Several weeks ago I was part of CHLA's booth at the Beverly Hills Affair in the Garden art show, In my previous blog, i talked about the amazing job that HARK does on behalf of the art and music department at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. After my enlightening conversation with the folks at Lincoln, who had a booth and a car displayed as art there, I started walking around and take in the art which took a while because believe me, art is not lacking at this event, there are 4 full blocks dedicated to this event and each block filled to the brim with art.
Gabe Leonard and I
The first artist that i went to see was an old favorite of mine, Gabe Leonard. The first painting i ever saw of his was a portrait of the LA River seen from the bottom looking up at the expanse of one of the bridges that crosses over it. Growing up in Silverlake, I had spent lots of afternoons in the Atwater potion of the river looking at all the graffiti on the bridges, the dense forest of trees and bamboo that grows out of the river at only 2 parts, this area and up by the Sepulveda dam Where they filmed a sequence for "Drive". Gabe has an amazing way of portraying expression with color and brush stroke, his subjects jump off the canvas weather it be a portrait of a star of the silver screen or a 1930's mobster or a classic rock legend. Two of his newest series of paintings that I really loved are the Wild West and Pirates! I had a pirate weekend at the 2011 Buccaneer days on Catalina Island about a month ago and ever since pirates have been on my radar (I may even be one for Halloween)
Gabe Leonard - "Live by the Sword"
His pirate paintings spoke to me, as lover of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, it was like an extension of that world, his figures frozen in the most dynamic of poses, each painting telling it's own rich, multi-layed epic story. His Wild West series came in a close second, ranging from portraits of infamous outlaws and legendary lawmen to scenes of bar fights and shootouts, the closest depiction i can imagine of what that time may had been like.
Antonio Pelayo and I
The next artist that i headed over to see, i had been wanting to meet for a while now, i had friended Antonio Pelayo a few months back on Facebook and admired his work, then recently i got to see his work up close. At the top of Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale CA there is an art gallery and museum shop, the current show is entitled "Adelante! Mexican American artists: 1960's and beyond" and Antonio is one of the artists in this show.
Antonio Pelayo - "Historia sin tiempo"
I was very impressed with his level of detail and craftsmanship so when i saw his name on the program of the Art fair that morning, i knew i'd have to go meet him. Antonio's work has a classic beauty to it but it's when you look at them up close that you see the exquisite pencil work, his portraits of Frida Khalo, and El Santo among others are awe inspiring, the range of light and dark that he gets with pencil is amazing. I had the privilege to show along side him a few weeks later at the Hollywood Forever, Dia De Los Muertos festival (blog coming up).
YaYa Chou - "Beluga's Journey"
On my way through the art fair, I stopped in my tracks, there were Beluga whales hanging from a tree, I was intrigued at once, i asked around who the artist was, and i was directed to a petite asian lady sitting in a lawn chair.
YaYa and I
YaYa Chou is a graduate from CalArts and a breath of fresh air. Her beluga whale installation is called Beluga's journey. This whimsical sight had many admirers, she also makes sculptures with gummi bears! how awesome is that!!
Harold Pickern and I
After YaYa, I met Harold Pickern. What struck me about his work was the mix of ultra realism mixed with subtle abstraction, his subjects center around beautifully rendered dilapidated autos against the back drop of the American heartland. The painting of his that we took a photo in front of was his newest, it was an R.V. with Occupy LA phrases spray painted all over it, pretty cool...
Anja and I
I next saw the work of Anja Van Herle, her paintings of close up faces of women reminded me of my series "Painted Rituals" they are beautifully stylized against a white backdrop and very reminiscent of the 80's and her prints are unique as she adds some actual paint into them by way of brush strokes into the hair of each.
Artist Cindy Jackson next to her piece "Big Yo Yo Man"
A sculpture of a man curled up and split in half and in the middle, a rope making him look like a giant human Yoyo, caught my eye next. This is the art of Cindy Jackson, an amazing sculpture artist, her sculptures are strongly rooted in classical human figures it's like a classical painting come to life!
Kristal and Brooke and a little one
I settled in to listen to my awesome firends Brooke (Music Therapist) and Crystal (music Therapy Intern)who are from CHLA, play tunes with some kids, behind them was the second HARK booth where Lori was busy painting with some little visitors.
Lori getting down with the paint!
It was a great day I was so glad to meet all of these artists that weekend and have been inspired since then. I'm looking forward to seeing more of their art! Now, going out to buy some gummi bears...
Last weekend, I was out at the Beverly Hills "Affair in the Gardens" Art show, I am there with the Group HARK, representing Children's Hospital Los Angeles, where I work as an Artist in Residence.
HARK (Healing Arts Reaching Kids), is a guild made up of some amazing women who volunteer at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and have seen first hand the difference that Art and Music makes in he lives of children in the hospital. They work diligently to raise money for much needed art materials and music equiptment for the Mark Taper and Johnny Mercer Artists Program, a program that is only partially funded, the rest coming from privated funds and donations.
Year after year, HARK has been a part of the Beverly Hills affair in the garden art show, helping to make a difference in the lives of sick children and their families selling one of a kind artwork done by children at the hospital. They also sell place mats, cards and puppy bandanas with childrens art on them.
They even sell painted ceramics and original canvas paintings created by the children it is because of these ladies that the art and music program has been able to thrive at the hospital and I am proud to be a part the the program and to be able to help them as a "face" for the program
I arrived at 8 am to help set up the booths and hang art work, as i passed one of the houses on the way from my car to the display area, i was reminded of a joke a comedian had said years ago " you know why all the houses in Beverly hills have two driveway entrances?
Because when you drive in and find out how much they cost, you can drive fight back out again. Once I got to the booth area the food trucks were already lining up and more would be on the way, Beverly hills finest were sporting their eco-friendly, side and of course, coffee was brewing
while setting up, i noticed across the street one of the booths was a big display for the car company Lincoln. My first thought was, why is a car company displaying a car at an art show? i went over a few hours later to find out, I met with Shari from Grow Marketing
The first question that i asked her was "so where's all the Lincoln art? this being an art show and all" she laughed and began to tell me about Grow was involved with Lincoln booth, they essentially created the concept for and built the display which was impressive to say the least, i consisted of a mock drivers seat where one could learn about Lincoln's new voice response system in their new MKZ hybrid, there was also an opportunity to test drive them and while waiting for the test drive one could lounge in comfortable designer seats have some ice cold water in Lincoln brand bottles. so how exactly does a car display fit into an art show? Is the car itself a piece of art? Because the slippery slope principle tells us that eventually banks, washing machine companies and life insurance companies will be setting up shop at art festivals. I spoke with one of the representatives of Lincoln who gave a lot of facts and figures on the hybrid, what i took from it was In the case of Lincoln, it was more an unveiling of their new hybrid, a re-introduction and tie-in to the art community, One art related thing that Lincoln was doing that weekend, was picking one artist from all the exhibitors to award based on use of materials, creativeness etc. which makes sense.
Personally, no artist that i know would be able to comfortably afford a new Lincoln, they're all in debt, living in a single apt and can only afford PBR's when frequenting the local bars and I doubt that this display would be set up at an art festival in the inner city, but i could be wrong. I decided to give Lincoln the benefit of the doubt and test drove the new Hybrid, boy was it smooth! It handled like a dream! i was very comfortable driving it. I am presumably their target market, a younger, hip, artistic Angelino and to that all i can say is, despite the ride itself, there was no ipod plug to be found anywhere in the car! Just sayin... After my test drive I was given a voucher for a free beer at the beer area and a thumb drive in the shape of a Lincoln car key, now even if i can't afford a Lincoln, i can act as if i do! and to that i say Thank you Lincoln.
Last weekend i was part of the 4th annual Mole festival at Olvera Street. i was invited by Mariluz Gonalez owner of Vesper Public Relations. I had worked with her in the past, when i had a Day of the Dead show at the now defunct "Coffee Table" cafe in Silverlake, she assisted me in putting out the press release for the show "Monsters Skulls and Pin-Ups" and got me spanish television interviews.
Mariluz and I
I was particularly excited to be a part of this event because for the first time ever, i had prints made of my art. I had a hell of a time getting there because "CicLAvia" was that same day. I had to criss cross downtown LA going south past the 10 fwy. and back up Alameda ave. once i got there i had to look for parking and was once again, out of luck as Occupy LA was occupying the intersections around Olvera Street. Once i found parking and got to the display area, the festival was in full swing, mariachi groups were belting out tunes, my friend Kamla showed up, to help me set up. I met up with Mariluz and Jose Castillo, an artist I had showed with at the Atwater Village art walk earlier this year. I also met Joel Raul Martinez another local LA artist. Jose's art consists of images beautifully rendered in stamps, the kind with the date and time, he uses it to create the form and layer in the darks, Joel's work is more street inspired, using an array of media on wood panels to create portraits
Joel
Joel and Jose
We three artists were located in the VIP area which meant that any news interviews that day were held in that area, which was a plus for me because my paintings were used as a backdrop! After a little while various people in the media trickled in and the selling began, I sold 2 instantly and gave a few away to some news reporters. I didn't realize just how many connections i would be making that day, and i was thankful for that;
Denise, Vanessa and I
I met up with Denise whom i met at a charity event i was a part of earlier this year and she introduced me to Vanessa, who works at the Mexican Consulate. a bit later i met some other people involved at the city level to whom i gave some of my prints. It's nice to be able to have prints to sell or to to give out as high quality "buisness cards". I got a Mole dish a bit later, Mole is a type of salsa made from the Cocoa bean giving it a creamy velvety chocolaty flavor, it as delicious on chicken as it is being cleaned off the plate with a tortilla. I finished off the meal with a Jarritos soda, one of the sponsors of the event. I metKrista Simmons there, she is a freelance writer for the LA Weekly,who writes her own blog. She was there covering the event. She talked a bit with Mariluz
Krista and Mariluz
she even did a little Q & A with Jose..
Jose and Krista
The day was winding down and my mom showed up, just in time! It was nice to chill with her for a while we went out to dinner a bit later
Mom and I On the way back to my car I snapped this picture-
Occupy LA
The contrast of this homeless lady walking up to where the protesters were reminded me of something my friend Kengikat said about Occupy LA, he said that all of the protesters at Occupy LA were sanctioned by the city to be able to camp out in front of city hall for as long as they needed to stay there. If it were a group of homeless camping out, they would all most likely be arrested, in fact, i wouldn't be surprised that if a homeless person was found to be camping along with the protesters, the would at the very least be asked to leave. The double standards at work was unbelievable. Not that i have anything against Occupy LA but its just too Ironic that people fighting for some kind of equality are themselves getting special treatment over others in need, Homelessness seems to be something that is ignored in this country, as children we are taught to share and yet as we get older, we do just the opposite. Just something to think about...
(Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the show The Walking Dead nor with AMC)
The first time is saw the new poster for "The Walking Dead", a series on AMC, i stopped and stared for a moment, it was so powerful, why was it so familiar? I do not watch the show nor have i read the comic that it is based on, so i am not familiar with the story line other than that it is about zombies. The poster for season 2 is truly beautiful, it is simplicity at its finest. a lone gunman running along a desolate rural road towards a far off mid century American farmhouse while the sunlight has it's last moment of glory before being consumed by an ominous black clouded sky.
without even knowing anything about the series, one can get the feeling of coming danger, impending doom and the foreshadowing of death. The lighting of the character running in the foreground as well as the sky in the background add to the sense of urgency. Darkness seems to linger and creep in from the bottom corners of the poster.
I kept thinking back to other posters that it reminded me of and I couldn't think of any, other than maybe the poster for Jack Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead"
which features the same type of back lighting behind the character(s) leaving them in black
or perhaps the poster for Psycho II, which has two of the same elements as The Walking Dead: A lone person in the foreground and looming over him, a mid century century American house.
But there was something more to The Walking Dead poster, there was a classic quality to it, the composition, the color, the light and shadows, it seemed almost like a painting but which artist could have inspired this poster? The first person who came to mid was an amazing local artist by the name of Gabe Leonard
Gabe Leonard - "Crackshot" (Portrait of Bass Reeves)
Gabe's work ranges from the wild west to pirates to mobsters. His cinematic sense of light and shadow is incredible and his figures are wonderfully animated.
Gabe Leonard - "You'll forgive me if we don't shake hands"
His paintings are a perfect balance of hyper-realism and expressionism from the fine details to the exaggerated hand, leg, arm and face proportions.
Gabe Leonard - "Calamity Jane" (He who hesitates is lost)
So when I first saw the Walking Dead poster with the lone gunman's lanky twisting pose, left leg tuked under his body and right arm dangling at is side, gun drawn, my first thought was "Nice! AMC is referencing Gabe's work!"
I continued to think of where I had seen the elements of
the poster before, I thought back to all my art classes and introductions to artists over the years, then it struck me! It reminded me of a mash-up of some of the most famous mid century American painters who immortalized rural Americana landscapes. 3 of them popped instantly into mind.
1. Andrew Wyeth (Setting and Composition)
2. Thomas Hart Benton (Emotional Resonance)
3. Edward Hopper (Atmospheric Lighting)
I.
Setting and Composition
I can see the Andrew Wyeth inspiration for the poster right off the bat. Wyeth's subject matter in his paintings centered around Rural American landscapes, his painting of "Christina's world" (1948) is almost a template for the setting of The Walking Dead poster: the rural grassland, the sparse horizon, the tall mid century farm house off in the distance...
Christina's World - 1948
Then there are paintings like "Public Sale" (1943)
Public Sale - 1943
which has the element of A rural road leading the viewer to something happening just beyond it
and "The Turkey Pond" (1944) which features the figure in the foreground moving with a sense of urgency, all aspects that can be found in The Walking Dead poster.
Turkey Pond - 1944
II.
Emotional Resonance
Thomas Hart Benton was a master of dramatic dark and light, more often known as "Chiaroscuro". it is this quality that gives the Walking Dead poster it's emotionally dark feel. Benton's subjects were also mostly rural American areas. In his painting of "Martha's Vineyard" (1925), the dramatically rendered sky and clouds as well as the "spot" lighting is clearly shown.
Martha's Vineyard
And in his piece" Approaching Storm" (1940), Benton visually describes the ominous sky wonderfully, he even has the darkness creeping in from the bottom corners. this use of Chiaroscuro is done very subtly in the Walking Dead poster, giving the viewer just a hint of bad things to come.
Approaching Storm - 1940
III.
Atmospheric Lighting
Edward Hopper is one of my favorite artists of this era. some of you might remember one of his famous paintings "Approaching the City" (1946) being defaced by Jack Nicholson's Joker in the original Tim Burton "Batman" (1989) [ @ 0:45]
Hopper was a master of expressing light and color in a very real and visceral way. He captures the phenomena of afternoon and morning light in a very unique way. for example in his painting "Early Sunday Morning" (1930),
Early Sunday Morning - 1930
he captures beautifully the first moments of the rising sun hitting a building. The rich reds partially in shadow and the long shadows stretching across the concrete making the painting come to life! The lighting in the Walking Dead poster is very reminiscent of the lighting that Hopper used, the far off farm house echos the lighting of a church in his painting "South Truro Church" (1930)
South Truro Church - 1930
the lighting of the landscape in the Walking Dead poster has the feel of the landscape in his painting "Lighthouse hill" (1927)
Lighthouse Hill - 1927
So that's why the new Walking Dead poster looks so familiar to me, perhaps the designer(s) wanted to tie the series in on an sub-conscience level to mid century Americana, perhaps he/they were themselves guided by images that they saw while in art school,
Grant Wood
American Gothic - 1937
Or perhaps I am just beating a dead horse but I do love de-constructing aspects of popular culture that center around art and music. I hope you have enjoyed this short analysis and art history lesson!
I make a pathetic pirate. That was my first thought when I was invited to spend the weekend on Catalina Island for "Buccaneer Days", a yearly pirate festival. I felt inadequate to say the least. Not only did i lack any swashbuckling gear or accessories but mentally, i was unprepared; Recent car issues have left me virtually penniless (please see previous blog "My Wednesday") and the thought of a weekend of plundering and pillaging was the furthest thing from my mind. My friend Jessica had invited me, rationalizing that i needed a vacation because i was working so hard and, she was kind enough to pay my way for the whole weekend! I couldn't say no to that! I accepted with the understanding that I would pay her back when i had the money later. I met up with Jessica and her friends Wendy, Mike and Danielle at the Catalina Express at the San Pedro port early Friday morning. Once on the boat, we settled in for the ride with some mighty tasty Bloody Marys. After a few sips, I felt my financial anxiety slowly fade away along with the coastline. As for my wardrobe, all i could muster up together was a suit vest, red bandanna and green beads from NYE 2010. I stepped outside to enjoy the fresh ocean air and the occasional dolphin escorting us out of the port. Buccaneer Days is held at Two Harbors, Northwest of Avalon and is the thinnest part of the island, so thin in fact that from the shore, you can walk straight inland and reach the back harbor in 3 minutes.
We landed at about 11:00 am, walked along the dock welcomed by at least 50 boats donning Pirate flags and at least one boat occasionally firing off a loud cannon to which everyone around would respond with a loud and enthusiastic "Yaaarrgghh". We received our 3 day wristbands and headed into the main festival area, a huge open area with booths and a stage and a raised patio just beyond with a bar, restaurant and cafe. I started feeling a little self conscious due to my lack of proper attire and seeing people already donning sea worthy garb, on the other hand, compared to all the college kids walking around in wife "blessers" (thanks Ned Flanders) and shorts, I felt more adequately dressed than before. Directly behind the party area, further inland from the shore, was the camping area. We found the spot under a low hanging tree. This is the girl's spot, they have been coming to buccaneer days for years.
They even carved "Lost Girls" into into the bark of the tree, they're pretty hard core. Up the road from the camp site there is a small elementary school from there, one can see both harbors. We had to wait until 4pm, until after the school let out and the kids were all out of the area to set up our tents, so we headed back to the festival area in search of food.
The only cafe in that whole part of the island is the Coral Reef cafe, it's great all around food, i enjoyed a delicious double cheeseburger with bacon while watching the band 'Damaged goods" sound checking. I was pretty much in full relaxed mode by now. we headed back to the camp soon after and set up out tents.
Standing there, with the sun hanging low behind me, watching all these strangers, dressed like pirates and piratesses, united in a common cause, setting up shelter for the night, drinking rum, playing instruments, was the first semblance of a pirate life i had encountered. I imagined how it might have been for actual pirates, unemployed hunters and sea men having to turn to stealing to make money, landing on an island over 400 years ago, camping for the night under the stars where only 200 feet away was the beach shore no wristbands, no cell phones, no porta potties, no connection to the outside world, it was magical sharing this experience with others, we were all re-enacting some small part of history. We broke out the Captain Morgan Tattoo and began to partake while getting dressed in our pirate attire, for me that meant "guy liner".
Once in the festival area, we headed for the bar where i tried my first "Buffalo Milk" a creamy mudslide type of drink, then it was off to the dance floor where the band was playing old favorites like "Longview" and "Possum Kingdom" They were really rocking it! Then I thought, "Hey Pirates never listened to Greenday!" After a while on the dance floor, we walked out onto the beach, where there were over 100 boats swaying in the water the lights on the tops of the masts looked like hundreds of small hovering UFOs, it was quite beautiful. The breeze was cool but not cold, off to the left the whole mountainside was lit up with an ad for Agave Underground. there were groups of people hanging all around the Beach area. After drinking and dancing for a few more hours I was pretty tired by 12 am, we stumbled back to out tents where there were folks singing and drinking, I fell asleep listening to the sounds of laughter, pirate ballads and Irish drinking songs.
Saturday morning, we awoke around 10 am, drank some rum, and walked over to the Coral Reef cafe where I ordered a scrambled egg skillet topped with chili and a coffee, perfect hangover food, in fact the Coral Reef cafe itself was pretty bad ass, the menu is a "Whats What" of burger joint favorites.The food was fresh and very tasty, the cooks served up plates like clockwork and the cashiers were very friendly under pressure
Sadie
Ashley
The rest of the day was spent lounging on the beach at both harbors then eating delectable ham and turkey cold cuts and cheese. somewhere deep down inside, i felt guilty; pirates would have never had it so good, they would have landed and instantly had to start searching for food, fire wood and watch for predators, probably would have killed for rum and here we were drinking it like it was water. But then again, wasn't this the point of buccaneer days? To be akin to a Swashbuckling Disneyland for adults? To have all the fantasy of being a pirate without all the troubling reality? Pirates never had "Buffalo Milk".
That night the girls put on their second costume change of the weekend.
we danced again for a few hours. The band played the exact same songs as the night before, but in a different order. after a few drinks, i went and had my first "Grog" a Vodka, Rum, possibly tequila and orange juice drink, not bad, it did the trick, I was sloshed. The dance floor was much more packed that night than Friday night. The costumes were amazing, so much detail! the people who wore them obviously rented them, i think these were lawyers and executives that lead quiet mundane lives and then transform once a year into their swarthy pirate alter ego, then there were other people like my friends who painstakingly seek out accessories year round in their daily routines slowly compiling the perfect looking pirate costume and then there were the college kids still in their wife blessers and shorts and sandals who were just there to drink.
The dance floor was something out of a Las Vegas club, lights, smoke, drinks, grinding, swaying and pogoing. Hey, Pirates never grinded... at one point a guy tyring to hit on a passing piratess was met by her plastic sword to his throat, he stood there motionless, his arms held out and hands spread as in surrender. She creeped slowly around him, her sword in one hand and her drink in the other never taking her eyes off him. when she was clear of him, she took a swig of her drink and walked off now that's a woman! It was a fairly smooth festival, i only saw isolated instances of arguments throughout the evening, at one point i saw a local ambulance arrive, i figured someone had drunken too much, after all, i thought "Pirates, what are you gonna do." Again I faded early that night and was asleep by what i think was 10pm, my phone had died long ago. We had some new neighbors that evening, locals. I woke up when the rest of the group returned after dancing, i noticed our new neighbors were very much awake and loud, I thought "Pirates, what are you gonna do". It wasn't till about 2 hours later when they were still at it that i realized that it was going to be a long night. I wont go into the details but there was alot of back and forth comments from both our tents throughout the early morning, at one point one of the girls in the tent said: "What time is it? i think it's almost sunset"- Wow.
By the time we woke up Sunday morning, our Jersey Shore Neighbors had packed up and gone, we slowly started packing up, the fantasy was dissolving and reality was slowly drifting in.
we went to the Coral Reef cafe to order another double cheeseburger with bacon. this is where reality slapped me in the face, the two guys in front of us in line were talking about the guy who died the night before, I butted in and asked them what had happened, he told me that a guy late last night had drowned. I got chills, that was why i saw the ambulance, i immediately thought of what might have been the last thought going through his head as he descended into the black sea floor, air escaping his lungs where just a moment before, he was probably laughing with friends feeling on top of the world, I was in a slight state of shock from then on. A bit later, i saw a sheriff in a truck and asked him about the drowned man.
He told me that a man was walking along the dock returning to his boat, fell, hit his head on the dock and fell in the water, several people that were there jumped in after him but because of the dark could not grab onto him. i don't know if they found his body that night or the next morning because when we were boarding the Catalina Express, there were police boats tied up to the dock. I asked the sheriff how many people die there on average to my surprise, he said "On the Island? at least one every other day." He then said that there's at least one death every Buccaneer days festival. How's that for reality? I heard a long time ago that Disneyland will never pronounce a visitor dead on the premises of the resort, in order to keep their good name untarnished with legal records of Death on the grounds of the happiest place on earth. I wonder what this kind publicity would do to the popularity of this event, would it draw negative attention, or more likely would it draw more visitors to it?
It would add another layer of reality and danger to this 3 day pirate adventure, i can imagine shirts that say "I survived Buccaneer days 2012...Literally". I walked with Jessica to the smaller harbor behind the camp site, it was a beautiful day, made just a bit sweeter after hearing about the drowned guy, in the back of my mind i thought what if that were me? I had a chance of dying the night before, it was probably like 1 in 500 but still, death was close this weekend.
It seems that whenever you are taken out of your reality by something like death at such close range you are forced to re-assess it. Suddenly my financial troubles seemed a bit more trivial, my inadequate costume was forgotten and my experience as a pirate was a bit more real.
