Tag Archives: Art

Art The Art of #OWS

by Mike Bucher
January 1, 2012 - 1:46 pm

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last several months, you’ve heard of “Occupy Wall Street” and the subsequent “Occupy” movement.

The first campers at Zuccatti park sparked the involvement of many including serious graphic designers and artists who took to their medium of choice to powerfully express themes, ideas and statements.

The following are a handful of the most prominent pieces circumnavigating the interweb since September. The first image after the jump is by ChinaShop’s own Molly Crabapple who’s “Starve the Vampire Squid” piece was also recently featured in Rolling Stone.

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Art Featured Gallery All Eyes on Mr. Brainwash

by Ariel Maccarone and Jennifer Popperl
December 28, 2011 - 7:53 am

This past Thursday, December 22 was a sneak peak of “Art Show 2011,” the follow up by infamous street artist Thierry Guetta (AKA “Mr. Brainwash”) to his 2008 art show, “Life Is Beautiful.” Guetta is most known for his controversial role in the 2011 Oscar-nominated docudrama, “Exit Through The Gift Shop,” directed by renowned street artist, Banksy.

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Art Featured Gallery The Undeniably Original Sergio Roffe

by Ariel Maccarone
December 21, 2011 - 12:58 pm

When I was fifteen years old, I stood in front of the Mona Lisa. I stood there— hands in the pockets of my jeans, my head cocked slightly to the side—and I looked; I looked and I waited. I wanted to be changed by it. I waited for some sort of enlightenment. But, for me, it remained empty. I waited for about five minutes; then I walked away.

What makes a piece of art worthy of consideration? What makes it of value? What draws us in? Often, it is a sense of resonance; resonance with elementary emotional images deeply ingrained within us.

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Art SHOP SMALL: Independent Clothing Boutiques in Silver Lake

by Ariel Maccarone
December 19, 2011 - 4:37 am

The infamous Black Friday waffle iron incident is the surest sign that we’re on our way to hell in a hand basket. Now, why not have that hand basket be made by edgy local designers? Black Friday and Occupy Wall Street have spawned the Shop Small movement, which aims to support local, independent businesses. We’ve perused the Eastside and created a list of some of the best clothing boutiques in Silver Lake. Enjoy!

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Art And Now For Something New: Artist David Paul Flores

by Ariel Maccarone
December 16, 2011 - 1:12 pm

I have always been captivated by the appearance of land seen through an airplane window—the way it’s coated in simplicity, homogeny and precise division. Looking down on the earth below, my experience is while flying is not unlike a child ogling a children’s pop-up atlas. Urban artist, David Paul Flores, creates a similarly wondrous and surreal experience with his signature “stained glass” style.

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Art “Two Faces” and 500 Hours

by Shop Keeper
December 16, 2011 - 10:22 am

This is what 500 hrs of airbrush on 1 painting looks like.
 Welcome to the hyper-detailed world of “Two Faces.” An original painting  created by Chris Elliman.

For three months straight Elliman powered through the rendering of “Two Faces” . This airbrush painting is a diptych which is two pieces that work together or apart. At first glance and from a distance you might see the face of a man and a woman. Upon closer inspection you realize the faces are made up of other people, places and things. Hundreds of characters living their lives in this strange and detailed world.

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Art Featured Through The Lens And Back: Photographer Jennifer Popperl

by Ariel Maccarone
December 15, 2011 - 12:56 pm

Photography has as many aims as it has photographers. Some use the medium in order to recreate a subject in an especially raw, candid light, capturing a moment, which would have otherwise remained silent. Others use the lens as a tool to disorient an audience’s view of normalcy by dressing the mundane in garb of the absurd. Up and coming photographer Jennifer Popperl uses her lens to allow for multiple, seemingly incompatible moments, to exist simultaneously.

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Art Portrait Of A Painter: Matt Doust

by Ariel Maccarone
December 14, 2011 - 10:50 am

We have come to spare ourselves too much of life’s natural awkwardness. When is the last time you sat a few seconds longer inside an awkward moment, especially one shared with a stranger? You should try it. It’s fascinating! There is such vulnerability in a way of being which is totally unrehearsed. To witness something like that—in oneself or another—is precious.

Painter Matt Doust is brilliant when it comes to being able to capture a moment in time of someone’s soul like this. For that period during which his model is being painted, he/she belongs to Doust. Even his portrayal of a subject’s collarbone is exquisite; there is a reverence in it. The reverence (on the part of Doust toward his subjects) is borne of an attempt to mirror rather than to perfect. He seeks not to mold his subject, but rather to recreate him/her.

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Art L.A. Art Walk more than Just Talk

by Ariel Maccarone
December 12, 2011 - 1:26 pm

Thursday, December 8, the streets of downtown L.A. spilled over themselves. The last Downtown L.A. Art Walk of the year drew impressive crowds. It was so packed that strangers had to walk side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder. The sidewalks were covered with Hipsters sporting saddle shoes and high-water skinny jeans; “street kids” who followed around the successful artists borne of their own neighborhood; tourists seeking to witness “Los Angeles”; haughty, struggling artists donning the appropriate, unimpressed gazes; wealthy art patrons rubbing elbows with the burgeoning community; random onlookers who had no idea of the event at all; aspiring artists looking for encouragement from mentors. For the evening, the artistic hub of Los Angeles—Gallery Row—would become a living breathing stage for a sort of unintentional performance art.

For now, a few highlights from the “actual art” on display…

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Art Artstar: Paige Pumphrey

by Molly Crabapple
December 7, 2011 - 10:10 am

Paige Pumphrey is an artist based in New York City.

You seem very influenced by scenes like roller derby, burlesque, and rockabilly. How does subculture influence your art?

Paige: Growing up in the suburbs of Maryland in that dark time before the internet, I desperately wanted to be cool. I’ve always skipped around subcultures dipping my toe in various scenes all through adolescence in an attempt to find myself. But I’ve always been first and foremost a big ol’ nerd with a wicked case of OCD when it comes to my obsessions, so I always treated each different subculture that I monkey-barred to and from as almost like a costume of different characters I was trying to be.

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