I firmly believe we have survived as a species due to our ability to create art. We live for feelings we cannot name, feelings that occupy the empty spaces in our mouths. We live for images that reverberate against the walls of our thoughts, informing our way of being in the world as we age. The art of local painter Justin Olerud illuminates the need for art in the life of a human.
You may have seen it driving around L.A. A looming skull with hollow eyes holding up a cellphone to its’ ear. An iconic x-ray likeness of ourselves; simple, cool, and poignant. Painted on walls, billboards, posters and forged into neon signs. It peeks out at passersby in Silver Lake and flashes between electronic billboard advertisements. It shares the same name as the artist: Skullphone. Skullphone has managed to create a memorable and compelling icon in a town that’s lousy with lousy icons.
Playing a show or two in a city and them moving on to the next? Peter Bjorn and John have been there done that. When planning the “All You Can Eat” leg of the Gimme Some tour, the Swedish trio was looking for something more exciting to bring to their fans. Their solution? A stop in each city featuring a PBJ Gimme Some gallery exhibition, multiple performance dates, and food truck catered events where the band can hang with fans while they munch on a variety of dishes from mobile eateries. “Food trucks are the indie rock of food so having those on site was only fitting,” explains Björn Yttling.
Shien Lee is a producer of lavish, vintage and surrealist themed events in New York. She is always impeccably dressed.
Among the work on display in Mike Ming’s aptly titled solo exhibition, “All Over the Road” — at Nepenthes, a high-end clothing boutique in Manhattan — are three mammoth-sized paintings with abstract brushwork, a few smaller paintings with tousled and intricate lines, a couple of surfboards, a carved-out skateboard and two motorcycle helmets with enamel pin stripes.
“I don’t have that signature, ‘Oh, that’s a Mike Ming work,’” the artist said at his Brooklyn studio one recent afternoon. “I think it just runs the whole gamut. The stuff I’m showing is all over the place.”
The same could be said for his influences, which seem to flow effortlessly from his many pursuits, including surfing, skating and motorcycles. For one painting in progress, it’s been dolphins. Ming saw a few off the coast of Queens (or the closest thing Queens has to a coast).
The twenty-first century was supposed to promise us a world that dwarfed that of the Jetsons: jetpacks, flying cars and Starburst-size meals. What happened? How is it that we’re still bludgeoning baby seals, slaughtering dolphins, having recreational dog fights and finning sharks? You don’t need to be a tree-hugger in order to think there’s something definitely wrong with the sort of people we’ve evolved into.
I hate to say it, but there is one upside to such destruction of human morality: individuals are forced to decide what they stand for. Straddling the fence is no longer an option. The grassroots, Tokyo-based nonprofit organization “PangeaSeed” has made its mission the ending of the cruel practice known as “shark finning.” Hopefully, most of us have heard of “shark finning,” but sadly not many know the gruesome details.
No matter how painful the world can be at times, it will always be the braver more admirable choice to know the truth rather than to cower from it; that said, let us enlighten you.
RZA’s canvas sits on the wall facing a display case full of original Picasso plates. Chuck D’s takes its place beside Salvador Dali’s celebrated Surrealist Piano sculpture. The Art Of Drums collection occupies the interior wing across from the Marilyn Monroe prints. This is the world-famous Andrew Weiss Gallery in Beverly Hills, home to “Come Together,” a two-month exhibition of the artwork of Los Angeles creativity house SceneFour and its iconic collaborators: RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Bootsy Collins of Bootsy’s Rubber Band, P-Funk and the JBs, Hieroglyphics Crew, DJ Qbert, Shavo Odadjian from System of a Down, George Lynch, Matt Sorum from Velvet Revolver/Guns N Roses, Frankie “Kash” Waddy from Parliament-Funkadelic, Angelo Moore of Fishbone and Page Hamilton of Helmet. With the help of their legendary friends, SceneFour partners Ravi Dosaj and Cory Danziger are spearheading a new movement in the art world: collaborative art. And based upon the September 14th opening night party, a kick-off to the exhibit which runs until November 1 at Andrew Weiss Gallery in Beverly Hills, the exhibition is set to be a blockbuster.
Before it shut down last March, Bridges Juvenile Center in the Bronx was described by some, generously, as Dickensian. With dark cells, abusive guards and deficient rehab programs, the juvenile center had a reputation for turning its residents into hardened criminals.
But today, the white-brick building conjures a cheerier mood. Thanks to a local community group and the Inside Out project, created by the French artist JR in March, the center’s outer wall is covered with black-and-white portraits of those who live in the neighborhood.
“After we did that, we received emails from organizations thanking us,” said Paul Ramirez, co-founder of Mainland Media, an organization dedicated to enhancing the overall image of the Bronx.
I have been to a place my friends. A place called Royal T, where one can see Japanese “Harajuku” girls jumping inside an inflatable cupcake. A micro shop wherein’ exists a wall of golden chains festooned with faux tri-tip, bananas and pretzels in all shades of the rainbow. And I’ve also been told one might expect an encounter with the mythical Unicorn.
This “Perfectasy” I speak of is all the aforementioned and more, so I grabbed the designer ONCH, who is partially responsible for this dreamscape and asked her to show me the tell behind the tale.
Sketch Theatre‘s mission is simple: to inspire artists through videos of established professionals doing what they do best, sped up and set to music. There is something incredibly inspiring and reassuring in watching the creative process, watching blank paper and graphite become jagged lines that grow into something else entirely. It lets us watch and learn, step by step, realizing that, yes, it is all possible with enough practice and dedication.