Philip Lumbang Mural, click to embiggen

Call it what you want.  Urban art, street art, its all good art in my book.  Rarely do the practitioners get a legit forum to practice and share their art.  Tom’s has commissioned 3 such works as part of the World Sight Day, which is dedicated to bringing recognition to blindness and vision impairment as a global public health issue.  One of these paintings will actually be done live at tonight’s Downtown LA Art Walk.  Your list of artists and locations of their work for this project:

• Philip Lumbang, 826LA EAST, 1714 W. Sunset Blvd.Echo Park, CA 90026 (213) 413-3388
• Septerhed, First Friday @ Abbot Kinney, 1118 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Venice, CA
• Aaron Axelrod, DTLA Artwalk, ArtWalk Lounge,634 S. Spring St, Los Angeles

Pic courtesy of and used with permission of Tom’s.

Rex Bruce’s exhibit “Moving Violations” opens for a 2 month run at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art on October 13.  The opening reception will be that day held in conjunction with the Downtown LA Art Walk.

Moving Violations is a capture of life in LA through the windows of a moving car.  It is really a commentary on the destruction of the city and its environment done by the cars that we pretty much live in getting from place to place.  The exhibit is still images and video aimed at a sensory overload with a political message.  The full artists bio and description of the show can be found HERE.  In the artists words:

The work is pretty self explanatory—toxic SoCal overkill and maximum carbon emission, but it is informed by a particular vision of my era that has coalesced in my mind.

Deets:October 13-December 3, Reception Thursday October 13, 7-9pm, 102 W 5th Street, Los Angeles CA 90013 MAP HERE.

Something captivating is happening in Hollywood about a half-block south of Santa Monica Boulevard on Orange Drive, almost midway back from the street along a nondescript business complex. It’s happening at the Art of Acting Studio, which until Saturday night had been unknown to me like so many of the scores upon scores of small theaters throughout greater Los Angeles that live so often under the radar hosting productions week in and week out.

Within the cozy theater on that sold-out night I was to see the Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company’s premiere staging of Clifford Odets’ landmark 1935 agit-prop drama “Waiting For Lefty,” directed by Don K. Williams. And what I saw was a brilliant embrace of a classic that was absolute magic.

Consisting of a series of vignettes threaded through the framework of meeting of cab drivers (with the title character being their absent and expected leader), Odets’ masterpiece is what launched the Group Theatre into the minds of the social conscience in the 1930s. “Waiting for Lefty” centers on union members meeting to discuss a possible strike while offering glimpses into their desperate lives as they search for a way out of poverty in a world where greed outweighs the value of human life and the only way to escape was to fight together.

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(click for maximum panoramification)

I, for on, think the above epically detailed and amazing celebration of Rod Serling and his “The Twilight Zone,” which I found today next to the vacant lot on the corner of Beverly Boulevard at Commonwealth (pinpoint map) in Historic Filipinotown is The Most Awesome Mural Ever — and not just because as a diehard “zoner” geek it’s my favorite television series of all time. Along with a portrait of Serling, you’ve got iconic characters such as Talking Tina from “Living Doll”, one of the aliens from “The Invaders,” the doc from “Eye of the Beholder” and the jet and wing-dancing gremlin from “Nightmare at 20,000 feet.”

The 2011 work is signed by “DOCBAMCKRH” but Google gave me nothing when searching for that as the keyword. Anyone know who did this?

In anticipation of their upcoming exhibit Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981, MOCA has this gem posted on their blog:

Ruscha’s Back of Hollywood will be part of the exhibit, which opens 1 October at MoCA’s Geffen Contemporary, along with 500-some other pieces “including documentary, staged, and conceptual photographs; abstract and representational paintings; freestanding sculptures, installations, and environments; performances and public demonstrations; narrative and documentary films and videos; zines and posters; ceramics and models; works on paper; decorative crafts and design objects; and ephemera.” Well okay then! I guess the last sensory overload at the Geffen, the street art exhibit, was so successful why not overstimulate us again, right?

If October 1 seems too long to wait, you can whet your appetite with the Ruscha exhibit at the Hammer. I haven’t been yet, but it’s on my short list. It a small show with just six large Ruscha canvases that all use text from Kerouac’s On the Road in front of snow capped mountains.

“This town is magic to me and it hasn’t grown old, and I love the colors and the layout and the mountains and the ocean and desert,” says Anthony Kiedis to Edward Ruscha as they drive down Sunset Boulevard.

Amen to that, say I.

When shaved-headed synthesized symphonist Moby released a book of photographs to accompany his album “destroyed“ last May, a number of the photos were sent on a worldwide yet very limited tour of art galleries. Moby’s photo tour hits Culver City’s Kopeikin Gallery this Saturday, September 10, through October 22.

Sayeth Moby’s website:

Destroyed introduces us to a side of touring that is often unexposed; secluded time spent in artificial spaces like hotel rooms and backstage waiting areas. The combined album and photo book provides an intimate look at Moby’s world and his creative process as an artist, both the music and photos were created in the same period and draw inspiration from the strange and sublime world of touring.

So … Linda McCartney meets Lost In Translation? Could be very interesting.

I love businesses that support the art. I even like them better when they give up space to showcase new and emerging artists.  That is exactly what South Bay Lexus in Torrance has done.  They have donated space on their lot for a bunch of pods to be set up as pop up gallery spaces.  There are over 50 pods, over 400 artists, curators, museums, galleries and fun, one-stop shopping for art.

More information on the art and artists can be found on Fine Art Trekkin’ Torrance and Fine Art Trekkin’ South Bay.

Deets: 9/3 & 9/4/11Saturday and Sunday Sept 3, 4 noon-6pm. South Bay Lexus.24777 Crenshaw Blvd. Torrance, California 90505

Photo courtesy of KCRW

If you draw a Venn diagram between donut lovers and pie lovers among blogging.la readers, I suspect that the overlap would be considerable. That’s why I’m excited that KCRW’s 3rd Annual Good Food Pie Contest will be held at LACMA on Sunday, September 18.

The Pie Contest will take place from 2-4 p.m. on the lawns behind the museum, and will be judged by notable Los Angeles area chefs and food writers, including LA Weekly‘s Jonathan Gold and Zoe Nathan, chef/owner of Huckleberry Cafe.  KCRW’s “Good Food” program host Evan Kleiman will emcee, which is appropriate since Kleiman’s blog about baking a pie a day was the inspiration for the contest. Additionally, LACMA’s Family Days in September will be dedicated to the theme of pie.

KCRW is also holding an essay contest in connection with the event: “Tell us the story of the pie that changed your life, in 500 words or less”. The winner gets to be a judge in the pie contest. But hurry, just two more days to submit your essay.

To enter a pie in the contest, click on the second link above. The entry cost is $10. For non-contestants, admission is free, including a taste once the judging is complete. And this year,  to tie in with LACMA’s Tim Burton exhibition, the contest will include a category for “Tim Burton-inspired pie”. Now that’s something a Donut Summiteer could love.

Found walking the dog this morning on Occidental Boulevard north of Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake. I’m titling it “Street Art.”

This is the last week to catch the Marco Brambilla exhibit at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Friends raved about the show, so I finally went to see it for myself this past weekend.

The Dark Lining is a collection of seven video installations created by the artist and filmmaker between 1999 and the present. The highlight of the exhibit is the final room of the gallery where two very large video collages are projected on opposite walls and in 3D.  Evolution (Megaplex) is a new work depicting the history of mankind and the 2008 Civilization (Megaplex) takes you on a trip through the afterlife. Both use images from hundreds of film clips and are a feast for the eyes. You might find yourself analyzing the symbolism, thinking about the history of the universe and discussing all things religious and apocalyptic. Whatever the case, I bet you’ll end up playing the same game my friends and I did, which is trying to name every last movie that provided the featured images.

The Dark Lining by Marco Brambilla runs through August 20, 2011 at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, which is located in Bergamot Station at 2525 Michigan Avenue in Santa Monica. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11am to 6pm. Suggested donation is $5, parking is free.

Fugue State by Zack Stadel, Untitled #02, printer's ink, acetate, masking tape, cardstock

Interesting concept.  Cull old acetates from vintage porn, rework with a little mat board, printers ink and such then voila a new piece of art.  This is the subject of an art exhibit and artists reception I’ve been invited to this weekend. Sounds titillating enough now if I can free up my calender…and be in the Glasell Park area.

Deets:Fugue State – Sat, Aug 6th, 7-10pm – swrve 3421 Verdugo Rd Los Angeles, CA 90065

Personal note explaining the art and inviting me to attend after the jump.

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Some of you have been around long enough (and are lucky enough) to have attended SUPERBALL – the crazy, eclectic, celeb-studded (but in a good way) event where damn near anything could and did happen.

Like all gigantic, out of control events, SUPERBALL kind of reached its peak and when the dudes behind it got busy with life, it went away for a while.

But nature abhors a vacuum, and out of the ashes of SUPERBALL came … TwentyWonder! A Carnival of the Mind, and a great cause too.

Plus, TwentyWonder just got featured on GoldStar. Discounted tickets are now $20 for a limited time. Jump on it, and then alert your friends!

Tickets: http://www.goldstar.com/today/los-angeles/2011/7/4

This Saturday! July 9th! From 6pm to Midnight!

21 and older with ID

VIP Tix include a souvenir medallion – very cool!

(hope this image cures the JumboTron effect – was posting from the phone)

Actually, in all honesty, admission to the Geffen’s Art in the Streets is free every Monday thanks to a donation by Banksy, a street artist whose ability to garner publicity never ceases to amaze and impress this blogger. So this Monday, I set out with a couple of friends to take advantage of Banksy’s largess. The exhibit was larger than I’d thought it would be and it was crowded enough that there was a line at the gift shop and a guard monitoring admission. (I bought nothing. I might have considered a skullphone tee-shirt even at the rockstar prices, but they had no girl cuts.) But I digress. The exhibit itself was really great.


It spanned everything from early tagging on train cars by railroad employees to LA car art to reconstructed cityscapes complete with animitronic taggers and a dummy homeless guy sleeping in a doorway. All it lacked was the urine smell. (This is not a suggestion, MoCA–just an observation.) The exhibit runs through August 8, and I hope I’m able to get back to see it again before it goes. Do note: Art in the Streets is at the Geffen, not at MoCA’s Grand Street location. Also note, you can easily take the metro. The Gold Line stops just a couple of blocks from the front door.

Highlights from the exhibit after the jump. Read the rest of this entry →

…no, not that swing scene.

With a grant from the Awesome Foundation — which is apparently really a thing — these folks hung swings all around LA. So people could swing. I kinda wanna go try to find some.

Coming back from the Hollywood Home Depot yesterday afternoon, my wife Susan and I opted for surface streets back to Silver Lake instead of the backed-up southbound 101, and boy am I glad we did. Heading east on Fountain I looked south as we passed Kingsley Drive to find none other than renowned and prolific muralist Kent Twitchell doing some touch-up refreshment work to his 1971 Strother Martin Monument mural. With Susan understanding my OMG as we went around the block to pull up across the street from him, I got out and went pretty much total fanboy, interrupting him apologetically to gush about what an honor it was for me to see him in action, and get a picture of him:

I asked him if there was any hope of restoring the Ed Ruscha mural that had been despicably painted out in 2006 (and for which he ultimately settled a lawsuit in 2008 for a reported $1.1 million). He said he hoped for its return but that it would be put up in a different location.

The one mural of his also unceremoniously destroyed whose return I’ve long hoped for is his two-story cool-as-ice-blue Steve McQueen Monument, painted the same year as the one above.

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