“I went minimal for this show, a departure from my usual chaotic display. But there was a theme and concept for this show that I stuck to. All photos were shot from a moving car, and all hung in a straght line.”
Last week Ed opened his latest photo show The Seconds Pass at Culver City’s Roberts & Tilton to the usual large gathering of skaters, photographers and art appreciators alike. And what we all saw was a show that was slightly different for Ed, as in streamlined opposed to his signature clustering style, more “in the moment” snapshots and far less nude/explicit imagery than what viewers have grown accustomed to over the years. All in all, Ed’s The Second Pass is definitely worth a second pass.
See the deliciousness that was last weekends 1st LA Street Food Fest at their newly created Flickr page. Yeah it’s true, many people were pissed because of the (up to) two hour waits in lines at some of the more popular trucks and many more were pissed that they didn’t even get a chance to step inside the event (capacity was quickly reached). But if you and your friends were savvy enough to understand the concept of “divide and conquer”, have ever been to Coachella, or waited in line for beer at Dodger Stadium then you knew what to do and what to expect. All in all it was a fun and sun filled Saturday afternoon eating, sharing and walking with thousands of fellow hungry Angelinos. Congratulations to Sonja and Shawna for their tasty success, LA is looking forward to a 2nd helping of the Street Food Fest (hopefully) soon.
A couple of weeks ago NYC lower east sider and Ito came to Los Angeles as a man on a mission: catch Thom Yorke performing new material on Friday, Sunday and Monday; and open his own solo photo show on the Saturday night in between. Missions accomplished. On display at Fullerton’s PÄS Gallery was a sampling of photos Ito snapped while traveling the world as Damon Dash’s personal photographer as well as a personal collection of images shot during the summer of 2009. From Jay-Z to Joe Pesci, twins to transvestites, the visuals captured by Ito’s eye are more than worthy of a trip to Fullerton. EVERYBODY SOMEDAY runs through November 8, 2009 at the PÄS Gallery.
Ito and his niece Bea posing amongst his photos at the PÄS Gallery
Sorry for the posting delays this week but I had the unfortunate illness of a weekend hangover that lasted into this week. Bouncing back from alcohol poisoning used to be so much easier when I was a young chap. Anyway, enough with the excuses and now onto the creative business…
You may remember a few weeks ago I mentioned a film to be on the lookout for called Tokyo!as part of my first Two Trailer Day Thursday segment. Well as luck would have it and through the courtesy of Giant Robot’sFilm Matters series, last night I was able to attend an advance screening of Tokyo! and it’s three short films directed by visionairies Michel Gondry, Léos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho. From Gondry’s initial mix of youth and whimsy and how they interact in reality in his short “Interior Design”, to Carax’s outrageous reimagining/ode to Godzilla with “Merde”, to Bong’s restrained poetic tale of a hikikimori (shut-ins who have dropped out of the world of social interaction in favor of confining themselves to their apartment) who longs for someone on the outside in “Shaking Tokyo”, this three piece tale full of humor, humanity, and of course, Tokyo proves to be a film definitely worth visiting.
And not only was the film an absolute treat in itself, but the audience was also treated to a Q&A with director and star of the film’s first piece “Interior Design”, Michel Gondry and Ayako Fujitani (beautiful in person and in the film by the way).
“Interior Design” Director Michel Gondry and star Ayako Fujitani during the Q & A.
Among the highlights from the Q&A:
Gondry was the last director to come aboard the project despite being arguably the most well known of the trio and jokingly stated that maybe he had the “smallest budget to work with” since he was the final one to join.
Each short is roughly 30 minutes in length. But upon completion of each segment, each director would “fight” for additional seconds added to their piece.
The order of the three shorts was not pre-determined prior to filming, but rather found through editing the entire film.
Without giving away too much, actress Ayako Fujitani at one point in filming was painstakenly painted blue from head to toe for special effects purposes but many of those scenes were cut from the film.
You can be arrested in Tokyo for filming on the street.
Another film rumored to be attached to Gondry, Masters of Time and Space, will not be happening with him directing.
One of Gondry’s favorite collaborators is Spike Jonze who made a short film in a hotel with him, his girlfriend at the time, Spike’s brother Sam Speigel (a.k.a. Squeak E. Clean of the N.A.S.A. crew), and Sofia Coppola, in which they would film a scene and pass along the dv cam with the latter not knowing what the other had shot except for the final frame in hopes of continuing the story. What they came up with was “absurd and probably not enjoyable by audiences.”
(click image to see more of the Obamas on election night)
With the election now over, do you still find yourself needing that over saturated Obama fix? Yeah, me too. Thankfully David Katz, photographer for Obama for America, took an amazing series of candid photos of the President-elect and his family on election night. The photo set on Flickr allows you to relive that magical evening that started with a prayer in a little hotel room in Chicago and ended with me drunk off of Moosehead Light in a seedy motel on Sunset blvd. while partying with this hot young lady. You betcha!
The paint is still drying and the time is almost upon us. The highly anticipated show will open tomorrow night at the Laforet Museum at 6pm! Like the sign says…
ESPO vs. Valentino? Find out what it’s about in a few days!
Steve Powers, a.k.a. ESPO, has long been one of my favorite artists for both his sarcastic signs and clean lines. Along with the rest of the artists putting together the show, the studio gangster is currently holed up in the exhibition space cooking up punchline after punchline. When he’s not perusing the aisles of Tokyo Hands of course. Here’s the hand made myth himself along with Jo Jackson, Aaron Rose, and Yours Truly.
The inside walls were lined with images of pop icons ranging from Hendrix to Run DMC to the Dalai Lama to of course, Elvis. Lots and lots of Elvis. The styles of Warhol, Banksy, and Shepard Fairey run rampant through MBW’s work, as is the case with many pop artists working today, but in addition to his emulation he has created an entire installation space that lives, breathes, and breeds pop culture and shaped it into his own thing. Even though that “thing” is derivative of what others have done before him, it’s still something to behold. The sheer volume of work is impressive, especially in putting together a 2 story art show, my only gripe is that it looks all too familiar and a tad redundant. Apparently, I’m still not sure what else Mr. Brainwash has done.
Exhibit hours and location:
June 27th-29th
1pm to 9pm
The show will be open Friday through Sunday for the months of June and July.
Show reopens mid-September with new art and installations.
Last Tuesday June 17th, Beautiful Losers screened at the 10th annual CineVegas Film Festival. The burgeoning Las Vegas festival which “annually presents work by innovative, uninhibited, and renegade artists to an audience of local and national film lovers, journalists, and film industry representatives” was home to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars over the past week and a half. With honorees James Caan, Don Cheadle, Rosario Dawson and Viggo Mortensen, in town as well as fellow actors Dennis Hopper, Anjelica Huston, and Sam Rockwell in the mix, we were honored just to be a part of such a prestigious event.
We felt even more honored when we were asked back to accept one of the festival’s awards at a luncheon ceremony on Saturday. Not knowing what we were fortunate enough to win, Jon Barlow (the film’s producer) and I headed to the City of Sin with modest expectations for a brief 6 hour stay, just enough time to collect our wares and avoid any real Vegas trouble. We were hoping for an award like the Documentary Audience Award where the winner is chosen by votes the audience casts after screenings, but much to our surprise we were handed the Documentary Jury Award which is determined by a panel of fellow filmmakers! To be honored in this way is extremely special for us and has exceeded all our expectations.
The lovely Jo Jackson on the red carpet of the Beautiful Losers CineVegas premiere.
The Festival also screened The Cool School, a documentary similar to our film in that it follows the careers of artists who came together in a small LA gallery in the 50’s and 60’s. A panel discussion between the screenings of our films entitled Marginal: Art for its Own Sake featured a live conversation with a group of artists from both films, including Billy Al Bengston, Dave Hickey, Jo Jackson, Geoff McFetridge, Ed Moses, Stephen Powers (ESPO) and CineVegas chairman Dennis Hopper.
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