12.16.2009
We'll Be Back Shortly...
Stay tuned. Don't adjust your dial. And thanks for sticking with us.
12.04.2009
Tonight @ the BOOTLEG - ZACH HELM Does SPALDING GRAY
INTERVIEWING THE AUDIENCE with ZACH HELM
Exclusive Limited Engagement
Interviewing The Audience is an opportunity to expand the perception of theater and narrative with a simple, human approach. Specifically, members of each evenings audience will be asked to sit with Mr. Helm and allow themselves to be interviewed without any pre-conception or structure. The result is a series of stories so personal, so real, so emotionally deep, so strange that they often surpass our expectations more than any typical piece. Mr. Helm saw the late great Spaulding Gray perform the piece in Chicago and became immediately enamored with it. After a 5 night successful run in 2007, Teatro de Facto & Bootleg are bringing it back for a 2 Night Limited Engagement.
Mr. Helm is pleased to have another opportunity to curate and lead such a spontaneous and magical affair in Los Angeles, one of the unique convergences of people in the country. Mr. Gray was one of the premiere theater performers of American history. His 1st person monologues were widely performed and hugely popular. Interviewing The Audience was his attempt to create theater with the thrill of the unexpected in an atmosphere simple and approachable. It is also an opportunity to put the theater back in the hands of the audience, while underlining the theme that everyone has a story, everyone is a character, everyone writes their own life.
Mr. Helm is an Ovid Fellow, a PEN USA award winner, and a National Board of Review award recipient. His work includes the films Stranger Than Fiction and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, as well as the plays Last Chance For A Slow Dance and Good Canary (which is currently having its World Premiere in Paris, France). This will mark his first performance piece since discontinuing his work as a spoken word performer and monologuist over 10 years ago. Mr. Helm is the Artistic Director of Teatro de Facto, founded in 2008.
Friday and Saturday December 4th and 5th
12.03.2009
Tonight @ CINEFAMILY - "Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts!" -
The great provocateur Andy Kaufman died 25 years ago, and tonight Cinefamily honors his legacy with the release of the new Process Media book "Dear Andy Kauman, I Hate Your Guts!" and an evening of rare and never-before-seen solid Kaufman gold pulled from the video archives of Lynne Margulies (Kaufman's girlfriend, director of the Kaufman doc I'm From Hollywood, and author of the book). Margulies will present a treasure trove of rarities including recently unearthed footage from Kaufman's brief but illustrious career as "Intergender Wrestling Champion of the World," his legendary, never-before-seen performance at LA Improv's "Midnight Snacks" in 1975, and a video, allegedly made by a German film crew, of someone driving to the Kaufman family plot in New Jersey and exhuming Andy’s corpse. Rumors have it that Tony Clifton may not show due to a recent "quadruple hernia," however, the evening will feature a special Q&A with Bob Zmuda, Andy's best friend and writer, who was present throughout Andy's wrestling glory days -- often as referee -- and the comedian Little Wendy, one of Andy's closest friends, who was often right outside the ring. A must see for any Andy Kaufman fan!
12.01.2009
Wednesday @ the MARK TAPER FORUM - CULTURE CLASH'S 'Palestine New Mexico'
RUMORS, SECRETS, SAND AND BLOOD. U.S. Army Captain Catherine Siler journeys to the New Mexico reservation home of Private First Class Raymond Birdsong on a search for answers. The questionable circumstances surrounding Ray’s death in Afghanistan create a crisis of conscience for the captain giving her no choice but to re-examine her own life along the way.
Culture Clash, L.A.’s premiere Chicano performance group, returns to the MTF with a World Premiere play about America’s constantly shifting political landscape exploring loss, identity and the notion of occupied homelands.
Palestine, New Mexico promises to be an inherently theatrical work that mixes humor and cold fact to unforgettable and galvanizing effect.
From the Stage Veterano's that brought you the sold-out MTF hits Chavez Ravine and Water & Power.
11.30.2009
Tuesday @ Royce Hall - UCLA Live Presents - The U.S. Premiere of Teatr Zar's 'Triptych'
Tue, Dec 1 @8p
Wed, Dec 2 @8p
Thu, Dec 3 @8p
*Staged in multiple locations in Royce Hall; some seat locations will not be adjacent in the second seating configuration of this performance. No late seating.
More Here...
11.27.2009
SUNDAY @ THE AERO THEATER in Santa Moncia - The WIZARD of OZ
THE WIZARD OF OZ - Judy Garland is Dorothy in this sublime, candy-colored adaptation of L. Frank Baum's children's favorite, one of the most beloved film classics of all time. Take a surreal stroll down the yellow brick road with Dorothy as she encounters the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West. But there's no place like home! Don't miss the display of Wizard of Oz artwork at Every Picture Tells A Story!
*Come in costume and participate in the WIZARD OF OZ costume contest before the screening.
Sunday, November 29 - 4:00 PM1939, Warner Bros., 101 min. Dir. Victor Fleming
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11.26.2009
11.25.2009
Now on View @ LACMA - Joseph Beuys: The Multiples
Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) is one of the most influential postwar European artists. He used a European form of multiples in which two and three dimensional objects were issued in editions. He intended them to be widely circulated and to have relatively cheap prices. The multiples ranged from small-editioned objects to mass-produced political flyers and postcards.
Now thru July 18, 2010
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Friday @ Cinefamily - ''The Top Japanese Films of The Last Year, If Not The Last Decade''
Ask yourself this question: when was the last time a movie really mattered to you, and shattered your world? Every so often, a film comes screaming out of the ether that magically reveals a larger truth about this thing we stumble through called life, and the latest cinematic salve is the unforgettable, uncategorizable, unmissable Love Exposure, the brand-new behemoth from Sion Sono (Suicide Club, Strange Circus) that gleefully tackles life's biggest issues: love, death, sex, revenge, religion and up-skirt panty photography. Winner of festival awards across the globe, and breaker of art house attendance records in Japan, Love Exposure has only been seen in the U.S. at a handful of sell-out screenings, with its initially daunting 237 minutes leaving audiences desperate for another installment. Purportedly based on the life of one Sono's friends, the film tells the epic story of Yu, a teenager who loses his Catholic faith when his mother dies and his bible-thumping priest father demands that the innocent boy confess to sins that he hasn't committed. As he manufactures sins to keep his father pleased, Yu trains in the 'art' of panchira (clandestine panty snapshots!), and all bets are off when he crosses paths with Yoko, the woman of his dreams (his "Virgin Mary"), at a streetfight. As he pursues his heart, Yu finds himself tripped up by apocalyptic religious cults, Catholic guilt and the call of pornography, and must use his love to fight his way out of darkness.
More Here...
11.20.2009
SATURDAY - GRAND AVENUE WEEKEND!
MOCA's 30th Anniversary Members Party
MOCA members are invited to celebrate the museum’s 30th anniversary at a birthday party to culminate the exciting opening week of Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years. Enjoy an unforgettable art experience inspired by MOCA’s permanent collection with unique performances and unexpected interventions by My Barbarian, a dynamic Los Angeles–based artist collective.
MOCA’s 30th Birthday Party is presented by Ovation TV and The MOCA Contemporaries.
Become a MOCA member today!
250 South Grand Avenue - L.A.
Fearless iconoclasts Kronos Quartet, performing a piece from award-winning film composer Thomas Newman. Visionary master of minimalism, Terry Riley. Brainy electronica assemblagists Matmos. And Incubus’ psycho-musicologist, Mike Einziger.
These cutting edge California artists come together for one incredible evening of solo performances and exclusive collaborations. Drawing inspiration from their mutual admiration and respect, as well as their own West Coast roots, expect a unique tapestry of combined influences and extraordinary talents.
Kronos Quartet Terry Riley Matmos Mike Einziger
Free!
Everyday Miracles (Extended) brings together the work of seven artists who poignantly reflect on the dynamic shifts across Asia over the last 30 years. Curated by Hou Hanru in collaboration with REDCAT, the exhibition proceeds from an earlier project called Everyday Miracles, organized by Hou for the Chinese Pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Presented in three cycles (the first two at the San Francisco Art Institute and the third at REDCAT), Everyday seeks to expand upon dialogues about feminism in Asia and the emergence of the “extraordinary” in art and the everyday. Bridging SFAI and REDCAT’s shared commitment to art practices of the Pacific Rim, the exhibition features work by Hamra Abbas, Ringo Bunoan, Chen Hui-Chiao, Shilpa Gupta, Kan Xuan, Minouk Lim and Jewyo Rhii—artists who explore the world through a decidedly decentralized perspective, a powerful and necessary position to take in the context of a global art market driven by spectacle and essentialist views. Using the miraculousness of the everyday, these artists attempt to negotiate and transcend social and political realities in China, India, Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Sun Nov 22–Sun Jan 17 | Tues–Sun, noon–6 pm or intermission
This exhibition is made possible with generous funding from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Eve Steele and Peter Gelles, Arts Council Korea, The George and MaryLou Boone Fund for Artistic Advancement and the Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan, R.O.C. in collaboration with Taipei Cultural Center of TECO, New York.
11.19.2009
AMY GOODMAN @ SKYLIGHT BOOKS TONIGHT!
Democracy Now
More Here...
11.18.2009
Tonight @ REDCAT-The West Coast Premiere of ARIAS with a TWIST
West Coast Premiere
In this deliriously madcap fantasy revue, the soaring song stylings of drag artist Joey Arias are surrounded by an eye-popping theatrical extravaganza conjured by a team of puppeteers directed by the legendary Basil Twist. Channeling lurid celluloid dreams, macabre nightmares and bizarre premonitions on a stage transformed into a bigger-than-life cabinet of curiosities, the adventure begins with an alien abduction and concludes with a stupendous Busby Berkeley-esque finale. Along the way, the throaty chanteuse belts out pop, rock and jazz standards—including Billie Holiday’s “You’ve Changed”—as Twist and company work their magic with vintage marionettes, anatomically correct puppets and fantastical scenic elements. Arias was the longtime “Mistress of Seduction” in Zumanity, Cirque du Soleil’s adult-themed Las Vegas show, while Twist is most famous for his Folies Bergère-style underwater staging of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.
11.17.2009
WEDNESDAY @ MOCA GRAND
11.16.2009
Now on View - @ The California Heritage Museum SKATEBOARD: Evolution and Art in California
Guest curated by legendary Z-boy Nathan Pratt in conjunction with museum staff curator Michael Trotter and advisory committee members Jeff Ho, Skip Engblom (Zephyr co-founders), Cris Dawson (1966 Hobie Champ), Z-Boys Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta, and 1980’s world champion Christian Hosoi, the exhibition traces the evolution of boards from pre-1950 to the present showcasing the riders, designers, artists, and manufacturers that created the California phenomenon known as the skateboard. From the first planks of wood with metal roller skate wheels nailed to the bottom to the modern polyurethane wheels and kicktails, the boards have rocketed the skaters to greater heights of performance and style while taking “sidewalk surfing” from a homegrown activity to a worldwide cultural phenomenon.
More Here...
11.13.2009
The West Coast Premiere of The Walworth Farce Continues This Weekend @ UCLA LIVE
The Walworth Farce
At 11 a.m. in a grottyMore Here...
11.12.2009
TONIGHT: Habeas Lounge Downtown Art Walk Closing Party
Tomorrow @ the Skirball Cultural Center - Images for Human Rights: Student Voices - Free!
FREE!!
October 13, 2009–March 14, 2010
View twenty large-scale, provocative graphic-arts posters by students from the Art Center College of Design, created in celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Developed in the wake of the tragedies of World War II and modeled after the United States Constitution, this remarkable document represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are entitled. Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948, in Paris, it continues to serve as a model for state charters around the world.
Each one visually striking in its own way, the works on view illustrate the students' personal interpretations of the declaration's articles. The images not only reinforce its principles but also highlight human-rights violations around the world today—from the abuse of sweatshop workers to the conscription of child soldiers. Taking such powerful edicts as "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude" (Article 4) and "Everyone has the right to education" (Article 26), the young artists were challenged to represent these assertions through visual images. Each poster is accompanied by the text of the article(s) that inspired it, as well as insightful commentary by the student.
More Here...
11.11.2009
Tomorrow @ Walt Disney Concert Hall - Dudamel and Upshaw
Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs (1964) is a song cycle containing 11 arrangements of folk music from various countries and of other songs. These sparkling gems, whose origins range from the Appalachians to Azerbaijan, are imaginatively but subtly orchestrated, and treated with a respect one might not expect of an avant-garde composer.
Thursday, November 12, 8p
@Walt Disney Concert Hall
More Here...
11.10.2009
TONIGHT @ the EGYPTIAN THEATER - CINEMA ITALIAN STYLE
The Official Italian Entry for Best Foreign Language Film, Academy Awards® 2009 U.S. Premiere.
From Giuseppe Tornatore, Director of OSCAR® Winner CINEMA PARADISO, comes a Sicilian family saga: three generations across the 20th century, their dreams, hardship, disappointments, passions. “A moving, autobiographical, nostalgic tribute to the director’s hometown of Bagheria (“Baaria” in dialect) and family,” writes Natasha Senjanovic in The Hollywood Reporter. Introduction by Director Giuseppe Tornatore actors Margareth Made, Francesco Scianna and Beppe Fiorello. Introduction begins at 7p, film at 7.30p.
Each year CINEMA ITALIAN STYLE brings a piece of Italy to Los Angeles, offering some of the finest contemporary Italian films and documentaries which have made an impact in both Italy and abroad. Films to be featured this year include: Edoardo Winspeare’s I GALANTUOMINI (THE BRAVE MEN); Davide Ferrario’s TUTTA COLPA DI GIUDA (FREEDOM); Marco Amenta’s LA SICILIANA RIBELLE (THE SICILIAN GIRL); Nico Cirasola’s FOCACCIA BLUES; Marco Filiberti’s IL COMPLEANNO (DAVID’S BIRTHDAY); Francesca Archibugi’s QUESTIONE DI CUORE (MATTER OF HEART); Michele Placido’s IL GRANDE SOGNO (THE BIG DREAM) and two documentaries, VITTORIO D. by Mario Canale and Annarosa Morri (a portrait of Vittorio De Sica) and HOLLYWOOD ON THE TIBER by Marco Spagnoli.2009,
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11.09.2009
@ REDCAT Tonight - The Single Most Important and Influential Underground Movie Ever Released in America.
The Making and Unmaking of Flaming Creatures
Recognized as an unprecedented visionary masterpiece, Flaming Creatures was also reviled, rioted over, banned as porn, and pondered by the Supreme Court. “Jack Smith described Flaming Creatures as ‘a comedy set in a haunted movie studio.’ It is that, as well as the single most important and influential underground movie ever released in America,” according to J. Hoberman, film critic of The Village Voice for more than 30 years and an authority on the Smith performance and film oeuvre. “Smith’s movie was a source of inspiration for artists as disparate as Andy Warhol, Federico Fellini and John Waters but he never completed another.” Find out why. Hoberman’s books include The Dream Life: Movies, Media and the Mythology of the Sixties and Bridge of Light: Yiddish Cinema Between Two Worlds.
1963, 45 min., 16mm, b/w
11.06.2009
At The DOWNTOWN INDEPENDENT TONIGHT - Died Young, Stayed Pretty
Under the guise of advertising for rock shows, these unheralded masters of the silkscreen and Xerox machine carry on public discourses that range from hot button political issues to lewd, inside jokes. Stealing pieces from America's disposable culture, these graphic artists pervert classic references into beautiful obscenities that they slap in the face of polite society while safely treading under the radar.
More Here...
11.05.2009
SATURDAY - Vroman's Bookstore Presents: An Evening with Bukowski's Friends
Vroman's Books will be hosting the evening celebrating the life and work of Charles Bukowski. Sue Hodson, curator of literary manuscripts at the Huntington and lead archivist of Bukowski's writings, will present a slide presentation of Bukowski's life through photos. She will be joined by Linda Lee Bukowski, longtime Los Angeles poet SA Griffin (who will be reading from a new Bukowski book, The Continual Condition), and John Dullaghan, the director of the documentary, Bukowski: Born Into This.
More Here...
Saturday, November 07, 7p
Vroman's Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd
Pasadena - 91101
11.03.2009
at The HAMMER Tonight- Terry Zwigoff's 'CRUMB'
Crumb
Shot over a period of six years, director Terry Zwigoff's Crumb is an illuminating portrait of the controversial comic artist. The film uses uncensored interviews with the artist, his family, colleagues, critics, and ex-lovers, along with footage of his work, to paint a riveting picture of Crumb and the influences that have endowed his creativity.(1995, 119 MIN., DIR. T. ZWIGOFF)
In conjunction with the exhibition The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis
More Here...
11.02.2009
Tonight @ Skylight Books
Skylight Books is thrilled to host the Dandy Warhols' Courtney Taylor (aka C. Allbritton Taylor) and Camp Freddy's Donovan Leitch as they present their new graphic novel One Model Nation, illustrated by Jim Rugg.
A native of the Pacific Northwest, C. Allbritton Taylor has lived in New York, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, London and has made countless trips to Berlin for more than a decade while collecting information and writing One Model Nation. Now a resident of Washington State, C. Allbritton says of his first published full-length work, "I did my best to present a clear story while having to protect the people who wanted to remain hidden. I had to change names (and occasionally places) to do this while remaining true to my original intention: to pay homage to the great artists who played their parts in that time of unsung greatness."
Actor, musician, producer, rock historian, Donovan Leitch co-conceived One Model Nation with his collaborator C. Allbritton Taylor. Donovan was the lead singer for the '90s andro-glam NY band Nancy Boy and now fronts the all-star jam band Camp Freddy. As an actor, he has appeared in many late night cable cult classics and he played the lead role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch in both New York and L.A. productions. He has produced several documentaries and is now developing rock based musicals. As an avid music historian, Donovan constantly seeks to uncover the deeper truths of the mysterious band One Model Nation.
10.31.2009
CINEFAMILY & DUBLAB PRESENT: Bollyweird Films on HALLOWEEN
This Hallow's Eve, The Cinefamily joins forces with Dublab to throw the best Halloween party ever, Bollywood-style! One thing they really understand in India: every movie's better with song-and-dance numbers -- even horror movies! In that spirit, the Cinefamily premieres Bollyweird: The Movie -- our very own feature-length video mashup celebrating the most horrifying, fantastic, costume-crazed and outlandish moments of vintage Indian musical madness ever. This isn't just Bollywood, it's Bollyweeeeeird. Then, once the movie’s over, we’re gonna clear the couches, light the incense, make a dance floor, start doing the electric vindaloo, and have a real monster mashala!
+ Drinks and dosas (provided by The Dosa Truck)!
+ Ghoulish giveaways!
+ Costume prizes!
+ DJ sets from the dublab "Bloodsucking" Sound System and Dr. Who Witchcraft Coven!
+ Live performances by freaks like:
12am - Bobb Bruno
1am - Private Beach + the pschedelic horror film Snake Mountain Colada!
2am - Golden Hits
+ The Phantom Photo Booth!
+ Franken Stand's vegan hot dogs!
+ Terrifying tarot readings!
+ The best Halloween ever! It's better than Halloween...its Bollyween!
The Ghoulish Debauchery Starts @ 8pm
More Here...
10.28.2009
Friday 10.30 @ UCLA LIVE - CULTURE CLASH 25
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10.27.2009
@ LACMA TONIGHT - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
A scientist's investigations into the nature of good and evil turn him into a murderous monster.
1941/b&w/127 min. | Scr: John Lee Mahin; dir: Victor Fleming; w/ Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner.
10.23.2009
Friday October 23rd - @ REDCAT
West Coast premiere
A global fusion of rousing live music sets the pace for this solo tour de force by exquisite dancer and choreographer Gregory Maqoma, a bright star in South Africa’s dance and theater scene. Maqoma invited three of the world’s most refreshing and articulate choreographers to contribute their unique artistic voices to Beautiful Me—Akram Khan (U.K.), Faustin Linyekula (D.R. of the Congo) and Vincent Mantsoe (South Africa)—forging an expansive movement vocabulary that layers the influences of contemporary Kathak, Afro-fusion, and visual dance theater with breathtaking precision and lyrical warmth. As he performs to a soaring score for sitar, violin, cello and percussion, Maqoma unspools the personal journey—and larger social history—through which he discovered his own rich theatrical form. The internationally acclaimed production plays out as a series of conversations, incorporating “minutes” of movement, music and text into a heartfelt self-portrait and a kinetic reflection on African identity.
Saturday Oct,. 24
Curated by Giant Robot co-founder and co-editor Eric Nakamura, this expanded follow-up to the 2007 exhibition Giant Robot Biennale: 50 Issues will highlight artists associated with the magazine over the past 15 years.
David Choe • James Jean • Souther Salazar • Theo Ellsworth • kozyndan • Stella Lai • Jack Long • Albert Reyes • Jeff Soto • Rob Sato • Deth P. Sun
Providing an overview of the Giant Robot aesthetic, this multi-faceted exhibition will celebrate the depth and diversity of perspectives found within the Giant Robot experience through a series of components that visually represents the magazine’s ethos.
GR2 includes installations by David Choe, James Jean, and Souther Salazar, in addition to works by Theo Ellsworth, kozyndan, Stella Lai, Jack Long, Albert Reyes, Jeff Soto, Rob Sato, and Deth P. Sun.
Other components feature a group show of more than 50 other artists; a retrospective for longtime magazine contributor Ben Clark; a tribute to the kaiju scene featuring collaborative works made by indie sculptor and artist Yukinori Dehara, UglyDolls co-creator David Horvath, and Portland-based underground toy legend LeMerde; and four custom videogames developed by the Attract Mode Collective in conjunction with some of Giant Robot’s favorite artists.
More Info HereSunday Oct, 25th @ CINEFAMILY - PLAN 9 from Outer Space
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10.22.2009
DANCE - PILOBOLUS @ The MUSIC CENTER this WEEKEND
Performances include RUSHES, a mesmerizing piece combining the company's renowned physicality with its playful attitude, along with REDLINE, an examination of the beauty and futility of physical battle, offering a breath-taking display of the intense athleticism that earns Pilobolus praise by both the dance-lover and dance-novice alike
10.21.2009
Omara Portuondo@ ROYCE HALL this Friday 10.23 @ 8p
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10.19.2009
Go See: Pictures of theYear International @The Annenberg Space for Photography
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10.15.2009
Now @ REDCAT- Cloud Eye Control:Under Polaris
Cloud Eye Control: Under Polaris
At once playful and deeply expressive, this young Los Angeles-based multimedia ensemble confronts head-on the tension between primal nostalgia and modern technological optimism. In their latest mix of projected animation, live theater and electronic music, Cloud Eye Control charts an epic journey across a vast arctic expanse—a sublime icebound landscape illuminated under the ethereal lights of the Northern sky. At the center of Under Polaris is the quest to preserve, inside pristine shards of ice at the top of the world, a seed containing the wealth of all human history: a back-up system for our genetic imprint and the sum total of our personal memories. En route, the story’s protagonist shape-shifts into many a mythic creature to survive the elements and, in the process, learns about the inextricable interdependence of humans and nature. Formed in 2004, Cloud Eye Control consists of animation and media artist Miwa Matreyek, writer, musician and actor Anna Oxygen, and director Chi-wang Yang.
10.14.2009
GO SEE - Sweets & Treats: Wayne Thiebaud in the Collection of the Norton Simon Museum now on view thru Nov.2
In addition to pastries, Thiebaud has painted landscapes, streetscapes, and popular characters such as Mickey Mouse. His recent paintings such as Sunset Streets (1985) and Flatland River (1997) are noted for their hyper realism, and are in some ways similar to Edward Hopper's work, who was fascinated with mundane scenes from everyday American life.
More Here...
10.13.2009
Tuesday , October 13 - Herb & Dorothy on PBS
“Most of us go through the world, never seeing anything. Then you meet somebody like Herb and Dorothy, who have eyes that see.” —Richard Tuttle, artist
He was a postal worker. She was a librarian. Together they amassed one of the most important contemporary art collections in the world. HERB & DOROTHY tells the extraordinary tale of Herb and Dorothy Vogel, a seemingly ordinary couple who filled their humble one-bedroom New York apartment with more than 4,000 works of art over a 45-year period. Filmmaker Megumi Sasaki turns her lens on the Vogels during a critical period of transition for the couple and their cherished collection.From the earliest days of their marriage, the Vogels delighted in art. While working the midnight shift at the post office, Herb studied by day at the Institute of Fine Arts. Dorothy soon followed suit and began taking classes in painting and drawing. But ultimately, Dorothy confesses, they were “wannabe artists” and quickly gave up their own ambitions when they realized the joys of collecting.
Despite their modest income, the two began acquiring work that was undiscovered or unappreciated in the early 1960s, primarily Minimalist and Conceptual art by such visionaries as Robert and Sylvia Mangold, Donald Judd, Richard Tuttle, Sol LeWitt, Christo, Lynda Benglis and many other artists who are featured in the film. The work was mostly non-decorative, evoking descriptors like “daring” and “rigorous.” In their collecting, Herb and Dorothy adhered to strict guidelines—they would live on Dorothy’s salary and devote Herb’s income to purchasing art. While reflecting their adventurous taste, the collection would need to conform to practical limitations of affordability and space. One artist recalls that the Vogels would only buy pieces they could carry home on the subway or in a taxi.
Diminutive and unassuming, the two became a fixture on the New York art scene, attending nightly gallery events and befriending many of the artists whose work they collected. Artist Chuck Close affectionately refers to the couple as the “mascots of the art world.” Collaborators Christo and Jeanne-Claude recall how Herb and Dorothy acquired a work of theirs in exchange for cat-sitting. By the early 1990s, the Vogels’ collection filled every corner of their living space, from the bathroom to the kitchen, floor to ceiling. “Not even a toothpick could be squeezed into the apartment,” recalls Dorothy. The place was bursting at the seams, and something had to be done. Courted by every major museum, the couple astounded the art world by transferring their entire collection—worth several million dollars—to the National Gallery of Art.
As government workers themselves, they liked the idea of sharing their prized pieces with the American people. After weeks of packing, shippers carted away an astounding five full-sized moving trucks of paintings, drawings and sculptures from the tiny apartment. Today, still in love with each other and with art, Herb and Dorothy live in the same apartment, with their pet turtles, fish and cat. The once completely emptied space is again filled with art.
Update: In August 2009, filmmaker Megumi Sasaki reported that Herb and Dorothy had finally stopped adding to their collection. In 2008, they began distributing work through their national gift project, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: 50 Works for 50 States. Although they don’t attend gallery or museum openings as much due to Herb’s health, the couple traveled with the film to many film festivals and screenings, meeting and interacting with the audience.
More Here...
BOB DYLAN @ the HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM Oct. 13, 14, & 15
The Los Angeles Times gave Together Through Life four stars, with Rolling Stone stating "it is rich in striking moments, set in a willful rawness, and comes with a wicked finish."
10.12.2009
EDDIE IZZARD @ THE ECHOPLEX TOMORROW NIGHT
Tuesday, October 13 at 7p!
Buy Tickets Here
10.09.2009
This Weekend's Events
The Strange World of Coffin Joe
at Midnight I Will Take Your Soul w/ This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse
In a feat of pure will and cinematic street smarts, first-time director Jose Mojica Marins took a few scraps of film, a 600 square-foot studio and a miniscule budget pieced together by selling his family's house and car, and created this dazzling garage Guignol masterpiece that rocked Brazil's pop culture and psyche with its extreme violence, taboo-smashing scenes, and the creation of an indelible fully-realized character that would go on to capture the imaginations of horror fans around the world - Coffin Joe!
God-defying and child-loving, philosophizing and self-aggrandizing, sadistic and ballistic, prone to proclamations and exaggerations (usually delivered via maniacally melodramatic monologues in Marins' unique acting style), Coffin Joe debuts here as a fearsome undertaker who terrorizes the citizens with his violent, narcissistic behavior. Just for kicks he ties up a woman and lets spiders crawl over her, and, even more horrifyingly, he voraciously eats meat on Good Friday! One of the great debuts in horror in history.
Dir. José Mojica Marins, 1964, 35mm, 84 min.
More Here
Dan Fante
Skylight Books is pleased to welcome back Dan Fante, whose new novel is the fourth in his series of semiautobiographical Bruno Dante novels. This time, Bruno, encountering setbacks as a writer, loses a telemarketing job and gains a job at a limo service, which he is instructed he can only keep if he stays sober. But business success fuels a booze-fueled downward spiral, and he struggles to keep his demons from getting the best of him.
Starts @ 7p
More info Here
Saturday October 10
at REDCAT
The California E.A.R. Unit: The Lindas
The E.A.R. Unit, one of the boldest and most idiosyncratic contemporary chamber ensembles working today, turns its refined attentions to composers named Linda. The group is premiering Wanderer by the brilliant Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith, commissioned by the Unit; the sensuous multimedia work Forecast by fellow Canadian Linda Bouchard; and the haunting Moonsick by Dublin-based Linda Buckley. The egalitarian program does extend fearlessly into non-Linda territory: After Forgetting, a sizzling new work by Keeril Makan, who was also commissioned by the Unit, and Daniel Salecich’s mesmerizing Generator (urban speed time-out).
Sat 10.10 830p
Sunday, October 11
WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
FAMILY MATINEE In this enchanting social satire based on Roald Dahl's classic book, mysterious candy factory owner Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) croons "Come with me, and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination" in this truly wondrous (and colorful) musical adaptation. Follow the five lucky holders of the Golden Tickets (Veruca Salt, Augustus Gloop, Mike TV, Violet Beauregard and impoverished Charlie Bucket) as they and their parents venture inside the enchanted Wonka Chocolate Factory - for better or for worse! Oompa Loompa doom-pity-doo! Director Mel Stuart will appear in person for discussion following the film. Free admission to all children 12 and under accompanied by an adult. One child will be admitted free for each paying adult.
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