Kill Pixie Works at Merry Karnowsky, Opening Saturday, May 30, Hosted by Tim Roth
The work of Kill Pixie (the nom de graffiti of Australian-born artist Mark Whalen) is the subject of a solo exhibition at Merry Karnowsky Gallery opening May 30 and running through June 27. Actor Tim Roth will host what promises to be an intriguing opening reception. The exhibition features a collaborative installation by Kill Pixie and the band, Autolux.
Kill Pixie began as a graffiti artist on the streets of Sydney and now lives an works in L.A. He works primarily in ink and acrylic on paper mounted to wood and coated in shiny resin. Inextricably embedded in geometric, candy-colored environments, Kill Pixie's humanoid characters suggest Tinguely-like puppets operating on remote control. The machinery and structures are all made up of much smaller objects,
suggesting infinite series of Mandelbrot set-like scales that open onto a series of smaller worlds.
Miracle Mile Art Walk includes FREE admission to LACMA, Saturday, May 30th
On Saturday, May 30, at ART WALK 2009, more than 30 galleries on Wilshire Blvd., La Brea Avenue and Beverly Blvd.will be open for a self-guided tour. Admission to LACMA, Peterson Automotive Museum, La Brea Tar Pits and the Craft and Folk Art Museum will be FREE all day. Highlights include Joe Merrell’s filmed explorations of perceptions of time and space at the Page Museum, a painting lab at the La Brea Tar Pits Park (at which visitors are supplied paints, brushed and surfaces but encouraged to bring their own inspiration), artist lectures, live demonstrations and performances and a kick-ass after party at the El Rey. Click here to download a map and here for a schedule of gallery events.
Works by Bruce Naumann, Ray Pettibone, Chaz, Chris Burden, Shepard Fairey, Picasso Matisse to be auctioned in Santa Monica, May 31
Santa Monica Auctionsis holding it's 25th Anniversary Modern and Contemporary Art Auction on Sunday, May 31st, starting at 1pm at Bergamot Station Arts Center. The sale includes works by Wallace Berman, street artist Chaz, pieces by Chris Burden, a vast collection of very early and rare Raymond Pettibon original drawings from the 1980's-1990's, prints by masters Henri Mattisse and Pablo Picasso, and contemporaries Bruce Nauman and Shepard Fairey.
Llyn Foulkes Sings, Norton Wisdom Paints at The Hammer, May 29th
LLyn Foulkes(currently showing at the Hammer Museum and performing there on May 29th) has been called the Zelig of contemporary art. Over the past five decades he has been consistently inconsistent, confounding critics and galleries with dramatic changes of direction whenever it seemed like he was about to be overtaken by popular acclaim. He’s also been consistently ahead of the curve. He showed a year before Andy Warhol at the legendary Ferus Gallery in the mid-60's and was heralded as an early master of Pop with his famous ‘Cow’ (a nicely rendered creature in blank space), anticipating Warhol’s bovine prints by three years. Among the artists with whom he emerged were John Baldessari, Wallace Berman, Robert Irwin and Ed Ruscha. Although he would probably scoff at the label, many admirers regard his musical performances as performance art.
Ed Moses turned 83 in April, but you wouldn't know it by looking his recent large-scale work, on display in simultaneous shows at two Bergamont Station galleries (Frank Lloyd Gallery and Greenfield Sacks Gallery) through June 20th, which remains fresh, vigorous and lyrical as ever.
For half a century, Moses has pushed the boundaries of abstract painting. He has remained in the Los Angeles area much of his life and is one of the city’s living cultural treasures. His work ranges from compositions featuring repeated patterns to large fields of flowing color. Color is not used to describe objects, but rather to establish pure aesthetic experience.
Jim Marquez regularly crosses the bridge to downtown from East L.A. in search of art, debauchery and a good story. New pieces by Mr. Marquez will appear here, unedited and unexpurgated (cover your ears, children) every week or so and will eventually appear in book form.
Car out of sorts of late, bussing it, hoofing it, Metros. Not bad once you get used to the schizophrenic schedules. Great to get my ass out of recklessly wheeling home though after having enough to put an elephant down, but, at the same time knowing I don’t have to drive leads to more than I should, longer than I should, and, so, consequently, I find myself stumbling home at 8am, 8:30am, Friday & Sunday mornings now. Hell, even on Easter Sunday when the moms were dragging their brats to services! There I was: another brown stain on the streets of L.A.
And here we are NOW: the last drunkard on earth, poking my head out of yet another loft, yet another “after”, dreadfully late, parading down the streets closed for the “Fiasco Broadway”.
Why the fuck don’t they ever tell anybody about this crap? NO PARKING signs just ain’t good enough, I’m sorry. POSTERS should be plastered EVERYWHERE DAYS AHEAD OF TIME! I’m busy, I can’t keep track of every goddamn downtown event, especially when it doesn’t even fly into my arena of coverage, you know?
Venice Art Walk, Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17
The Venice Art Walk(this weekend, May 16 and 17) is the oldest, most adventurous event of its kind on L.A’s cultural calendar. And while it may be the only to charge (starting at $50 – actually a great value) it also offers the best opportunities in town to snap up remarkable works of art at a silent auction that includes more than 400 original works by many of the best artists now working in L.A. And it is for an extremely good cause – the Venice Family Clinic, now pushing 30 and the largest free clinic in the U.S., serving more than 23,000 Angelenos annually.
And if you don’t get your money’s worth at the silent auction, you certainly will on the guided tour of the eclectic architectural marvels that punctuate the canals wherein there dwell the royalty (or the nobility, at least) of L.A’s arts crowd. Click HERE for details regarding special exhibitions, the silent auction and architecture tours. Below is a list of participating artists and galleries:
Opera on Canvas: New Works by Antonia Guzman at Couturier Gallery
Argentinean painter Antonia Guzmán’ssecond solo exhibition of recent works (Los Enigmas, May 9 – June 13 at Couturier Gallery),explores the narrative and emotional terrain of Giacomo Puccini’s last opera, Turandot. This is challenging subject matter – in his later works Puccini was influenced by Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Rimsky-Korsakov and Turandot is a landmark work that introduced contemporary elements and eschewed traditional Italian harmonies in favor of a more modernist and international flavor. Turandot’s emotional and narrative elements are a bit strange (well, it’s an opera), and might briefly be described as the tale of a spoiled, murderous princess who is persuaded to give up beheading suitors by the power of love.
And if you don’t get your money’s worth at the silent auction, you certainly will on the guided tour of the eclectic architectural marvels that punctuate the canals wherein there dwell the royalty (or the nobility, at least) of L.A’s arts crowd. Click 