Articles
LUDOLOGY
lu·dol·o·gy /l(j)uˈdɑlədʒi/ n A field of cultural studies that examines games, the act of playing them, and the players and cultures that surround them. It is also known as game studies or gaming theory. Have you read about art that “investigates transcultural neo-hybridity” or “undermines normative articulations of gender” lately? Send us the single most art-bullshit-riddled sentence you’ve...
ARTILLERY HAS QUESTIONS FOR GWAR
Artillery catches up with GWAR for their sprawling retrospective at Beyond the Streets. ARTILLERY: Some of GWAR’s songs are actually good—if you’re into thrash. Does it ever bother you that this sometimes gets lost in the focus on GWAR’s wild stage shows? BLOTHAR: Don’t seem so surprised that we write good music! After forty years, we should have learned something. Honestly, it doesn’t bother us...
THE EJACULATORY ESTATE
On a quiet, hilly residential street in Echo Park, behind an unassuming fence, there is a cathedral to freewheeling sexuality, a place where art and sex mingle to such an extent it can be hard to tell the difference. Most Angelenos will be familiar with the Tom of Finland House, the charming 1912 gabled Craftsman where artist Touko Laaksonen drew thousands of horny pictures of cartoonishly sexy...
The Exploding Drummer and Me
With one notable exception, the original cast of This Is Spinal Tap were wildly successful thespians playing complete fuckups. Arguably the most iconic character of the lot, the exploding drummer “played” by everyman Ric Parnell, was another story altogether. The tall, angular skin pounder shown pondering the fate of his predecessors—while lounging in a bubble bath with a shower cap on his...
Reviews
Corita Kent’s Fight for Love
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...
DUELLING REVIEWS: MARY CORSE at Pace Gallery
AND ALL AT ONCE: SUMMER at Various Locations
If you’re reading this, it’s too late. Summer came and went. Pool parties in the Valley? Over. Midnight drives on Mulholland? Gone. We don’t care that you went to Sicily, that your credit score’s crippled because of it, or that you haven’t k-holed at Marcelino’s since...
NOAH DAVIS at Hammer Museum
For those familiar with the late painter Noah Davis and the lasting influence of his Underground Museum—the Arlington Heights exhibition space he operated with his wife and collaborator, Karon Davis—the Hammer Museum’s eponymously titled retrospective survey of the...
2025 CALIFORNIA BIENNIAL: Desperate, Scared, But Social at Orange County Museum of Art
Navigating the tension between impulsive expression and mastery of one’s craft is a fundamental aspect of the artist’s journey. A similar tension underscores the construction of personal identity that defines adolescence, and hence, the Orange County Museum of Art’s...