Author Archives: Dustin Downing

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Art Featured Gallery Broken Dreams and Fairy Wings

by Nicole Pajer and Dustin Downing
January 11, 2012 - 5:16 pm

The Hive Gallery recently launched a joint art show featuring the renowned Renee Lawter and her talented husband Jeff Lawter. The show, “Broken Dreams and Fairy Wings,” focuses on living in a world of environmental imbalances and man-made destruction. In addition to the gallery being the first major collaboration between the husband and wife duo, it features the couple’s first collaborative painting, “Broken.” Individual works include Renee’s vintage framed watercolors, which incorporate her trademark cuddly monsters, while Jeff’s ink and dyes on wood portray powerful messages and call out injustices.

ChinaShop recently sat down with the artistic couple to discuss the challenge of combining their very different styles and plans for future art shows together.

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Fashion Gallery Forbidden Fashion: A Collection of Criminal Couture

by Nicole Pajer and Dustin Downing
January 5, 2012 - 2:29 pm

When Ann Closs-Farley put together Forbidden Fashion: A Collection of Criminal Couture, she issued a challenged to her fellow Los Angeles designers. Instead of assembling the typical pricey and extremely designer pieces common to any runway show, she demanded a different set of criteria be met: Everything had to be created from “found, recycled or stolen materials.”

When the lights dimmed for the series of shows, models bearing everything from comic book accessorized suits to dresses made of playing cards and Dixie cups took to the catwalk with ease. The shows were a success, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats and occasionally bringing them to laughter. Following the production, ChinaShop sat down with Closs-Farley to discuss her vision for the show, unusual ensembles, and what goes through her head while models walk the runway.

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Art Featured Gallery Art in the Flesh: Dr Sketchy’s L.A.

by Dustin Downing
January 5, 2012 - 12:09 pm

A few years back, a Brooklyn artist who goes by the moniker Molly Crabapple, decided art school was not cool and dropped out. And lucky for us she did. Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this article and dammit I wouldn’t have had the chance to shoot Samion, le nude muse for this installment of the Los Angeles chapter’s Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. Fittingly, this kickoff for a new year of the bi-monthly pop-up figure-drawing cabaret for artists and art lovers was held at the Titmouse Inc. animation compound in Hollywood, home to all things awesome and strange.

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Art/Design 5 Favorite Finds for Christmas at Jonathan Adler

by Barbie Brady and Dustin Downing
December 2, 2011 - 10:20 am

Last night I got to meet one of my all time favorite designers, Jonathan Adler. You may recognize him from such television reality series as Top Design (which sadly won’t be coming back). But well before “See You Later Decorator” fame, he was, is and always has been a talented and gifted potter, designer, and entrepreneur.

With 16 actual stores, and an amazing online store you have no excuse to not buy yourself or your loved one something with a bit of whimsy this year. Each year I end up dropping vast amounts of money in his shop on Melrose and I thought I would share with you all my 5 favorite Jonathan Adler finds this year for the holiday season! Trust me, when you give a gift as sharp and fresh as these, no one could possibly be disappointed!

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Gallery Music From Prank War to Singapore: Anberlin

by Nicole Pajer and Dustin Downing
November 21, 2011 - 10:55 am

We’ve seen some dedicated fans arrive to venues early for concerts, but nothing like the scene outside The Wiltern for last week’s Anberlin show. It was two and a half hours prior to show time and the line wrapped around the venue twice! Sifting to the front of that to located the band’s tour manager was an adventure in itself and we were glad to be safely inside the venue and away from the masses come interview time.

When we finally caught up with Anberlin frontman Stephen Christian, he had just cooled off from being the brunt of a budding prank war between his touring mates in Atomic Tom. He had apparently done something to get on Atomic Tom’s bad side as the need for them to dump water all over his leather jacket and stage ready hair was a necessary measure. “I’m not sure how I’m planning to retaliate but rest assured, it’s going to happen,” says Christian.

During our sit down chat with Christian, he explains why you shouldn’t listen to Anberlin while lying on the beach with a bottle of wine, that he always loses when gambling, and that a tour in Singapore comes with a necessity for bodyguards.

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Featured Gallery Music Fishbone: The Story of L.A.’s Most F*cked Up Band

by Jeff Nau and Dustin Downing
November 16, 2011 - 9:34 am

Long revered (and reviled) as the most dysfunctional funk band that ever was, Fishbone recently celebrated 30+ years of kidnappings, mental illness, and alcoholism with a concert at Amoeba to pimp the release of their tell-all documentary Everyday Sunshine.

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Featured Gallery Music Into the Lab, The dublab

by Dustin Downing
November 9, 2011 - 11:18 am

dublab is the NPR of DJ’s. This non-profit Los Angeles based internet radio collective has transcended your typical playlist of listening pleasure by fostering 12 years of growth in positive music, culture and modern art channeled through a roster of talented and eclectic music maestros.

Those skills shined brightly at their recent anniversary party up at the Atwater Crossing & Innovation Complex. It was a fair-ish event with food trucks, the requisite photo booth live-screen painting by local shirt shop Hit+Run, and a bike valet. Local dublab DJ’s spun to the outdoor crowd while names like Take aka Sweatson Klank, Julia Holter, Gaslamp Killer, & Daedelus kept the hipster crowd’s moccasin covered toes a tapping.. A mini-film fest and a #hellofanidea popcorn booth tied for second on the billing. Kutmah was to be beamed in live from the NTS Radio Studio in London but somebody forgot to set their alarm.

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Gallery Music Sexpop Dance Party Reptar Style

by Nicole Pajer and Dustin Downing
November 8, 2011 - 10:12 am

Hailing from the Dirty South, aka Hotlanta, Reptar’s Ryan Engelberger, William Kennedy, Andrew McFarland, and Graham Ulicny share one unanimous goal: To create dance inducing music. “We always have epic dance parties at our shows. It’s what we do,” says lead vocalist/guitarist Ulicny. Since coming onto the music scene in 2008, Reptar has caught the attention of music fans 1) For sharing the same name as the giant green dinosaur on the popular 90’s Nickelodeon show Rugrats and 2) Their playful electro-pop sound which fuses together indie rock, punk, soul, and afrobeat influences.

Ulicny and the boys came through LA to open two sold out shows with Foster The People and Cults at The Wiltern Theatre this past week. Prior to their set, Ulicny gave us the rundown on the band’s unique sound. We also discussed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, his mother making his Halloween costume, and the celebration that occurred when the band’s touring van hit 300,000 miles.

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Fashion Featured Gallery Anthony Franco’s Timeless Creations

by Nicole Pajer and Dustin Downing
November 3, 2011 - 10:26 am

Swarms of fashion lovers headed to Sunset Gower Studios this month to catch a peak at the highly anticipated 2012 Spring Collection by Anthony Franco. The trend following world knows Franco as a celebrity designer who creates high-end clothing for both men and women. Whether it’s for Red Carpet appearances or commercials, the label designs with the idea that “all clothing is timeless and has its place.” Anthony Franco Designs have been recently seen on the likes of Kourtney Kardashian, Kate Botsworth, as well as members of Panic! at The Disco and OutKast. Franco collections were also just spotted in True Blood, Pretty Little Liars, a Colgate commercial, and at a recent InStyle Party.

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Fashion Featured Gallery The Heart and Sole of Spring Fashion: COEUR

by Nicole Pajer and Dustin Downing
November 2, 2011 - 11:26 am

Spring is coming, faster than you think. And earlier this month ChinaShop got an insight into what lies on the spring fashion horizon.  As we stepped inside Coer, we were instantly surrounded by all sorts of trendy goodies including women’s fashion accessories, gifts, handbags, shoes, and more.

According to the show’s co-founder, Henri Myers, who helped to hand pick the brands in the showroom, COEUR is about evoking freshness in the LA market. “Pretty much all the designers here are brands that we find needed a bit of some type of visibility in LA here specifically. A lot of brands included in the show are from New York or elsewhere. They didn’t have showrooms or showroom reps or agents and we’re really providing a space that they can all be under one roof.” Myers explains that the name of the show, COEUR, means “heart” in French. “It’s about all the things that we love and introducing the things that we love to everyone else.”

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