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A plethora of photographers come together for the often times visceral yet always vivacious Vice Photo Show at the Scion Space in Culver City.

Check a preview of The 2010 Vice Photo Show here.

From Vice:

“After nine years, the annual Vice Photo Issue and Exhibition has become an anticipated cultural institution.  This year, Vice’s Photo Issue is comprised entirely of still life photography – a departure from years past.

For the photography exhibit, opening August 14 at Scion Installation L.A., the curatorial reigns have been handed to Jonnie Craig, longtime staff photographer of the British edition of Vice magazine.  About the theme of the show, Jonnie says: “The pictures gathered for this exhibition express youth in a number of forms—from train surfing to hiking in the woods to working a dead end job—every image acting as an entry of what I have experienced youth to be.”  The featured photographers are Angela Boatwright, Asger Carlsen, Jonnie Craig, Jackson Eaton, Seth Fluker, Nicholas Haggard, Jerry Hsu, Kevin Long, Ross McDonnell, Sophie Mörner, Patrick O’Dell, Alex Olson, Valerie Phillips, Jared Ritz, Lele Saveri, RJ Shaugnessy, David Benjamin Sherry, Peter Sutherland, Patrick Tsai, Sean Vegezzi and Gavin Watson.”

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You may not remember the name Ed Emberley but it’s more than likely that his iconic imagery from his classic childrens’ books (Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Animals, Ed Emberley’s Big Green Drawing Book, etc.) have had an impact on you during your young creative lives. Emberley’s work has also influenced some very influential artists because Raul Gonzalez, Seonna Hong, Matt Leines, Christopher Kline and Saelee Oh are all part of the generational group show Ed Emberley & Friends at the Scion Space in Culver City.

Also…new works and limited edition prints from Emberley himself!

From Scion:

“For “Ed Emberley & Friends,” each artist will create a six-foot-by-six-foot wood panel that is a mash-up of their own style and that of Ed Emberley’s instructional drawing books. The tribute paintings will be exhibited alongside examples of each artist’s individual work. After the show, each of the large painted panels will be donated for long-term display in children’s hospitals around the United States. Emberley will have the largest presence in the show, contributing work from his archives including dozens of pages from the 1970s original mockups of his books. He will have recent drawings of his classic characters for sale, as well as a limited-edition print made especially for the show.”

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Hungry for food? How about for art? Or maybe you’re just thirsty for free booze amongst food inspired art? Then look no further than the international group show Palate where the idea of food as both a medium and muse is explored through art and installation at the Scion Space in Culver City.

From Scion:

“If cooking is an art form, then food is the most common medium of artistic expression in the world. Opening May 22, Scion’s Installation L.A. Gallery presents “Palate,” a group exhibition of internationally lauded artists in which food takes its rightful place inside the gallery.

“Palate,” which means the sense of taste, but also references an artist’s palette, will showcase a wide array of food-related art from Martha Rich’s feminine, cake-laden illustrations to Alan Macdonald’s classically rendered paintings of pilgrims that feature the unlikely additions of grocery bags, baked beans and chips. “Palate” will also include James Reynolds’ series of photographs documenting Death Row inmates’ last meal requests, as well as Jeff Vespa’s giant Polaroids of fast food burgers. Scott Hove’s monstrous cake sculptures will be on display, as will Tamara Kostianovsky’s realistic sculptures of slabs of meat, which she makes with articles of clothing. Clare Crespo will crochet a smorgasbord of fun foods, and Jeph Gurecka will build an installation out of bread he bakes himself that explores the idea of food as sustenance.”

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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.

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Scion’s Installation 6, which focuses on my medium of choice-video, occupies the Scion Space in Culver City where a talented lineup of artists were “challenged to create non-narrative video installations that will eventually transform five unique exhibitions around the country”. Featuring Dust la Rock, Eric Nakamura, Saelee Oh, French, Josh Graham, Ill-Studio, Monihan Monihan, Mark Mothersbaugh, PMKFA and Sage Vaughn.

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What this weekend’s events and openings may lack in quantity they more than make up for in quality.

• New Yorkers are in for quite the creepy treat as visionary director Tim Burton invades the MOMA for a retrospective of the director’s uniquely original visions from his many odd films, sculptures, creatures, and equally quirky works on paper.

• One of the founding fathers of the lowbrow art scene, Shag (aka Josh Agle) makes a triumphant gallery return with a series of large format panoramas in Autumn’s Come Undone at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City. View a selection of the works from Shag’s website here.

• The Scion Space hosts another interesting group show in their massive Culver City residence with Euphoria Left the Room, “an exhibition addressing the sense of creativity and visionary imagination, which throughout the 20th century was set free through experimentation and what-if scenarios governed by the “if anything was possible” logic commonly displayed in Sci-fi literature and film.”

Scion Presents: ‘EUPHORIA LEFT THE ROOM’ Preview from Scion ART on Vimeo.

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Art all weekend long from Fullerton to Culver City to the entire expanse of Washington boulevard and Beyond Eden with a little ghostbusting thrown in for good measure.

• The Barnsdall Art Park in Los Feliz goes Beyond Eden for a two day art fair celebrating the latest movement in contemporary art in Los Angeles. Fifteen LA area galleries will be represented along with live painting, screenprinting, performance art and food trucks galore. Other highlights include the documentary film on southern California artists Scribble.08 and Tatiana Wills and Roman Cho’s photo series Heroes and Villains, intimate portraits of emerging and established figures in the Pop Surrealist, Graffiti and Alt-Comic Book worlds including LA based artists Todd Schorr, Dave Kinsey, Gary Baseman, Seonna Hong, Saelee Oh, Mark Ryden, Robert Williams, Tim Biskup, Mr. Cartoon, COOP, Shepard Fairey, Kozyndan, Souther Salazar, Shag and many more. Check Beyondeden.com for the full schedule of events.

• Homeboy Ito not only strolls into town from New York to catch all three Thom Yorke shows, but he also “presents images from his time traveling the world as Damon Dash’s personal photographer and a collection of personal work captured during the Summer of 2009″ in his photo show titled EVERYBODY SOMEDAY at the PÄS Gallery in Fullerton.

• Concert poster master/vinyl toy creator Frank Kozik unveils a show shrouded in mystery at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Culver City. Who knows what to expect but I have a feeling it involves these two mutants:

• The Scion Space in Culver City goes to Infinity with a “group exhibition of artists whose practices or aesthetics relate to the many facets of the infinite.” Featuring Richard Colman, Andrew Schoultz, Aaron Noble and many more.

• Spend A Day in LA as over 60 artists Los Angeles artists and non-artists show off their work in unused public outdoor spaces along the entire length of Washington Boulevard’s 27 miles, from Whittier to Venice Beach. “For one day artists will perform works, create installations, facilitate happenings, and make music in unexpected spaces, such as on the sidewalk, between dumpsters, along railroad tracks, as well as inside the audience’s cars as they traverse one of LA’s most iconic boulevards.”

• In conjunction with the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, end your weekend donating canned food for LA’s hungry while busting some ghosts at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the 25th anniversary screening of Ivan Reitman’s 1984 classic Ghostbusters.

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So it seems that the end of Summer not only makes way for Fall, but also the beginning of the art season. If you live in the LA area, love art, like mingling with people who also love art, and enjoy drinking free alcohol while looking at said art then you’re in luck because this weekend is chock full of openings and all those things.

• The British artist collective known simply as The London Police respond to a call at the Carmichael Gallery on La Brea bringing with them Brothers in Arms, an exhibition of all new Hollywood-themed paintings, video and photography.

• Los Angeles photographer extraordinaire Doug Aitken migrates to Regen Projects on Santa Monica with a series of new text-based light boxes along with the west coast debut of the film Migration. *Also, the large-scale cinematic installation will be presented to the public on Santa Monica Boulevard projected onto the courtyard of Regen Projects II; visible only at night from sunset to sunrise. Check out some beautiful production stills from the film here.

• Cartoon master painter Kenny Scharf comes home to the Honor Fraser Gallery on La Cienega with Barberadise, a showcase of new paintings that integrate familiar icons from Scharf’s visual lexicon and implies a utopian world that is at once nostalgically comic and vibrantly cosmic.

• Camille Rose Garcia comes to the Merry Karnowsky Gallery on La Brea and brings with her The Hydra of Babylon, her latest paintings on wood and paper which explore the converging ecological and human catastrophes and the healing power of nature.

• And Then The Wind Changed so says Australian artist Anthony Lister as he brings his solo show to the venerable New Image Art Gallery on Santa Monica.

• Philip Lumbang brings his friendly faced bears and found mediums to a warehouse space in LA and transforms it all into a gallery space as he opens his show, Hug Life. Special musical guests DJ Diabetic (Shepard Fairey) and Intricate Machines will keep the show rocking all night long.

• The super successful Scion Installation 5 Tour comes to a close with Scion Art Tour: Self Portrait at the Scion Space in Culver City. Among the artists whose portraits will be auctioned off for the charity Creative Capitol include Blek Le Rat, David Choe, Ron English, Mark Mothersbaugh, Retna, Souther Salazar, Jeff Soto, Sage Vaughn and many more. Click here to take a look at the art for auction.

• Flock to the Flock Shop in Chinatown as they celebrate their 2 year anniversary with a show of Patrick Hruby’s new serigraph work in CMY Not?

• Cinespia’s second to last screening of the season brings Tim Burton’s 1985 classic comedy Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure to both the dead and undead at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

• And finally for all you music lovers and beat heads out there, spend your Sunday diggin the crates with fellow record collecting connoissieurs at the Beat Swap Meet at the Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown.

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Looks like Saturday is the big winner with many a good thing in this weekend’s stacked schedule of events for your cultural and social pleasures.

• The super producing couple of Meg and Jonathan Wells continue to pump out the goods as one of their most ambitious projects to date opens the Scion installation space in Culver City with the Flux Super 8. Featuring filmmakers, designers and video artists from all over the world including our ultra talented Portland pal Max Erdenberger, as well as The Blackheart Gang (Cape Town, South Africa), Saam Farahmand (London, UK); Sophie Gateau (Paris, France), Miwa Matreyek (Los Angeles, USA), Terri Timely (San Francisco, USA), United Visual Artists (UVA) (London, UK), and YesYesNo (Amsterdam, NL + New York, NY + London, UK), the promising Flux Super 8 show is sure to be the first of many more to come.

• And while you’re in Culver City hop on over to the Corey Helford Gallery and take a trip to India with the moustachioed madman Carlos Ramos as he once again dazzles with his trademark contrasty colors and sublimely shaped stable of animals. (Moustache subject to availability.)

• Giant Robot cleans out their closet with the group show Junk in the Trunk in which over 30 artists including Apak!, David Horvath and Albert Reyes among others, bust out new, old, and random pieces of art that need new homes at GR2 on Sawtelle. Bonus yard sale on Sunday too!

• The second shift Saturday night continues (or starts) in Chinatown at the Sabina Lee Gallery on Chung King Road with the group show Second Shift.

• Reform School, Home Ec, and the Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax join hands to bring you the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary on D.I.Y. culture, Handmade Nation. *Saturday’s 12pm premiere screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director, and ticket holders for this show will receive specialized gift bags and surprise giveaways! In-between the two Saturday screenings, during 2-6pm, there will be a mini-craft fair eaturing some of LA’s most talented makers, a “Handmade Nation” book signing with Faythe Levine, and hands-on make-and-takes (craft demos). Admission to the craft fair is free, and open to the general public.

• For my Bay Area brethren, Grind for the Green presents the second annual Battle for the Bang as bay area environmentally conscious youth battle with beats for cash and prizes at the Zeum in San Francisco.

• And finally end your weekend on a high musical note as Stones Throw’s finest continue to rock Amoeba Music on Sunset every Sunday in August. This weekend’s set features one of the Beat Junkies’ founding fathers, J-Rocc.

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Oh how I long to be one of the many thousands of lucky nerds in San Diego for Comic-Con (still can’t believe I’ve never been, I fear my dork credibility may be in jeopardy!) Fortunately there are many a happening around Los Angeles to take your mind off all the geeky goodness we’re missing out on.

• With that being said, allow me to start with a few events at Comic-Con for those who made the trek down the 405 freeway:

Artist signings by Mark Ryden, Joe Ledbetter, James Jean, The Pizz, Scott Musgrove, Ron English, and Travis Louie for Last Gasp Publishing.

James Jean (again), David Choe, and David Horvath for Giant Robot.

And a Tim and Eric sighting at their very own con of the awesome variety, appropriately called Awesome Con!

• Wayne White (one of my favorite typographists) and Exene Cervenka fly their way over to the Western Project Gallery in Culver City with their two person show, We Are Not the Jetset.

• Stick around Culver City for a three person show featuring some Heavy Petting with David Burke, Riddles In the Dark with Mia, and Keep It Down with guest artist Sarah Folkman at the Corey Helford Gallery.

• Don’t leave Culver City just yet cause the Scion Installation Space opens up it’s place for the 2009 Vice Magazine Photography Exhibition featuring Jamie Lee Curtis Taete, Maggie Lee, and former Vice photo editor, Tim Barber.

• Cinespia presents The Muppet Movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, need I say more?

• Recoup on Sunday and take an Urban Hike through Little Tokyo with the Architecture and Design Museum Los Angeles.

• Spread your wings and fly to the MOCA’s Pacific Design Center on Melrose for an art talk with Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues whose installation Feathered Edge: A New Installation by Ball-Nogues Studio is currently on view and features “over 21 miles of colored strings configured in catenary curves span the gallery space to form a dynamic environment.”

• And finally, end your weekend on a “high” note (yeah, that’s right I said it) with Cheech and Chong’s classic Up in Smoke at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

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