“Los Angeles is 72 suburbs in search of a city.” —Dorothy Parker I like to go to parties. If you invite me, I’ll come. I never plan to stay long (“I’m just going to make an appearance,” I tell myself), but once I arrive, I end up having a great time and linger until some regrettable hour of the morning. I’ll dance if there’s dancing, sing if there’s singing, eat and drink whatever’s handed to...
Why do you collect art? Because I can’t not. Art keeps me awake, thinking, and alive. It’s a rush for me. The emotions it evokes for me are some of the most visceral feelings I have experienced. When a piece stirs something in me, curiosity, joy, or even discomfort, it has to come home with me. Collecting is less about ownership and more about living alongside energy that keeps me awake and...
Dinner and a Show offers vehicle-bound and spatially-perplexed Angelenos the plan for a complete night out in LA. I go see an exhibition and tell you where to eat within walking distance of the venue, offering a few thoughts on the show and even more on the restaurant. THE SHOW: LIORAH TCHIPROUT The world-building possibilities of dolls, the projections they dutifully absorb, the romantic and...
Describe yourself as an artist. I find it interesting to capture fragments of contemporary life on planet Earth and document them through sound, vision, and movement. Top 3 songs? “Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones; “Satisfaction” by Devo; “Satisfaction” by Otis Redding. Top 3 shoe brands? Vans, Bathing Ape, Alexander McQueen. How do you like your eggs? Scrambled with things like veggies, meat...
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Thus begins the most (and perhaps only) captivating scene from Jasmine Johnson’s film PCH & Heroin, which premiered recently alongside her film Tweakernam at New Theater Hollywood. The line, from...
In a backyard in Glendale, Marina Weiner’s solo exhibition, “Stripe Machine,” cleverly redefines the term “public art.” The art is not shown in public; the gallery, Hermitage Los Angeles, is a small, beautifully built shed behind a private home. Rather, Weiner’s...
In a small gallery of the California African American Museum, a wooden table hosting just short of two dozen drawings and a life-size sculptural replica of a chicken coop invoke a perplexing story about institutional partnerships in the contemporary arts. In “Shaper...
Deep in the Los Feliz hills of a more verdant Los Angeles, during the Civil Rights movement, Corita Kent spread messages of joy and feminine power through her art. “Corita,” as she became known, is widely known for her colorful serigraph prints which called for love...