LACMA Show

Went to the Art of 2 Germanys show at LACMA today. It broke up the art from West and East Germany, concentrating on the time divided by the Berlin Wall. It was interesting to go through the history of the 2 sides via artwork. The show is on the 2nd floor of the Broad Bldg., and is quite extensive.

Also on display in a completely separate show and building, is German expressionism before the wars. And yes, it was as angular and violent as the postwar art. However, there is a gallery with Bauhaus art that is outstanding.

Dennis Miller put it best, "I view the falling of the Berlin wall similar to Rowan and Martin. I wasn't a fan of their earlier work, so I'm not too excited about their getting back together."

President Obama & Oingo Boingo's Only a Lad

Colors

I restocked my aquarium today...finally. It got me to thinking about color in nature. There are  3 kinds of tropical fish, community, semi aggressive and aggressive. The community fish are, for the most part, boring. They are still and not so colorful in most cases. Semi aggressives are quite active and more colorful. The most aggressive category is by far the most colorful and active. And the highest maintenance and most expensive of the 3 types. I get the semi aggressive fish for my tank.

In the plains of Africa the most colorful animals are the ones that are the prey. They typically have eyes more on the sides of their heads, so they can keep an eye out for danger. The predators tend to be tan and have eyes facing forward on their heads. When human hunters or those on safari go out, we dress in tan colors. A zebra striped pith helmet may not be such a good idea.

Hello Dad, I'm in Jail

Finally made to Jail Gallery Sat. night. What a surreal experience. It is located directly across the street from the L.A. County jail, in a strip center that looks just like every other strip center, except the only tenants, other than the gallery, are bail bond companies. And all are lit up like Vegas shops, with lots of lights.

This makes me think that bright and dancing lights attract the unintelligent among us. When one exits the dull interior of the jail, he is faced with wonderful lights. Same thing with Vegas or Times Square. Those places are wonderful at first, but give me a headache after about 5 minutes. Counter this with libraries or any other building of higher learning or commerce. Never are they covered with bright lights, demanding attention and begging to be noticed.

Oh, and Jail is a nice gallery and Lisa Nardoni has done a wonderful job of promoting her artists and attracting attention. The gallery and its artists have been written up in many publications. So if you are in downtown, Jail is a few blocks from Chinatown, go check it out.

And yet even more art

Had a huge brunch at Chinatown, then went to the Los Angeles Art Show. I spent a few hours milling through never ending display booths of galleries from all over the world. And the place was packed. There was some fantastic art to be found, and a lot of great looking galleries. It also appeared people were actually buying art.

It's been a long day, and I'm fried. No school for my daughter tomorrow or Tuesday, so I can get a little extra sleep, or more likely, get started in the studio sooner.

A weekend of art

I went to Art LA yesterday. It featured well over 100 galleries from all over the world and a wide variety of art. I was surprised at finding about half a dozen galleries in L.A. that I had never heard of, and upon asking found out they were all in Chinatown. Last I heard Chinatown was drying up in terms of galleries, as everyone moved to Culver City or went out of business in this economy.

Today I'm bringing some new paintings to Orlando Gallery and headed to Bergamot Station, Culver City and Chinatown tonight. Tomorrow it's dim sum with friends in Chinatown and the Los Angeles Art Show in downtown.

Lots going on this weekend.

Twitter

I'm finding Twitter to be quite addicting. When explained, it sounds silly, but actually functions extremely well. Perfect example here. The Tour Down Under bicycle race started in Australia, and director sportiff Johan Bruyneel is sending updates from the team car, using his blackberry. How cool is that? And it sounds like Lance Armstrong is keeping up so far, and is in a breakaway.

Even a photo of Lance, back at his day job:

January 20, 2009

I spent most of today watching the inauguration. Certainly more than I've ever watched of previous presidents. It was amazing the see the number of people in the crowd. If you've ever walked the mall from the Lincoln to Washington Memorials, it's a good hike, and today it was packed.

There seems to be a genuine happy feeling in D.C., and I was happy watching history. All of my artist friends expressed their happiness on Facebook, etc.

It will be interesting to see what happens starting tomorrow, to say the least. Hopefully he can get the banks loaning money again soon and jumpstart the economy. Then people can start buying art again ; )

Music

I was talking to a musician friend the other day. I said I preferred the sound of a VHS tape over a DVD or CD. He agreed completely. Then we talked about records vs. CDs. He made a point that with ipods, mp3s, DVDs, etc., kids today do not know what high quality music sounds like. Hopefully either mp3s will have a higher quality sound in the future, or a new way of listening will be invented.

One step forward and two steps back, in a way.

And don't even get me started on album cover art becoming CD cover art to, now, thumbnails.

The other thing he was talking about is how many bands now, will either hire or work with member of the band to record music without being in the same room. They play their instrument, record it and send it off to be compiled and incorporated into the song. Sounds like a lot of musicians are doing this, but don't want people to know they do it. So I'm not revealing my source, but would mention that if little Timmy's garage band needs a drummer, they may be able to hire Neil Peart ; )

History

I remember when I was a kid , skateboarding at my friend's house (dating myself here). His mom came out and told us to come inside the house and said, "You're watching history." We watched as Nixon announced his resignation as president on tv, live.

I feel the same way about Obama's inauguration on the 20th, although this will be more of a positive part of history.

This not only seemed like the longest campaign ever, but the longest president elect transition ever. Just hope Obama can do something about this depression before the soup lines start again. And no, I'm not old enough to remember soup lines.

Keep Pushing

I have been working on some paintings lately that are more abstract than those I typically make. I finished two, and have three more in progress. I am happy with their progress, and like the new direction. Although they are unlike paintings I made in the past, it is clear that they have my "style". They interest me because they make me explore painting through a different process.

A weekend in the artworld

Last night I went to a handful of openings, all on opposite ends of town. Moira Hahn's amazing show in Culver City, Lisa Adams' show in Mid Wilshire (one of the years best) and Renee Amitai's show at Cella Gallery in North Hollywood. Sales were strong at all shows and the art was excellent.

I was surprised at how much North Hollywood changed. Mention North Hollywood and it brings images of blue collar, mullets, skinheads and muffler and welding shops. It was a place to avoid at all costs. But now, Lankershim Blvd. is filled with night clubs with lines of 100+, restaurants, hip stores, lofts and polished art galleries. Couldn't believe it.

Today we headed out to Photo LA. Great seeing photo galleries from all over the world. Lots of amazing work. I have officially overdosed on art this weekend. Will be nice to spend tomorrow back in the studio.

The monthly Downtown Artwalk was last night. Getting there was a nightmare, with an overturned car on the 101. I did not know what to expect, given the economy, but the streets and galleries were packed. I wonder if it is mostly downtown residents, and I wonder how sales are going. I didn't see any red dots at all.

I saw a few people I know, but didn't get a chance to say hi. It was that crowded and they were busy in conversations. Well, there are a lot of openings Sat. night that I am attending. Hopefully I can get to them, as the main 3 I want to go to are in N. Hollywood, Mid Wilshire and Culver City. I don't know if it will be possible with traffic to get to each one.

And now for something completely different

I really enjoyed the movie, Dead Man. It starred Johnny Depp and was directed by Jim Jarmusch. It was basically a bizarre artsy black and white western with one of the greatest movie soundtracks ever by Neil Young. Anyway, there is a scene at the end where Wm. Blake (Depp) is dying and is put into a canoe by his native American friend, named Nobody, to sail into the next life. Wm. Blake asks his friend a question, and Nobody says, "This life no longer concerns you, William Blake." and shoves his canoe into the ocean.

This is 2009, in a nutshell. Things have changed so much so fast that the past is of little use any longer. Reality needs to be reinvented, in terms of dealing with a completely different economy and market place.

So use this Ox year, as intended, and make a new foundation for where you want to be in 10 years.

Interview

Nice interview with An about her show at the Brooklyn Museum. She communicated using Twitter, but typed in Morse code instead of text.

The Brand Library

I went to the Brand Library today in the Glendale hills. It is a funky Islamic looking structure with an excellent collection of art and architecture books. As always, I would bring home more books but I could only carry so many. They also have a huge selection of music and an art gallery. The art gallery building was done in (I think) the '60s and was modern for that time, but does not go at all with the main library building, which it connects. The good thing is the site is very sloped, so the gallery building is sort of hidden from view by hills and trees.

I made this sketch a few years ago of the original house on the property.

The bad guys and their L.A. houses in film

Bizarre version of a great Bauhaus song

Low. Life. from Clayton Cubitt on Vimeo.

LEED AP

I was, at first, excited about the LEED program. Finally people decided to care about environmental issues. But, as with most regulations, it just adds more bureaucracy and hoops to jump through.

LEED basically sets up a series of points one can get by following environmental guidelines. For example, add bike racks or use only materials manufactured within 500 hundred miles of the project site.

And what is wrong with this? Well, it is what we should be doing in the first place. Have we become so ignorant that we need to be rewarded for doing the right thing? It is like getting a tax break for proving that we come to a complete stop at stop signs.

I am not being cynical, there are a lot of LEED guidelines that should be followed and I am glad we are thinking about such things. My objection is the enforcement of needless rules in society. Doing what is right is not a difficult concept, and one should not expect a reward for it.