DUELLING REVIEWS: Doug Aitken
DEATH OF A STAR Directed by Jasmine Johnson New Theater Hollywood
The tedium of a particular self-consciousness ascribed to Generation Z was on full display in The Death of a Star, a performance and self-proclaimed “reality show,” directed by Jasmine Johnson, which had a sold-out four-day run at New Theater Hollywood (NTH) this...
PICK OF THE WEEK: Mika Rottenberg Hauser & Wirth
A grotesque feeling of excitement and misery shivers through me whenever I encounter Mika Rottenberg’s work. Her stories of monstrous mechanisms of hypercapitalism are infused with a queasy comedy that reminds me of Julia Kristeva’s “laughter of the apocalypse”...
Gallery Rounds: Eric Nash KP Projects
Eric Nash’s latest collection of charcoal drawings is along the same vein as some of his previous series, with new signs, buildings and pools explored in different angles. These renderings stem from thousands of source photos that he takes around Los Angeles at any...
Living Larger: Lauren Greenfield
In the earliest days of his unlikely, unfortunate campaign for president, billionaire Donald Trump declared in 2015: “Sadly, the American dream is dead,” adding special emphasis on the last word, delivering the bad news like a judge slamming down a gavel. As in many...
BUNKER VISION
“Scientists are saying that the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted.” So says Krysta Now in the underrated film Southland Tales. It’s hard to imagine that film getting made for theatrical distribution today. On the other hand, it...
Rabyn Blake
In the late ‘70s, I would carry the Sony Portapak for my artist stepmother, Rabyn Blake, across muddy fields in Southern France as she filmed a shepherdess whose name sounded like “leg of lamb” in French, or shot shimmering vistas of Cézanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire....
Kenton Parker
While it would not be incorrect to say that Kenton Parker’s work primarily deals with nature, it would be rather misleading. There are no polite painted landscapes or photographs of waterfalls or mountain ranges. Cement, cars and trash are just as common as flowers...
Nostalgia at Paris Photo LA
“Nostalgia,” the successful, albeit subconscious underlying theme of this year’s Paris Photo LA art fair has, by now, turned upon itself. The memory of the event may be faded, but there are a few talents and galleries that proved they will have a bright future. Paris...
Howl-ing Through the Years – Howl: A 60th Anniversary Celebration
I might have called it Sit Through This (which, I assure the reader, would have encompassed the best the show had to offer). The 60th Anniversary Celebration of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl (not the 50th, mind you; the 50th + 10), took place last night at the fabulous Ace...
Art Nowhere
If you have been in any number of major cities this summer across the U.S., you might have seen a billboard with the hashtag caption #ArtEveryWhere alongside a reproduction of a famous work of art. According to the tagline on the #ArtEveryWhereUS website, this is “A...
Editor’s Letter
Dear Readers,When I started writing as opposed to making art, there was a lot of disapproval from my friends and colleagues. I was thrilled with my new creative outlet and found it to be more gratifying than painting. One comment from an editor was a little puzzling....
David Lynch: One Frame at a Time
Disillusioned with the politics of network television and the intricate financing of big studio films, filmmaker David Lynch has once again returned focus to his core business: being an artist.Inspired as a teen by realist painter Robert Henri, Lynch took Henri’s...
Christine Lang and Constanze Ruhm
German filmmakers Christine Lang and Constanze Ruhm have thrown movie-making ingredients intelligently into a blender. After 15 minutes of imbibing this concoction, questions as to whether your taste agrees with it, and a curiosity about what specific elements are in...