If you’re not going to be lining up to see one of the thousands of sold out Dark Knight showings this Saturday the 19th, you might want to check out the Santa Monica Pier anywhere from 7pm to 7am for the event known as Glow.After perusing the website and checking out the scheduled events (DJ’s, live bands, parades, and a possible Grunion run sighting!), this fairly huge and ambitious art offering may not be right for me. Maybe if I had gone to a Burning Man or two I would be all over it. But lucky for me I’ll be enjoying a glow of another kind, namely the glow of a 60 foot Joker’s smile on an IMAX screen.
“Glow will fill the hours between dusk to dawn with compelling, enchanting and effervescent sights and sounds situated in spaces and times that expand possibilities for where, how and when the public experiences contemporary art.
With the historic Santa Monica Pier and adjacent world-famous Santa Monica Beach as their space, artists were commissioned to create unique and inviting works of art that welcome the public to be both audience and actor for twelve celebratory hours. Inspired by the wildly successful Nuit Blanche in Paris, Glow takes its spirit from the fabled grunion that live in local waters and come ashore several times a year to spawn in the sand creating a momentary sensation of iridescence.”
Back in the day when Jackie Chan just started to Rumble in the Bronx and people still thought Chow Yun-Fat was a Chinese dish, I sent a letter to a (then) little known fledgling magazine called Giant Robot. I gave them props for highlighting the rise of Asian pop culture as they brought it to the attention of American audiences who wanted more. In return I got my first ever letter published in a mag I love and they also sent me the coolest Bruce Lee sticker ever (here in shirt form)! Today I get to return the favor as the awesome Asians continue their support of emerging artists with their latest group show at GR2.
Suggestion Box at GR2
July 19 - August 13
Reception: Saturday, July 19, 6:30 -10:00
GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276
Giant Robot is proud to present Suggestion Box, a group show featuring new works by artists selected by our own store and magazine staffs in addition to pieces by many of the staffers themselves.
We intend our publication and shops to be catalysts as well as showcases, and are excited to mix artists that provide inspiration with homegrown talent that is inspired by them. Pieces will include drawings, paintings, comics, sewn work, and other mediums.
Contributors will include (but are not limited to) the following:
Aaron Brown
Jeffrey Brown
Seth Drenner
Jordan Fu
Michael Hsiung
Benjamin King
Diana Kwok
David Magdaleno
Tru Nguyen
Molly Colleen O’Connell
Sidney Pink
Yumi Sakugawa
Emilio Santoyo
Eric Shaw
Ryan Jacob Smith
Mark Todd
Christiaan Van Bremen
Katie Vonderheide
A reception featuring many of the artists will take place from 6:30 - 10:00 on Saturday, July 19. For more information about the opening, the artists, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:
Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
eric@giantrobot.com
(310) 479-7311
Like artist designed shoes? How about a mean espresso? Maybe you’re into motorcycles, mopeds, and vintage motorized bikes? If you answered a ‘yes’ to any of these then come down to Choke in Silver Lake this Thursday, July 17th for a DC Shoes release party for Aaron Rose’s new practical ortho-cools. Last year when we were still editing Beautiful Losers in the Manzanita house, Keith Scharwath would periodically stop by to work with Aaron on the extras (zine, fabric, and shoebox design) for this shoe project . What they came up with was a sharp looking package that’s as classy as it is creative. Come by and enjoy a cup of joe at this unique bike shop and check out the finished goods for yourself!
From A.Rose:
Hey Everyone,
This is kind of a strange invite, but for the last three years I’ve been working with my friend Damon designing a shoe for his company DC Shoes. Well they’re finally done so we’re gonna have a little party Thursday night at Choke Motorcycle Shop. If you’ve never been to Choke, it’s seriously one of my favorite places in the world. If you don’t care about some weird pair of shoes I designed (I know a party for a shoe is a weird concept), then come to see the place cause it’s awesome!
Thursday, July 17th, 7-9PM
Choke Motorcycle Shop
4157 Normal Ave (at Virgil)
Los Angeles
This Sunday June 29th, kick down your old new shoes for a good cause. Nike, Undefeated, and the illustrious Gents of Desire are kicking off a benefit for the East LA Community Youth Center where every pair of unworn shoes donated will be generously matched by Nike. In addition to helping out your fellow peoples, Nike and Undefeated will be hosting a picnic for you filled with food, drink, music, and a “lady pants” competition in their back alley featuring the artwork of the Gents of Desire. Your ticket in is the pair of shoes you’ll be donating. Read on for more info:
I’ve never been a fanatic of crazy-ass Korean artist and LA native David Choe’s art as much as I’ve been a fan of his process. The way he creates on the spot, throwing intoxicated caution to the wind and his fearless adventures across the globe (see: The Vice Guide to Travel-Congo), is what I’ve mostly been drawn to. This weekend, the documentary on his exploits over the past 7 years titled Dirty Hands: The Art & Crimes of David Choe makes it’s premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film follows Choe on his on-going escapades in art making around the world, his rise in the art community, his descent in his own personal life, and even his stint in solitary confinement in a Japanese jail on charges of vandalization (the guy was still able to create art in his tiny cell using soy sauce and at times his own urine). More about the film and his bad-assery here:
“Los Angeles artist David Choe is not as crazy as his violent, phantasmagoric, and sexual work across several media would suggest, he is considerably more so, embodying William Blake’s adage that “you never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
Captivated by Choe’s mania for adventure and excess, close friend Harry Kim filmed the artist’s “life and crimes” from 2000 to 2007, a period coinciding with Choe’s rise to fame and fortune in the art world as he matured from a street artist bombing underpasses and illustrating porn magazines to a respected muralist, painter, and graphic novelist. The ride, however, was a bumpy one. From jail sentences and an addiction to shoplifting and graffiti to dinosaur hunting and wrestling pygmies in the heart of the Congo, Choe’s irrepressible spirit is as much a model of unrestrained living as it is a cautionary example of excess.”
(click image to see more photos of The Sads silent show)
Last Saturday June 14th, The Sads played a “silent show” at the Westwood Art Forum. I had heard their previous foray into the silent show business went exceedingly well when they recently performed in New York. This time they were bringing along artist/designer/director Mike Mills along with them. I was definitely intrigued.
Upon entering the upstairs venue, I was greeted with a bit of laughter coming from one of the 3 television sets facing the sitting audience who were positioned in a circle around the room. The 3 video installations, which were created specifically for this show by Mr. Mills, were loops of iconic film clips featuring laughter, crying, and people saying “I love you”. The televisions continued to play through the band’s performance thus evoking a variety of emotions depending on where you were sitting. The one I sat closest too was laughter:
Also positioned in front of the audience were 50 headphones connected to amplifiers which in turn were hooked up to the bands instruments. When the lights dimmed it was time for the audience to put on their headphones. I had seen the band play once before and was impressed with how far they had come, but it was even more impressive to see how much further they have jelled since then. What I was listening to in that dark little room while watching James Dean continually laugh at me was something I hadn’t heard from them yet. It was again, something different that I welcomed and thoroughly enjoyed. With Dan Monick leaving the band to pursue other pursuits, The Sads have brought in a new drummer with more of a beat driven style and the pairing seems to have taken them to a new place as well as a new pace.
The band went on to perform their 25 minute tour de force while the Mills videos continued to sway your feelings one way or the other all while the attentive audience sat peacefully quiet enjoying the sadness of The Sads. I had to leave in a hurry, but I left smiling knowing that the band was progressing and affecting people differently. Or maybe it was the repeated image of the straggly haired Gary Sinise from Forrest Gump snickering out of the side of his mouth that put a smile on my face? It was definitely both.
Check out what the band had to say prior to their Saturday performance on KCRW here: The Sads on Weekend America
Slowly, softly, stylistically, and now silently, The Sads have been working their way into the heart of L.A. with their off-kilter songs of loves lost and sentimental hopes. Since their last public outing at agnes b. (which is covered right here), the quartet of Aaron Rose, Aska Matsumiya, Dan Monick, and David Scott Stone have been preparing a silent show for the rest of us romantics. What’s a silent show you ask? Please allow Mr. Rose elaborate:
‘Please join us this Saturday night for a very special silent performance by The Sads. If your wondering what a silent performance consists of, the concept is this: essentially we play all electronic instruments and sing directly into a board which then feeds out to multiple sets of individual headphones for the audience. When the headphones are off, the room is quiet…when you put them on, they’re full of loud, wonderful live music. Hence, a “silent” show. We’re working on a brand new composition for the performance, so we hope you can come share this with us. We did it in New York last year and it was an amazing experience!! Also, this year, filmmaker Mike Mills has created a special video installation for the performance which will play on multiple monitors throughout the performance. It’s seriously worth coming just for that!’
And for those of you unfamiliar with the work of Mike Mills, he’s responsible for some of your Sonic Youth, Beastie Boys, and Air album artwork, and skateboard and t-shirt graphics. He’s also reminded us it’s ok to suck our thumbs by directing Thumbsucker as well as many other creative music videos, commercials, and graphic design endeavors.
Currently premiering across the country is director John Reiss’ global graffiti documentary Bomb It. Featuring the usual suspects Os Gemeos, Mear One, Zephyr, Shepard Fairey, and Ron English among others, Bomb It makes it’s Los Angeles premiere at the Laemmle’s Sunset 5 this Friday June 6th and will continue it’s LA run through June 12th.
