, no worries. On site in the hangar is the pop-up restaurant Forage, featuring locally grown foods and purveying full meals, snacks, beverages and desserts.  For those needing a caffeine buzz, coffee and espresso from Intelligentsia is also being served up.

Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, 3021 Airport Ave., 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and until 6 p.m. on Sunday, www.artlosangelesfair.com

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Oh, Snap: It’s Photo LA!

January 14, 2011

Photo LAFrom a self-portrait of Robert Mapplethorpe to Julius Shulman’s iconic architectural shots to an image of a young Jackie and John-John walking barefoot on the beach, you’ll find thousands of photographic treasures at the 20th anniversary edition of Photo LA.

Taking place at the Santa Monica Civic, the exhibition encompasses works from more than 60 galleries and vendors, including some international exhibitors from Europe and the Far East. And yes, everything’s for sale—framed or unframed.

The show runs through Monday January 17. In addition to the joy of perusing the art, there are a series of lectures on collecting, book signings and discussions with artists.

Photo LA, Santa Monica Civic, 1855 Main St., Santa Monica, www.photola.com

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A Beautiful Show at the Met

January 8, 2011

John Baldessari Pure BeautyThere are just a few days left to see a magnificent show at the Met, John Baldessari: Pure Beauty. The California-born Baldessari is widely renowned as a pioneer of conceptual art– and is one of the most influential contemporary artists of the last half-century. 

This show (in the Cantor exhibition hall on the second floor) surveys his career and features 120 works of art, bringing together the full range of his innovative work across many mediums.  Baldessari, born in National City, California in 1931, started off as a painter and then moved into combining photographs with text and other imagery in the 1980s. 

In the 90s, he began doing large-scale installations and videos, some which are playing in the galleries. One memorable one features the artist himself saying one line about art, over and over again. 

The entire show is mesmerizing, and you’ll see how Baldessari’s approach has expanded the parameters of what is considered art, and you’ll get a dose of his unique sense of humor.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave, New York, through January 9, 2011

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Shacking Up in the OC

June 6, 2010

If you like to experience art interactively rather than  looking at works on a wall, head on down to Laguna  Beach. The Laguna Art Museum (LAM) is  showcasing the creations of more than two dozen  California artists like Don Ed Hardy, Kenny Scharf,  Laurie Hassold, Marion Peck, Travis Somerville and  Paul Frank– and their take on the “shack” concept.  You can walk through most of their installations,  including an unusual take on family photos which  appear to be floating in water on a rooftop and a disturbing yet thought-provoking experience of workers picking cotton in the Deep South, complete with 3-D photos and a bushel full of the raw material from which so much of our clothing is made. Shacks are the flimsiest, most impermanent form of architecture, if you can call it that. Made of basic materials, in this setting, they allow the artists to narrow the distinction between art and function, object and environment.  Sponsored by surfwear company Hurley, the show was curated by Greg Escalante, and includes a functioning tattoo machine. Tying in with the show at Hurley’s nearby store at 225 Forest, you can customize board shorts, T-shirts and Converse sneakers with unique artists’ designs.

Through Oct. 3 at Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach (949) 494-8971, www.lagunaartmuseum.org

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Antiques the Ticket for PS Arts

April 23, 2010

The volcanic ash cloud played havoc with the plans of  some exhibitors at this year’s LA Antiques Show,  housed inside a glammed-up Barker Hangar at Santa  Monica Airport. The bustling opening party netted  $115,000 for PS Arts, which brings arts education into  the public schools. Julia Sorkin, Christine Weller and  Patrick Herning chaired, with the evening’s hosts  including Maria Bell, Courtney Cox, Dita Von Teese,  Cameron Silver, Jennifer Meyer and Kelly Wearstler. Tom  Cruise and Marcia Cross were among those browsing the sumptuous antique furniture, jewelry and artwork. Sponsor Patron tequila came to the bar with a unique parting of the gift, a stainless steel mojito muddler, engraved with whatever you wanted.

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