It’s weird how the treasure trove of Outsider Video Art that was Public Access Television has only started to seep into mainstream consciousness as it has disappeared—the amateur programming itself, as well as its very context and infrastructure, rendered infinitely...
Los Angeles’ literati gathered at the Poetic Research Bureau in Silver Lake last Wednesday in celebration of Jack Skelley’s book launch of The Complete Fear of Kathy Acker. The awaited book is his first-ever complete edition of excerpts detailing the anarchy of 1980s...
The holiday season is upon us, so give yourself a treat and drop by the Veuve Clicquot exhibition “Solaire Culture” in Beverly Hills (through Nov 20). It's a fun and fascinating exhibition which gives us a glimpse into the life of Madame Clicquot, as well as how 10...
Carole Caroompas, an artist and widely admired teacher whose work encompassed painting, drawing, collage, prints and performance, died on July 30, 2022. In 2007, Western Project, which represented Carole for many years, published a catalog in which various artists,...
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,...
Artists create in a bubble, a womb constructed with their hearts, minds and souls. This freedom-loving habitat is a protective space, a defense against the contrarian outside world. Influences might receive a wary invitation to enter. That beautiful bubble may float...
CM: The other part of this exhibition (Empty Vessel – Amir Zaki, at the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion, Orange Coast College) are photographs of ceramic vessels. Are they in fact broken? AZ: You brought up the last body of work at ACME, which is important because that...
This interview with Amir Zaki was conducted on September 16, 2019, in advance of his exhibition "Empty Vessel" at Orange Coast College's Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion from Sept. 19–Dec. 5, 2019. Christopher Michno: "Formal Matter," the last body of work your exhibited...
A slew of movies has been pent up during the pandemic, either from delayed productions or distribution plans, or both. Now the floodgates are opening, and some of the films are very good. In this new column, I’m going to make recommendations for your movie-viewing...
Zachary Heath Stadel passed away on Thursday, April 22, 2022, in Alhambra, California; he was 43. A memorial exhibition on Saturday June 18, from 5-8:00 PM. at 530 North Western, Los Angeles, CA, 90004. Proceeds from the sales of Zack’s artwork will go to the JED...
Artist, critic, producer, writer and performer Jacki Apple, born in New York in 1941, died at her home in Culver City, CA on June 8, 2022, surrounded by white flowers and listening to the music of Meredith Monk, a friend and colleague. Her work encompassed multi-media...
CODAsummit 2021 was marked by an in-person conference in Scottsdale, AZ which coincided with the dramatic light/art/water event titled Canal Convergence. While there was a COVID-friendly digital component for those not in attendance, the turnout was relatively...
Almost all of Chuck Close’s paintings were based on photographs he took himself. In the mid-1980s, when I was a curator of photography at the Art Institute of Chicago, I contacted Close with the first museum proposal he had had to do an exhibition of the photographs....
Art dealer Douglas Chrismas, the former long-time owner of LA’s storied Ace Gallery, was arrested July 27, 2021 and charged with embezzling $260,000 from Ace Gallery’s bankruptcy estate. Chrismas pleaded not guilty and was released on $50,000 bond. He was spotted by a...
Influential Northern California artist William T. Wiley passed away on April 25 in Greenbrae, CA. His combination of irreverence and spirituality so keenly reflected the spirit of our times, where we don't know quite what to believe, but would all like to believe in...
As one of Britain’s most prolific documentarians, Mike Dibb has directed dozens of filmic portraits of people and places from the 1960s to the present. Through conversations with artists and public intellectuals (David Hockney, Edward Said, and Salvador Dalí),...
Black Art: In the Absence of Light, is a most timely and info-packed HBO documentary, briskly propelled by terrific interviews with artists, curators and educators. It opens by introducing us to a landmark exhibition, “Two Centuries of Black American Art,” that opened...
Near the end of his new biography of Andy Warhol, where he is discussing his legacy, Blake Gopnik mentions that there have been at least 500 books about Andy Warhol. This might logically lead one to ask: Why should there be another one? Besides the fact that this one...