xray dreams

January is Art Fair Month in LA

Miami has Art Basel, London has Frieze. We have Art LA and Photo LA. Great chance to see galleries from around the world exhibit their best and bravest art. Moby hosted the opening events at Photo LA and presented some photography from his recent book “Destroyed” which chronicles his life on the road. Interesting work, and especially liked the photo work of Liz Steketee who manipulates and melds old family photos into strange (somewhat creepy) new imagery. Found some inspiring new work by artists using books as materials, like artist Ching Ching Chen who used book pages to build camera sculptures. Mark liked the Infinity Mirror by Adam Belt.

Upcoming: New Orleans Photos

Developing a new series of images from my trip to New Orleans a few months ago. The work will coincide with a collaborative project with Felicia Michaels and Natalie Gamble. Show slated for Paso Robles Gallery in late August. Spoiler alert: Mark and I will also be unveiling new kinetic sculptures. Lots to do this summer!

LACMA – Metropolis II

Amazing kinetic sculpture by Chris Burden. We happened to visit on a day the miniature cars were turned off, but we were still impressed by the scale of this elaborate roadway system. Well worth the trip! California Design “Living In A Modern Way” was the next stop featuring lots of objects from mid century modern design. We sat at the video station and watched interviews for a few of the designers. Crazy Deborah Sussman was one of our favorites. Last stop was the Maria Nordman installation FILMROOM:SMOKE, a double projection that smelled strangely like cigarettes. Or maybe it was the big white chair?

FILMROOM:SMOKE

Culver City Art District

Saturday night found us hanging around Culver City art openings, along with a thousand other people. La Cienega Blvd. was mobbed. After an amazing meal at Brunello’s Trattoria, we pushed and shoved our way into a few galleries to see what was what. Had lots of fun with Robb Putnam‘s misfit dogs at the Walter Maciel Gallery. But neither of us enjoyed Jill Greenberg’s new photos of decapitated pigs and urinating chimps. Claustrophobia finally set in and we retreated home to the beach bungalo.

Wendy and "Dunderhead"

One show of note was Ingrid Calame at Susanne Vielmetter Gallery. Her installation showcased HUGE color pencil drawings traced from the marks on streets and sidewalks. Most impressive was the 50 foot long wall drawing when you enter the gallery. Bravo Ingrid.

"From the LA River to Lackawanna"

Ingrid Calame

One-day Impromptu Showing at the Arena One Gallery

Yossi Govran, the distinguished sculptor who formed (and runs) the Santa Monica Arts Studios, called us last week and mentioned that he had a little extra wall space at the Arena One Gallery Annual Holiday Show.

He invited Wendy and I to put our latest work up.

Planning for a five foot section of wall, we decided to group all our boxed pieces into a wild whirring gadgetty cluster, complete with a couple ammeter needles jumping. Here’s some images of the final install.

The Albright-Knox (my favorite gallery)

Had a nice surprise when we visited my favorite Gallery in the WORLD, The Albright-Knox.  It now has a New Media Gallery that features film, video and time-based media. I was so excited to see the new space I tripped over my own feet. A Disappearance of the Source by Virocode was the featured installation. We watched in wonder at slow motion video projections of explosions and liquids. Captured with high speed cameras, the footage was slowed down to reveal the unseen moment. Truly beautiful work.

Wandered up the staircase to search out a few more favorites. Robert Therrien’s sculpture (Snowman), a steel beauty by Lee Bontecou, and Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (an old favorite from college days.)

Many thanks to Louis for coffee, great conversation and most importantly, inspiration. His enthusiasm for art and vision for the gallery never fails to amaze.

Pioneer Square Gallery Tour

We spent a couple of days touring downtown Seattle in the Pioneer Square area (oddly, there is a Pioneer Square district in Portland as well). First stop was the Pratt Gallery at the Tashiro Kaplan Building where we found various bits of Big Bird along with other body parts. We liked the collection at the Foster/White Gallery  with their install of a few giant sculptures by Paul Vexler. It felt nice to move around the space of those winding wooden sculptures. Our favorite stop was at Platform Gallery where we met the owner Stephen Lyons. He was featuring playful and strange works from artist Patte Loper. Ethereal scenes of creatures bursting out of the sky. Had a great chat about the Seattle art scene and the difficulties he encounters running a successful gallery in this economy. We had noticed many vacant spaces in our walk around the area and wondered at his success. Many thanks to Stephen for being steadfast and a genuine patron of artists.

Mark inside a Paul Vexler sculpture

SAM – Seattle Art Museum

As it turns out, we really enjoyed the Seattle art scene. SAM is magnificent.  Especially loved Doh Ho Suh‘s dog-tag sculpture Some/One and his multimedia installation Gate.   And the Walter Oltmann sculptures of

Seattle Art Museum

Water Girl

Our work with Eadweard Muybridge’s motion studies continues with this combination: 
a narrative that is witnessed through three boxed mechanisms.

Rye bread + cheese raised to the nth power

After my root canal, I decided to chill out in the A+D Museum. They had a special exhibit about Charles and Ray Eames. Wandered around reading their quotes about every day objects and the simple pleasures of daily life. My favorite was the Rye Bread and Swiss Cheese display.