chumpchampion

Family, the friendly provider of keenly curated books, zines, contemporary arts and unique hand made items, hosts an opening party for their latest famously elaborate window displays. Created by William Lemon III and titled Parceval, the display’s unveiling will also be accompanied by a live in-store musical performance by Pharaohs.

Also…for a closer look at Family on Fairfax, check out Lance Bangs and VBS.tv’s mini documentary on the unique Los Angeles bookstore below.

Tweet This Post 

No, not THE Continental with Christopher Walken, the Continental Gallery downtown which is hosting my fellow Academy of Art film alum Matthias Koenigswieser and five of his contemporaries in the group show, Focus Daily. Detailed info on the show here.

From the Continental:

“Focus Daily renders the works of six young contemporary artists – Lukas Gansterer, Matthias Koenigswieser, Ulrich Nausner, Thomas Rhube, Clemens Wolf from Austria and Joseph Kosir from Netherlands - whose prolific and joint collaboration lead to their first collective exhibition in Los Angeles. Diverse media (photography, video, installation and painting) merge to set conceptual images of an exposed contemporaneousness, engaging relations between individual and outer world, investigating and challenging dominant rules and social conventions, exploring new communicative visual imagery.”

Tweet This Post 

Find some joy roup at Scion’s Installation Space in Culver City as they presents It Was On Earth That I Knew Joy, “a group exhibition curated by Lionel Vivier of Sixpack France that explores the increasingly blurry boundaries between humans and the technology we create”. With original posters, installations and a short film exploring the theme of man vs. machine, the show features the art of Ill-Studio, Cody Hudson, PMKFA, Steven Harrington and many more.

Tweet This Post 

Birds “playing” guitar is an installation created by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot for The Curve, Barbican, in London. Almost as soothing as entrancing as a squirrel playing the harmonica, almost.

From the Barbican:

“French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot creates works by drawing on the rhythms of daily life to produce sound in unexpected ways.

For his installation in The Curve, Boursier-Mougenot creates a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.

27 February 2010 - 23 May 2010
The Curve, Barbican, London
http://www.barbican.org.uk/thecurve/blog/index.html”

Tweet This Post 

The 2nd weekend of the new year brings a plethora of group shows to Los Angeles along with a Hamburger weekender.

• Gallery 1988 on Melrose has been pumping out art shows depicting some of our most recognizable pop culture heroes and villains over the years (I AM 8-BIT, Crazy 4 Cult, Lost, etc.) so it comes as no surprise that our favorite childhood muscle bound bowl-cut hero from Eternia has over 100 artists making pieces of him and his pals for the show Under the Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

(Click image for more info and full artist lineup)

• You Can Heal Your Life! at the Circus Gallery on Lexington that is at their group show which features the works of Sister Corita among others. Curated by Emma Gray, the “art works in this show seek to address issues of religion, spirituality and self-help through performance, sculpture, painting, video and printmaking.“

(Click image for more info and full artist lineup)

• For animal and art lovers alike, Thinkspace in Silver Lake is putting out A Cry For Help, a group show of over 100 artists with the goal of raising awareness about the plight of animals in our modern world. *20% of all proceeds will be donated to Born Free USA.

(Click image for more info and full artist lineup)

• New Image Art on La Brea is run by some amazing women (Marsea Goldberg, Amber Abramson) so it should come as no surprise that their current group show features some of today’s powerful women photographers with the group show Put Your Finger on the Button. Included in the show are two of my favorite photographers, regardless of sex, the awesome Cheryl Dunn and lovely Deanna Templeton (who you may have both seen in our film Beautiful Losers).

(Click image for more info and full artist lineup)

• Speaking of Deanna Templeton, her husband Ed Templeton will be featured in the show for the Japanese publication Megane Zine at the HVW8 Art + Design Gallery off of Melrose. In addition to a limited edition HVW8 x Megane t-shirt designed by Ed for sale, comic zine’s will be given free to the first 20 people on January 9th.

(Click image for more info and full artist lineup)

• And finally wrap up your weekend with family, laughter and Hamburger as the Cinefamily on Fairfax extends their Comedy Death Ray series with Neil Hamburger’s tribute to Frank Sinatra, Jr. I repeat Frank Sinatra, JUNIOR. In honor of Frank Jr.’s birthday, Hamburger has assembled this evening of rare, vintage Frank Jr. TV variety specials and film appearances!

Tweet This Post 

Attention creative types: the collaborative project Artists Wanted has come up with a self portrait contest for you. Depicting yourself through “Fine Art, Painting, Sculpting, Drawing, Installation, Print Making, Graphic Design, Glass, Book Arts, Performance, Video Art, Street Art/Graffiti, Photography, Tattoo Art” and be judged by an esteemed panel of judges (Steve Buscemi?!) The grand prize winner will receive $7007 or 6 months free living in NYC. Submissions are due by January 14th, 2010.

Read on below or click Dali for more info.

From Artists Wanted:

“You are invited to participate in “The Power of Self” an international competition celebrating the vitality of self portraiture. A panel of judges including actor Steve Buscemi, director Chris Weitz, Guggenheim curator Helen Hsu and Flavorpill founder Sascha Lewis will award one artist a package of incredible prizes including six months of free living at The Edge in New York City or $7007 in cash. The most popular portfolio as voted by the public will also receive $1,000 cash. Your images have power. Now is your moment to reveal them to the world.“

Tweet This Post 

Wow, quite an overdose of art on both coasts awaits this weekend. Los Angeles and New York have got their hands full with some major (and minor) art openings and events going down featuring amazing things to see, hear, touch, create and even eat.

• The boldly inspirational artwork of pop artist, teacher and nun, Sister Mary Corita goes on display at the Zach Feuer Gallery in New York City. Some of her more prominent pieces from the work she created from 1960-1986 will be given an east coast home to inspire people who have yet to discover her art.

• The children of some of today’s most creative artists have been unleashed to form their own group show consisting of an exhibition of Halloween masks in the appropriately titled Chip Off the Old Block at Synchronicity Space on Melrose. Featuring the offspring of Tim Biskup and Seonna Hong, Cleon Peterson, Megan Whitmarsh, Christian Clayton and more.

• Giant Robot celebrates 15 unbelievable years of self publishing art and culture for the masses with the Giant Robot Biennale 2: 15 Years at the Japanese American National Museum in LA’s Little Tokyo. The fully loaded lineup of some of my favorite artists includes David Choe, Jeff Soto, James Jean, Luke Chueh, PCP, Albert Reyes and Deth P. Sun among the 50+ artist group show. Sure to be a massive opening so arrive early!

Check out curator and Giant Robot publisher Eric Nakamura’s blog to see some of the artists in action installing the show.

• Another highly anticipated anniversary celebration this weekend is the Hello Kitty Three Apples exhibition at the Royal/T Cafe in Culver City. The multi-dimensional day of Sanrio’s iconic Kitty includes a group art show of 80 collaborating artists including Ron English, Frank Kozik, Gary Baseman, Buff Monster, Friends With You, Luke Chueh and Natalia Fabia among others. Also in on all the celebrating are our friends at Flux who have curated the full day of Kitty activities.

• New York artist Marilyn Minter spits out new paintings, photographs, and her film Green Pink Caviar at Regen Projects on Santa Monica.

• A double dose of goodness at New York’s Jonathan Levine Gallery as Jim Houser opens his solo show Make Room For The Emptiness and Gary Baseman curates the group exhibition True Self featuring a who’s who of contemporary artists including the Clayton Brothers, Cleon Peterson, Dalek, James Jean, Korin Faught, Luke Chueh, Mark Ryden, Ron English, Ryan Heshka, Shag, Tim Biskup, Travis Lampe and a whole lot more.

• The awesome folk at Family have conjured up a diverse collection of new video art and animation for the group show Main Street at Hollywood’s Space 15 Twenty. The talented bunch of filmmakers include Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Jacob Ciocci, Miranda July, Peter Sutherland, Lucky Dragons, Paper Rad and more. Check Family’s blog for some fantastic looking film stills. Special shout out to my old editing peeps at Sunset Edit for supporting the show!

• And last, but definitely not least, is the premiere of my old pal Rich Newey’s short crime drama Breathe screening as part of the short film lineup for the Hollywood Film Festival screening at the Arclight. Read more on Rich’s cinematic short as well as his filmmaking process in this exclusive interview.

Tweet This Post 

This Thursday get good eats with GOOD Magazine as they team up with Trekking L.A. at the Mercado La Paloma to sample some of the best street foods Los Angeles has to offer featuring vendors from South East Mexico, Thailand and Peru. In addition to music from Veracruz Mexico, you can also participate in a street art installation and workshop. Details and RSVP here.

The good word from GOOD’s Max Schorr:

“GOOD Los Angeles is proud to partner with UCLA and LA Commons to launch their 2009 Trekking LA season.

Join us this Thursday evening from 6-9 p.m. at the Mercado La Paloma– a converted sweatshop turned community center– as we sample some of the best street food in the city. Plus, live street music from Veracruz Mexico.

RSVP here. And spread the word.

Cheers,

-Max”

Tweet This Post 

Come one, come all! LA is once again hustlin’ and bustlin’ this weekend with art, film, food, and music galore.

• Arkitip gets down with the ubiquitous Shepard Fairey tonight in Hollywood for the release of issue no. 0051, art installations, and of course Shep and guest djs on the 1’s and 2’s. All courtesy of Alife.

• Celebrate at Chinatown’s Ooga Booga with good ol’ Cali and crew for the unveiling of Teenage Teardrop’s six latest drops: three new 12″s by Nick Dewitt, Lucky Dragons, and Infinite Body, two new t-shirts for the summer, and one new zine! Live performances by the aforementioned artists as well as a dj set by Eddie Ruscha.

• The Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax continue June’s Comedy Death Ray (Upright Citizens Brigade) series with Patton Oswalt presenting Larry Cohen’s 1976 thriller, God Told Me To. Says funny man Patton, “I picked God Told Me To because I’ve never seen it — and I’ve always wanted to see Andy Kaufman go on a shooting rampage.” I smell unintentional comedy brewing.

• Opening this Saturday at the Scion Space on La Cienega is This Must Be The Place, a collection of art and oddities by eight American artists (Gluekit, Maxwell Loren Holyoke-Hirsch, Damien Correll, Joel Speasmaker, Matt Curry, Skull Phone, Dan Funderburgh and Jemma Hostetler) who explore the notion of ‘home’ with the loose limitation of a two-toned color palette.

• After unleashing their brand of Asian pop culture to the world in magazine form way back in 1994, Giant Robot has expanded their operation quite significantly with stores in LA, NY, and SF. Celebrate their quinceañera with them as they launch their 15th anniversary group show at the bay area branch.

• Toy Swap! Toy Swap! Toy Swap! Sale! Sale! Sale! On Saturday dork out and trade your toys with other toy dorks at Los Feliz’s venerable Wacko/Soap Plant/La Luz De Jesus.

• Bike down and get your design and dim sum on deliciously with DeLab (design east of La Brea). Read details and more from Alissa (Gelatobaby) here. Don’t forget to RSVP to hello@designeastoflabrea.org!

*Also, it’s not too late to submit your tasty designs for Dwell’s Coolhaus ice cream contest also being judged by the cream loving Alissa.

Gelatobaby meets Coolhaus from Alissa Walker on Vimeo.
• With schools coming to a close for the summer all aross the land, Cinespia apporpriately screeens Mike Nichols’ 1967 classic, The Graduate starring Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

• Watch iconic music video classics when the LA Film Festival screens Where It Was At: A Propaganda and Satellite Films Tribute with clips from Spike Jonze, David Fincher, Mark Romanek, Stephane Sednaoui, and more.

• And finally, dance the weekend away Hollywood Bowl style Sunday night with Femi Kuti, Santigold, Raphael Saadiq, and host KCRW’s Garth Trinidad.

Tweet This Post 

Last week marked a homecoming for the worlds’ most notorious street artist as Banksy opened his largest and most ambitious show to date. Appropriately titled Banksy Versus Bristol Museum, the installation features over 100 pieces (including 70 brand new ones!) of what Banksy does best: taking peoples’ perception of “art”, challenging it, making it his own, and mocking it every step of the way. Click here for more on Banksy’s latest, including pics of selected works via Juxtapoz.

Tweet This Post