Under The Big Black Sun – California Art 1974 – 1981 @ The Geffen Contemporary through Feb. 13 | Info

MOCA Presents X
with Special Guests
The Dead Kennedys & The Avengers
This Saturday, January 28
7:30 p.m. (Doors 6:30 p.m.)
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
152 N. Central Ave., 90013
MOCA | Pacific Standard Time
[ENTER TO WIN TICKETS]

Win tickets to this sold out exclusive concert with seminal punk rock bands X, The Dead Kennedys and The Avengers who continue to shape California’s music scene.

Pacific Standard Time is an unprecedented collaboration of cultural institutions across Southern California coming together to celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene. For six months, over 60 cultural institutions will make their contributions to this region-wide initiative encompassing every major L.A. art movement from 1945 to 1980.

Pacific Standard Time | pacificstandardtime.org
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Make for the 213 come Sunday for your art and cocktail fix and catch Light FM for free, before they go on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins this fall (both bands play the Wiltern, Oct 5). Take it away, press release:

Anna Meliksetian Projects Presents
I N T E R C H A N G E

a group exhibition featuring John Baldessari, Rob Brander, Scott Marvel Cassidy, Mustafa Hulusi, CK Lyons, Chris Richmond, Jim Shaw, Jill Spector, Marnie Weber, and Peter Wu.

Reception: Sunday, October 2, 2011 from 6-10 pm
Complimentary Cocktails and Hors d’Oeuvres served from 6-8 pm.

Exchange LA (Art Gallery – Ground Floor)
618 S. Spring Street (between 6th and 7th)
Los Angeles, CA 90014

After Party upstairs at Exchange LA from 9pm – 11pm featuring musical performance by LIGHT FM.

This event is complimentary.
Please RSVP at [email protected]
For table reservations at the After Party, contact Anna Meliksetian at 323.828.4731.

Anna Meliksetian Projects is pleased to present “Interchange,” a group exhibition featuring works by internationally renowned artists John Baldessari, Mustafa Hulusi, Jim Shaw, and Marnie Weber, as well as younger emerging artists, who are influenced directly or indirectly by their work. One of the highlights of the exhibition will be a special unveiling of a new 40-foot painting by Los Angeles based artist Jim Shaw!

ATTN: SPECIAL AGENT DALE COOPER
In The Trees: TWIN PEAKS 20th Anniversary Art Exhibition @ Clifton’s Brookdale

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, February 12, 2011
TIME: 8:00PM to 11:00PM

Reception and exhibition are open to the public on a first-come basis.

HEADS UP
Venice Art Crawl: December Lights Edition @ Various Locations Near Market Street, Venice
December Lights Edition
Thursday, December 16

We’re promised a very “lit” evening; more details at the official site.

OK GO acoustic performance
+ screening of new video for “This Too Shall Pass” (left) along with earlier videos, followed by Q&A with the band.
Display pieces of the Rube Goldberg machine, built by Syyn Labs for the new video.
DJ set by Tim Nordwind
Tickets & Info

Young Directors Night highlights the emerging talent of Los Angeles’s film community. A celebration of film and the art of cinema, the showcase features six short films screened in the unique setting of an art museum:

»continue reading LACMA This Friday & Saturday–OK Go Acoustic & Young Directors Night

From AOL News:

The J. Paul Getty Museum says it will “vigorously defend” its right to hold on to an ancient Greek statue that an Italian court ruled should be seized and returned to Italy.

The “Victorious Youth” bronze statue, better known as the Getty Bronze, was unexpectedly dredged from the sea in 1964 by a fishing trawler from Fano, Italy, a few miles south of Pesaro, where the court ruling was made Thursday.

The life-size statue, probably looted by the Romans, dates from the second or third century B.C. and is widely regarded as one of the finest Greek originals to have survived. The Italians claim it was smuggled out of Italy without the proper export papers, but the Getty says it bought the statue for $4 million through legal channels in 1977. [MORE]

In other news, AOL apparently still exists.

Feb 5: Chapin Sisters w/ Sands
Feb 6 – 20: C’est L’amour in collaboration with Heard of Elephants
Feb 8: Ohioan, Ah Holly Fam’ly
Feb 10: a night curated by Friends of the Family
Feb 11: Semiconscious Gloria, Seasick + special guests
Feb 12: Pocahaunted, Moon Duo (featuring members of Wooden Shjips) + special guests
Feb 13: Woolen, Tremblexy + special guests
Feb 17: Movie Night! First Screening 8:00pm; Second Screening 10:00pm
Feb 18: Random Patterns, Alpine Decline + special guests
Feb 19: howardAmb, Vaginals, Missincinatti, LA Fog

Synchronicity | syncspacela.com
4306 Melrose Ave, 90029
 

So this is going on this Saturday. Frankly, I have little patience for artists who work under alllowercasebunchedup names like “themegoman” with semi-functional websites (where are the Portraits?) or BBQ/record joints that apparently serve an $11 fried chicken breast (OK, “with bread and two sides”–now totally worth the 11 bones). But this show will be the public debut of themegoman’s striking, somewhat creepy portrait of The Pity Party duo seen at the left. So maybe there is no reason to go to this after all, now that you’ve seen the picture here. Enjoy.

Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth
January 10, 2010 to May 30, 2010 — Opening Night Party Sat, Jan 9, 2010 featuring music by KCRW’s Jason Bentley
Free–apart from paying to park at UCLA (What is it these days? $40?)

Experience the largest presentation of work by Chicago-based artist Nick Cave, featuring thirty-five of his Soundsuits—multi-layered, mixed-media sculptures named for the sounds made when the “suits” are worn. Reminiscent of African, Caribbean and other ceremonial ensembles as well as of haute couture, Cave’s work explores issues of transformation, ritual, myth and identity. His virtuosic constructions incorporate yarn, sequins, bottle caps, vintage toys, rusted iron sticks, hair, and more. Mad, humorous, visionary, glamorous and unexpected, the Soundsuits are created from scavenged ordinary materials that Cave re-contextualizes into extraordinary works of art. The Fowler is the first LA-area museum to feature Cave’s work and the only Southern California venue for this traveling exhibition.

Watch out for this around town:

In addition, the Fowler is partnering with dancers and choreographers in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures to create a series of performance-interventions (termed by Nick Cave’ “Soundsuit Invasions”) in and around Los Angeles that will animate a special set of wearable Soundsuits. Times and locations for these Soundsuit Invasions will be announced via the Fowler’s Fowler’s Twitter feed and Facebook page

Wouldn’t it be HILARIOUS if the Soundsuiters hopped on the Metro at the same time as the No Pants Riders this weekend?

ELVIS AT 21: PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALFRED WERTHEIMER

In 1956, photojournalist Alfred Wertheimer was hired by RCA Victor to shoot promotional images of a recently signed 21-year-old recording artist (Presley), and his instincts to “tag along” with the artist after the assignment resulted in 56 striking images that provide an intimate look at Elvis before he exploded onto the scene and became one of the most exciting performers of all time. The exhibit will run through March 28, 2010.

»continue reading “Elvis at 21″ Photo Exhibit Opens at GRAMMY Museum

Maybe if we put this out there, someone will explain it to us. These wacky guys find urban potholes and stage wacky photos around them. This apparently leads to book deals and gallery exhibits.

Some purported explanatory text from the press release and their website still doesn’t help us wrap our heads around it:

After great success in Montréal and NYC, photographers Claudia Ficca and Davide Luciano are in Los Angeles this month transforming local potholes into art.

“POTHOLES” is a photography project featuring sixteen rural craters. Taking something typically looked upon as a negative and giving it a positive and humorous spin, the artists staged a series of guerrilla street-level photographs and transformed disruptive craters into objects of fancy.

In the new year, the artists will be city-hopping in search of the biggest and best potholes to shoot in excess of fifty new scenes for their upcoming book and future exhibitions.

Below is a photo of a man eating spaghetti and meatballs from a New York City pothole. We don’t blame you if you don’t click to take a look at it.

»continue reading We Don’t Get It: “POTHOLES” Comes to Los Angeles

Sunday Morning 1 (Oki Dog)
36″ x 24″
Oil on canvas
$6,000.00
David Anderle

Billy Shire Fine Arts
Exhibition: November 14, 2009 – December 5, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 14th, 7-10 pm

Did You Know?
As of Autumn ’09, the Oki-Dog (Fairfax@Willoughby) LA County Public Health Score is back down to a bright red 73 “C” rating, thanks to:

»continue reading Please Help Us Purchase This Fine Painting

A reduction linocut by artist Dave Lefner. Studio 212, Moulton Ave.

LA is home to the largest art colony in the world. That’s right, the world. It’s one of our city’s best kept secrets. Twice a year, the Brewery Art Association near downtown LA opens its doors to art aficionados, collectors, students, curious onlookers, and those who only wish they could support themselves based solely on creative genius. I fit into those last two categories.

The following photo collection reflects my first experience at the Brewery Artwalk, which took place this past Saturday and Sunday, October 24 & 25. It is in no way a comprehensive representation of the work that was on display (the complex boasts roughly 300 work/live studios). But it’s a taste of an authentic, thriving art scene unique to LA—a must-try for all Angelenos.

»continue reading Brewery Artwalk Autumn ’09: A Free Pass To LA’s Creative Common