John Baldessari: 'Crowds' Artist Reception this Saturday 5-7pm at FYA @ 6020 Wilshire Blvd.

John Baldessari: Crowds May 18 -June16, 2013 -

ForYourArt will host Mixografia‘s latest collaboration with John Baldessari. The featured series, Crowds with Shape of Reason Missing: Examples 1-6, 2012, examines the idea of removing the predominant subject of an image and replacing it with a nondescript white form. Baldessari chose vintage movie stills that seem at once recognizable and yet unfamiliar. The classic cinematographic images that once informed a clear storyline now raise more questions than they answer. The work depicts individuals gathered together in formation or haphazardly while captivated by the unknown. Soldiers, onlookers, harem girls and a wide assortment of people become participants in an event that was undoubtedly defined before the artist altered the image. The lack of closure in these reinvented images creates a tension that entices the viewer to project ideas and possibilities of what the amorphous white shapes may embody.

Over the past 18 years Baldessari has utilized the Mixografia printing technique to play with notions of texture, color and subject. Beginning in early 1993 Baldessari utilized the resources and technologies of the workshop, to re-define the relief print, first by ignoring the notion of volume altogether in his 2-dimentional deployment of a common table lamp rendered with its inherent shadow, and later by the embracing the variation in his picture plain by acknowledging a foreground-middle ground-background through the demarcation of relief with his work on Stonehenge (With Two Persons), 2005. Sailboat completed in 2008 emphasizes volume through paper sculpture. Baldessari’s A B C Art (Low Relief): A/Ant, Etc. (Keyboard), 2009 embraced the model of high and low relief generating depictions of food, body-parts, toys and sly popular culture references.

A selection of Baldessari’s 18 years of collaboration with Mixografia will also be on view at ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd.

Learn More Here...

 

 

 

At CINEFAMILY - Final Run Tonight of 'The Source Family' Documentary.

A radical experiment in ’70s utopian living, L.A.’s The Source Family was known for their outlandish style, popular health food restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women, all of which made them the darlings of the Sunset Strip — but their outsider ideals, and the unconventional behavior of spiritual leader Father Yod caused controversy with local authorities. Fleeing to Hawaii, the Family met a dramatic demise in 1975 — but decades later, former members have surfaced and the rock band has reformed, revealing how Father Yod shaped their lives in the most unexpected ways. The Source provides an intimate insiders’ view of this incredible group of people through contemporary interviews and a treasure trove of photographs, home movies and audio recordings preserved by Family documentarian/archivist Isis Aquarian.

Serving as a highly personal guide to the Seventies counterculture movement, The Source is inspired by the cult classic book “The Source: The Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13, and The Source Family” (Process Media), written by Isis Aquarian & Electricity Aquarian, and edited by The Source co-director Jodi Wille.

Directed by-  Jodi Wille & Maria Demopoulos, 2013, digital presentation, 98 min.
Watch the trailer for “The Source Family”!

The Source Family (Trailer) from Eternal Now on Vimeo.

LA Weekly's 1st annual ARTOPIA Party - May 16, 6p -11p in Chinatown's Central Plaza

LA Weekly presents ARTOPIA - Their 1st annual party celebrating our Best of LA People Issue while honoring some of their favorite talents in the art and music scene of Los Angeles. 

Party on with legendary DJ Keith Morris and a live set of future punk rock classics by FIDLAR. Exclusive, interactive art installations curated by Mastodon Mesa will include local artists visions of utopian Los Angeles including work by Alia Penner, Albert Reyes, Isaiah Frizzell of pHeast, Amy Fortunato, Olive Emanuel, James Rojas, and more.

LA Weekly’s ARTOPIA opens to ticket holders on Thursday, May 16, from 6 to 11 p.m. $15 for general admission includes hosted bar, music and art. Starry Kitchen, Ricky’s Tacos, Seoul Sausage Co and Lobos truck will be serving your favorite dishes.

About FIDLAR: Sure, the noisy riffs and shouted lyrics contained within FIDLAR’s short, sonic assaults aren’t the world’s most atonal — many of them even have, brace yourself, melody — but their punk bona fides can’t be questioned. Take their name, an acronym for “Fuck It Dog, Life’s a Risk,” or even better, their intoxicating live shows, from which even those who avoid the pit might emerge with a bloody nose or a black eye. There’s little doubt the Highland Park foursome is headed somewhere, just don’t expect them to be sober when they arrive. - Ben Westhoff 

About KEITH MORRIS: Three decades as a punk rock icon — frontman and co-founder of genre legends Black Flag and Circle Jerks and now the voice of super-buzz supergroup Off! — have barely dulled Keith Morris’ signature dreadlocked irreverence and restless revenge-of-the-nerds wrath. Behind the decks, Morris is as likely to spin some Brian Jonestown Massacre or Spacemen 3 as he is a little Stax or Motown (not to mention his beloved hardcore punk) — often in the same set.

About MASTODON MESA: Mastodon Mesa is a nomadic art gallery, founded by Mya Stark in 2009 as part of the Pacific Design Center’s Design Loves Art program and currently operating out of the Melrose Trading Post. Mastodon Mesa, co curated by C.W. Moss, was born out of curiosity, friendliness, and an accident of fate caused by roaming around Los Angeles at random. 

More info Here...

at CINEFAMILY - Rare Theatrical Run of 'The Beaver Trilogy' starring Sean Penn & Crispin Glover 4.18. thru 4.25.

After more than two decades of being out of theatrical circulation, the legendary triptych starring Sean Penn and Crispin Glover is back on the silver screen! Plus, director Trent Harris will be here in person for a Q&A after the film! Art. Obsession. Olivia Newton-John. For a far-out glimpse into how all these alchemical elements collide, look no further than Beaver Trilogy. In 1979, a chance meeting between eccentric surfer dude-type “Groovin’ Gary” and Trent Harris (who worked for a local Salt Lake City TV station) resulted in The Beaver Kid, a captivating short doc about Gary’s other life as an awkward, yet impassioned Olivia-styled female impersonator. Obsessively driven to the subject matter as much as Gary was driven to “be” Olivia, Harris years later refashioned the story into two separate fiction shorts — with one crudely shot on video starring a young Sean Penn, and the other starring the inimitable Crispin Glover. Viewed as a whole, Beaver Trilogy is an experience so distinct, layered, and brazenly raw that it eludes an appropriate cinematic analogy.

Dir. Trent Harris, 1979/1981/1985, digital presentation, 83 min.
Learn More Here...     The Beaver Trilogy - Trailer from Cinefamily on Vimeo.

TONIGHT at Michael Kohn Gallery - MARION PECK Animals: Recent Paintings 3.30. - 4.27.13.

 

 Michael Kohn Gallery is thrilled to announce the inauguration of Michael Kohn Projects, which proudly opens with an incredible pop-up exhibition of recent paintings by contemporary pop surrealist, Marion Peck.  This special project space, which is located within blocks of the Michael Kohn Gallery, features eleven new works that highlight the artist’s talent for meticulously painted narrative imagery. This particular body of work explores solitary animal figures placed in various situations and often anthropomorphized to reflect human emotion and mental states. These luscious paintings play with the kitschy stylization of animals while underscoring Peck’s faithfulness to Northern Renaissance realism in her treatment of landscape, flora, and the particularly stoic expressions of her subject matter.

The influence and direct citation of Renaissance masters is evident in works such as Wabbit, a play on Albrecht Durer’s iconic watercolor drawing of a young hare. Juxtaposing the scientific exploration of the original German work of 1503 with Disney’s Bugs Bunny, Peck’s Wabbit and other renditions of furry fauna confound our expectations of naïve, innocent wildlife with knowing facial expressions and dark realism.
 
Marion Peck earned her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and went on to study at two different MFA programs, Syracuse University in New York and Temple University in Rome. Her work has been exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide including Sloan Fine Art, Bellwether Gallery and DFN Gallery in New York, Roq la Rue, Davidson Galleries and the Center on Contemporary Art in Seattle, Galerie Magda Danyz in Paris, Galleria Giampiero Biasutti in Turin, The Laguna Art Museum and The Bristol Art Museum. Born in The Philippines while her family was on a trip around the world, she lived in Rome and Seattle before settling in Eagle Rock, California. 

Learn More Here...

Tonight! Bawdy Storytelling Presents... 'The Unlikeliest Places' 8p @ El Cid in Silver Lake.

Ever have that moment where you wake up in a small county jail without your shoelaces, belt, or dignity? Yeah, me neither. How about some random bed where you try to remember where your pants are, where the handcuff key is, and why your ass hurts? Me neither. But have you ever wanted to hear stories from people who have, though? Yeah, me too!

This month, Bawdy Storytelling presents ‘The Unlikeliest Places’ — a firm and probing exploration into sexploration, LA style. From hopping a fence to getting drunk in a hospital to good ol’ stickin’ it where it don’t normally fit, come hear stories about boldly going where most men and women just shouldn’t, couldn’t, and in some states dictated by law, MUST NOT go.

This show will be a mix of renowned sex-positive celebrities for the curated portion of our show, followed by BawdySlam (where people just like you take to the Bawdy stage and share personal and intimate adventures for prizes and the title of Dirtiest Storyteller in LA). Bawdy’s award-winning take on sex and storytelling has made it not only a "don't miss" event in the cities we've already conquered, but it serves as a gathering of the bold, the beautiful, and (if our fan mail is to be believed) an awesome first date destination. Each themed evening of true dirty stories features tales of carnal wins and epic fails with no scripts, no nets, and no holds barred. You may even go home with a few new tricks for your boudoir arsenal!

As the great American poet Iggy Pop once said, “You know I’ve had it in the ear before…” Come to the gorgeous El Cid to enjoy tapas, flirting and stories that would make little Jimmy Osterberg blush!

Featuring:
- Sex Educator & Porn Icon Nina Hartley
- Bravo's Miss Advised & Sex with Emily's Emily Morse
- Fleshbot's Senior Erotic Consultant (& the brains behind GramPonante.com) Gram Ponante
- Music by The Turgidaires
 
Giveaways from Vixen Creations ("The Cadillac of Cock")


More Here...

BLACK LIPS Tomorrow Night @ Cinefamily - 8p

After two years of planning and tremendous changes throughout the region, the Black Lips’ tour of the Middle East finally came to fruition in the fall of 2012, but it wasn’t easy: promoters in Jordan and Egypt backed out because the band had just played in Israel, and a show in Iraq had to be changed at the last minute when an explicit band video was viewed by a government official. You Know, For Kids documents this journey through one of the most exciting regions in the world, including three groundbreaking stops in Egypt (the last known American rock band to play in that country being The Grateful Dead in 1978!) Get on the bus with The Black Lips and their friends, Lebanese indie rockers Lazzy Lung. See the people of the Middle East the way they really are: shopkeepers and restaurant owners, skaters, graffiti artists and musicians, revolutionaries and dreamers. Kids like you and us. You’ll never look at the Middle East the same way again.  

Director and Black Lips band members in person — plus, Cole Alexander will DJ after the film!

Dir. Bill Cody, 2013, digital presentation, 81 min.
 
Watch the trailer for “You Know, For Kids”!

The Black Lips: You Know, For Kids (trailer) from Cinefamily on Vimeo.