ArtRx LA
LOS ANGELES — This week, a show dedicated to a legendary LA radio DJ opens, a three-day multi-media performance returns to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), the media arts space Coaxial hosts a GIF arts festival, and much more.
LOS ANGELES — This week, a show dedicated to a legendary LA radio DJ opens, a three-day multi-media performance returns to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), the media arts space Coaxial hosts a GIF arts festival, and much more.
Dedicated To You: An Exhibition for an Armenian-American Disc Jockey
When: Opens Friday, July 17, 6–11pm
Where: Glitter Death (1443 N Highland Ave, Hollywood, Los Angeles)
Beloved radio DJ Art Laboe has been a feature of the Los Angeles airwaves since 1949, so it’s not surprising that there was a massive outcry when a station format change unceremoniously booted him from the dial this past February. Fortunately 93.5 K-DAY recently announced they would pick up his syndicated shows from 6pm–midnight on Sundays. The 89-year old Armenian-American disc jockey, who actually coined (and trademarked) the term “Oldies But Goodies,” is so much a part of LA life that July 17 is officially Art Laboe Day here. Fittingly that’s the day that Dedicated to You, an exhibition of memorabilia and fan art dedicated to Laboe, opens at Glitter Death.
Step and Repeat
When: Friday, July 17, 6–11pm; Saturday, July 18, 6–11pm; Sunday, July 19, 6–10pm
Where: The Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) (152 North Central Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles)
Step and Repeat is back! MOCA’s three-day celebration of live performance returns to the Geffen after last year’s debut, bringing together an assortment of musicians, comedians, poets, dancers, and performance artists. A few of the many participating artists include Iranian-Egyptian singer and producer Lafawndah; gender-bending nightlife fixture and artist Juliana Huxtable; always explosive rap-hardcore-noise act Ho99o9, Casey Jane Ellison who fuses dry, feminist comedy with digital art; and LA-based rapper and comedian Open Mike Eagle. FREE for MOCA members; $12 general admission; $30 for all three nights.
.GIF Arts Festival
When: Saturday, July 18, 8pm
Where: Coaxial (1815 South Main Street, Downtown, Los Angeles)
The debate over whether to pronounce it “giff” or “jiff” continues to rage, but one thing we can all agree on is that the GIF is a staple of our fast-paced, digital life. A low resolution animation composed of numerous still images, the GIF — “Graphics Interchange Format” — is easy to make and infinitely adaptable, one of the basic building blocks of the internet alongside cat videos and porn. This Saturday, experimental media arts salon Coaxial assembles over 70 artists for the fourth .GIF Arts Festival alongside musical and interactive performances. $10 cover charge.
Michelle Stuart: Topographies
When: Opens Saturday, July 18, 6—8pm
Where: Marc Selwyn Fine Art (9953 South Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California)
For 50 years, Michelle Stuart has worked through a diverse range of media to produce an expansive vision of land art. Her artistic output ranges from large-scale earthworks, delicate works on paper that incorporate dirt and other elements from the natural world, sculptural installations that borrow from scientific taxonomy, to more recent photographic works featuring altered archival images. Topographies is a career-spanning survey that presents drawings and photographs from this multidisciplinary environmental artist.
Ever-Newer Waters: Experimental Film and Video by Michael Scroggins
When: Saturday, July 18, 8pm
Where: Echo Park Film Center (1200 N. Alvarado Street, Echo Park, Los Angeles)
For almost fifty years, video artist and animator Michael Scroggins has been pushing the boundaries of experimental film. His career began in the late ’60s as a founding member of Single Wing Turquoise Bird, the LA-based collective who created light shows and multimedia performances for The Velvet Underground and The Grateful Dead, among others. His more recent work incorporates digital stereoscopy and motion capture techniques. Ever-Newer Waters at Echo Park Film Center presents the wide range of his creative output. $5 suggested donation. Doors open at 7:30pm.
Tala Madani: Smiley has no nose
When: Opens Saturday, July 18, 6—8pm
Where: David Kordansky Gallery (5130 W. Edgewood Place, Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles)
Tala Madani’s humorous, cartoony paintings and animations have a dark underside that exposes repression, exploitation, and the abject. For her first solo show in Los Angeles, Smiley has no nose, the Iranian-born, LA-based artist focuses on the smiley face — the counter-culture signifier that was adopted and co-opted by mainstream media and advertisers. Beleaguered middle-aged men — often the protagonists in Madani’s work — are again put through all manner of humiliations and degradations in their quest to determine why this iconic symbol lacks a nose.
