This is the sort of stuff that makes you appreciate Los Angeles: a full-on arts/music/film/food/everything festival curated by Mike D of the Beastie Boys, featuring works by people like Will Fowler, Benjamin Jones, Mike Mills, Takeshi Murata, Cory Arcangel and more. For 17 days, MOCA will host Transmission L.A.: AV Club, which "will illustrate how audio and visual art forms complement and influence each other." Kicking off the event is none other than Santigold, and Roy Choi of Kogi and Chego fame will be providing exclusive eats on the weekends.
From encasing a shark in formaldehyde to encrusting a skull with diamonds, artist Damien Hirst has become world-famous for his creative risks. But the guy also knows how to market.
To put it modestly, Hedi Slimane is one of the most well-respected and most admired names in the fashion industry. He's helped build the modern fashion houses of Yves Saint Laurent and Dior Homme, and quite singlehandedly created what is the slim silhouette so common nowadays in menswear. But Slimane hasn't stopped there: he also designs album covers (Daft Punk), and writes and photographs (Vanity Fair).
My part of the new blog format is a weekly roundup of cool things, from L.A. and beyond, currently on my radar. Please click the links to explore, and I hope you enjoy ...
We're big fans of TOMS, and of fun parties, here at the BEAT.
The Miracle Mile/Mid-City district is a peculiar one: packed with shops from Melrose to the Grove, eateries along Beverly and Fairfax, and cultural centers like LACMA, the El Rey or the New Beverly, there's a lot going on. But there's also no freeway in sight, making the area a certain kind of trek on weekends and during weeknight rush hours -- and yet one that's totally worth it.
There's nothing quite like seeing a Warhol in person. And though you've surely seen his iconic Soup Cans printed in books and magazines or on the Internet, seeing the intricate detailing of all the names and labels on the cans in person makes the art piece really something else. It brings a deeper appreciation to the little things, the simpler things. Beauty in what is, even if it's just your dinner for the night.
Have you gotten enough of Miranda July yet? The actress/artist/author/filmmaker has been all over L.A. recently, promoting her new film The Future, and it seems she hasn't quite tired of our city quite yet.
If you love exploring downtown Los Angeles as much as we do, check out Bloomfest LA this weekend.
I'm a sucker for limited edition (and attractive) beauty product packaging. Jean Paul Gaultier's Classique Summer Fragrance for 2011 is on shelves, and has all the right notes. While rose isn't normally something I go for in a perfume, its orange blossom, lemon, and jasmine make this 'Classique' a perfect summer scent, with some vanilla and musk in there too for good measure. And the bottle is marvelous.
I have a soft spot for posters. A really, really soft spot. Something about the combination of my love for art and my love for pop culture, probably. So when I see a good poster, my heart aches a bit.
Last month we told you about the Rodarte exhibit opening at MOCA's Pacific Design Center.
This very cool architectural art piece of Muhammad Ali is currently just outside the Staples Center at L.A. Live. It is an aluminum structure, with 1,300 custom boxing speed bags making up Ali's image, and miles of stainless steel cables. After two years and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent, it's finished--and on display to the public first in Los Angeles, then onto New York, Miami, Asia, and Europe.
If you caught the Oscars last weekend, you might have heard Best Actress winner Natalie Portman sneak in a thank you to Rodarte. Rodarte, consisting to the two sisters Laura and Kate Mulleavy, designed the gorgeous ballet costumes seen throughout Black Swan (and also Portman's mahogany dress for the night), and are widely considered a great new force in the fashion world. Their designs are often conceptual, sensual and just downright beautiful. It's no wonder that the art world would soon seek them out.
Beverly Hills' Gagosian Gallery has an exciting new exhibition: "Unfinished", by James Franco and Gus Van Sant. Between acting in several films a year, going to graduate school, and co-hosting the Oscars, it's impressive Franco has time for anything else at all--let alone an awesome art show.
I've talked about my admiration for the work of artist David Choe here on the BEAT before, and if you so happened to have sadly missed that show, you've got another chance to see Choe's work in person.
Who hasn't ever wanted to read someone else's diary? A journal can be the most honest and revealing portrait of one's self, a keeper of secrets and unexpressed thoughts, a trough of memories.
I know Mark Mothersbaugh's name primarily as the original composer for many of Wes Anderson's films. But he is actually probably more known as the frontman for Devo (yep, that one), and he also happens to be an artist.
