ArtRx LA
This week, a classic film from the LA Rebellion is being screened, two LA artists talk Marsden Hartley, karaoke as art is in the spotlight, and more.
This week, a classic film from the LA Rebellion is being screened, two LA artists talk Marsden Hartley, karaoke as art is in the spotlight, and more.
Sam Durant and Lari Pittman on Marsden Hartley
When: Tuesday, November 4, 7:30p
Where: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Miracle Mile, Los Angeles)
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is showing Marsden Hartley: The German Paintings 1913–1915, so there is no better time to discuss the wonderful weirdness of these abstract paintings and their rich symbolism and impact on future generations. LA-based artists Sam Durant and Lari Pittman will join Stephanie Barron, LACMA’s senior curator of Modern Art, for a panel on Hartley’s abstractions. You can be assured the panelists will discuss sexuality, politics, and identity.
Creativity in a Karaoke Culture
When: Wednesday, November 5, 7–11p
Where: USC Roski School of Art and Design (Watt Hall 104, University Park Campus, Los Angeles)
Did I just die and go to a karaoke bar? This Wednesday night event includes an artist roundtable about karaoke, followed by an open mic karaoke event, of course. Participating artists include Bobby Abate and Lynne Chan (aka New Sound Karaoke), performance artist Amy von Harrington, visual artist and writer Jibade-Khalil Huffman (who explores karaoke as a gateway to a new literary formalism … no, really), and Valerie Tevere and Angel Nevarez, who connect karaoke to political activism. If you’re going, please do me a favor and sign “It’s Raining Men.”
Genderqueer
When: Saturday, November 8, 7–11p
Where: Coagula Curatorial (974 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles)
This solo exhibition by Dave Naz explores the gender spectrum by turning his camera on transgender, intersex, pangender, and every shade in between. The show is accompanied by Naz’s new book, Genderqueer: And Other Gender Identities.
For the Love of Jazz
When: Saturday, November 8, 12p
Where: MOCA Grand Avenue (250 South Grand Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles)
Stop by MOCA to watch Larry Clark’s Passing Through (1977, 111 min), which tells the story of African-American jazz musician Eddie Warmack, who is released from prison for killing a white gangster and then refuses to give into the mobsters running the music industry. A leading director of the LA Rebellion film movement, Clark has made a powerful film that clearly demonstrates his love of jazz, as the opening seven-minute credit sequence is an homage to jazz and jazz musicians.
The Face of Smoke
When: Continuing until November 15
Where: Night Gallery (2276 E 16th Street, Downtown, Los Angeles)
Large colorful wax sculptures by an artist named JPW3 (aka J. Patrick Walsh) fill the gallery of one of my favorite LA spaces. The artist explains that the sculptures are referencing a sound, but there’s also a sound collaboration with Daniel Pineda on display. I’ll let JPW3 explain his process:
Yeah, there’s always a relationship between the sound, the performance, movement, and just — sounds always bouncing off everything, and sound is sort of what keeps us continuing to have heat and friction in our lives. For all of the things in my exhibition, there is something related to heat or something giving off heat or smoke, or an effervescence of some sort, the wax is heated and melted through a very simple process, and you smoke zig zags very simply.
