You don’t need a DSM to figure Adam Greener out, but it can’t hurt. Not to worry—he’s not quite there yet, though there are indications that as post-pubescent hormones flood his bloodstream, he’ll be on his way in no time. Adam is an American student aged about 10...
From the Editor September-October, 2022; Volume 17, issue 1
Dear Reader, As I’ve been saying since the dawn of Artillery (16 years ago now): LA is the most vibrant art city in the country. This isn’t exactly a revelation, so why focus on LA—yet again—in this current issue? Because we felt it was worth revisiting the subject in...
Basquiat Paintings Seized by FBI Art Brief
Jean-Michel Basquiat, some say, was an artistic genius. His paintings’ auction values now equal or exceed those of his friend and mentor, Andy Warhol. A couple of top-notch Basquiat shows wowed New York City this past summer, including a major exhibition sponsored by...
YANOE X ZOUEH’s Massive AR Murals The Digital
What do we imagine when we think about art in the most primal form that it has taken throughout the ages? It is easy to pick out important sculptural works or historic paintings on canvas—but often overlooked is the pureness of paint on a wall. Whether looking back to...
13 Ways of Looking at Kayla Decoder
It can be a disservice to describe an artist whose art describes a constantly changing self. 1. Kayla Tange looking platonically calm, platonically Asian, platonically a performance artist, dressed in an all-white so crisp it might be paper, in a great glass box...
Tableaux Vivants Bunker Vision
Back in the days before television, radio and movies, a popular form of entertainment was the Tableau Vivant. People would pose in costumes alongside elaborate props to reenact historical events, or to mimic paintings and statues. If you have ever encountered the...
SIGHTS UNSCENE Information Booth Worker with Red Nails, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA, 2022
ASK BABS Bad-Ass Art-Collecting Grandma
Dear Babs, I follow your column and thought your answer to the question concerning censorship of art in one’s own home for the sake of one’s grandchildren was spot on. I’d like to take this issue a bit further. I own a Larry Clark photo that I proudly display on my...
Remarks on Color: Iguana Green August's Hue
Iguana Green went traipsing thru the undergrowth, the stub of a burned-out cigarette hanging from the side of her mouth and a bottle of Jack tied to her tail. It had been a difficult week in the verdant jungles of Southern Brazil. Just a few weeks prior she’d been...
Soft Machinery and Melting Monuments: Getting A Handle on Claes Oldenburg
My early impressions of Claes Oldenburg and his work were shaped largely by mass media. I tended to think of his work in association with Pop artists like Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Rosenquist—though also artists like Allan Kaprow and to a lesser extent, George...
Remarks on Color: Rambunctious Rojo July's Hue
Rambunctious Rojo, or simply, “Big Red” as she is known in more conspicuous circles, has taken to the open road in search of LOVE – not just any old love, but the kind of love that electrifies the blood – brooding, elliptical, soaring, wild and unbidden. Rambunctious...
SHOPTALK: LA Art News Museum Openings and Summer Programming
The Cheech Is Here While many museums are opening exhibitions long delayed by COVID, one is unveiling a completely renovated building with a new focus. That would be the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, or The Cheech, in Riverside. Part of the...
Regulation Ends at Art Auctions Art Brief
The record prices set at the Spring auctions in New York, such as the sale of Warhol’s 1964 silkscreen, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, that sold for $195 million, diverted attention from the shocking announcement for the city to deregulate its multi-billion dollar auction...
DECODER: Back at the Museums Pictures of Sailing Ships or the People that Owned them
Months back, when the pandemic was still running strong, I wrote about how much I wanted to go to a museum—even a mediocre one. Well, now I can and I did and I remembered that most things are bad. We can do whatever we want again, including wonder why we choose to do...
SIGHTS UNSCENE LA Frieze
The Feel-Good Pandemic Bunker Vision
The first conspiracy theory I got swept up in had to do with a movie that a few of us caught on television in eighth grade. After the summer of 1968, it felt like big changes were afoot. The movie that captured our imaginations was the story of a pandemic that caused...
Beeple and Madonna: Material Girl in a Meta World The Digital
When we think about groundbreakers or early adopters, we think of the first, the biggest, the people that jump up and exemplify a movement. Some will stand the test of time, others will bring shock value in being the protagonists. Whether it be Bowie, Hendrix,...
“To Hell With Love” The assault on Democracy, Women, and the conversation we make around them
These notes are for Dave Hickey, Paula Rego, and Annie Ross. "Let me be clear about this: I don't have a drug problem, I have a police problem." Keith Richards — flyleaf quotation for Dave Hickey's Air Guitar Just a moment...