Snap LA

Bat wings

2011-12-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

Angel town has many wings. I love them all.

Then the stencil dude appeared and beautified the streets with one of those smart, sweet, punk or political sidewalk remarks.

Culture Jamming, Ron English in Los Angeles

2011-11-20T14:22:00.000-08:00

It was quite a psychedelic carnival yesterday at Ron English' LA show. Ron, as most people know, is famous for billboard subvertising since the 90ties and in-your-face street art like murals on the Berlin wall. He's still doing the occasional radical act on unexpected "canvasses" but focuses most of his social comments on paintings and reaping the benefits for years of provocative public service.

The Culture Jammer and "proud of my ego" avid self promoter was hanging out with a couple hundred guests and spectators, some of them dressed to out-pop the master, many fitting perfectly to the screaming colors and fantastic figurines. Was there Spice Girl music?

He must be a fan of Startrek, whispered a guy in my ear, they always landed on these weird planets...

Corey Helford Gallery was so packed, people had to wait to get in. Which of course made it so much more needed.

Finally inside, one could ogle at four Combrat girls who, freshly exported from his paintings, played contemporary tunes with classical instruments. The clowns are actually rather freaky, being a wink to the Mc Donald dude who kills people with fatty burger bombs, one of our oh so subtle contemporary chemical weapons.

Stop.

Think.

Be unusual. Please.

Info: Graffiti
Too much to say, more later, also video clip.

Paparazzi LA

2011-11-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

William H. Macy, November 2011 in Silverlake, Los Angeles, California.

I love movies, follow some of the smart and quirky TV shows and I love meeting my evening visitors in my morning hang outs, slurping their espressos next to me. The wanna bees hang in Beverly Hills, dressed up, the cool and successful guys hang in my hood mostly dressed down.
As I'm bumping into actors and actresses nearly every day, I thought why not snapping them as a part of street art - their unpolished, raw side. I like the sound of the secret click, that tiny thrill of the undetected hold of a moment.

Actress Felicity Huffman (L) and William H. Macy arrive at The Clinton Foundation's "A Decade Of Difference" Gala at The Hollywood Palladium on October 14, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.
"We had an opportunity to lead the world in a different way after 9/11 and we blew it. And I don't know if we'll ever recover. And then we re- elected that bonehead. I want to walk around saying, 'I'm so sorry.' America's a dichotomy. It's binge and purge. It's really right-wing, and also the left is coming up. It's stuff yourself and then starve yourself."

Toronto native Patrick J. Adams plays Mike Ross, a brilliant college-dropout, on the new hit series Suits after appearing in diverse shows and movies. He was patiently waiting for his coffee drink at our little NY like deli, Broome's.
Cold case actress Kathryn Morris played the lead, Lily Rush, for seven years, from 2003 - 2010 and likes to lunch in Atwater.

Lily Rush

I always fancied gossip, so 'girl' of me. LA is just perfect for the lighthearted superficial stuff of life.

Shepard Fairey

sports one of
his warmer fashion creations, as it rains today in California.

Perfect pair of hunters

2011-09-09T23:22:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles, September 2011, was dem einen nicht mehr gefaellt, schmeckt dem naechsten.

Becca all over LA

2011-08-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

Becca is back on the streets after making a career for herself outside her former Echo Park/LA hood. I met her nice little ladies recently in downtown LA. - right by the warning of corporate violence and with the voluptuous Wurstkueche close by.

One has to be worried to lose one's slender lady figure as LA seems to swing with the love of Wurst. The latest is Berlin Currywurst in Silverlake, I can't wait. Why mix street art with street food? Cause I oh so treasure them both.

Ironie on the Streets

2011-07-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

I start to love downtown LA.

Mano Lisa, Downtown LA

2011-07-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

Lisa's bro is pretty serious.

In Honor of Punk 2

2011-07-17T23:50:00.000-07:00

Nearly all galleries had openings in Culver City this past Saturday with a few highlights like Honor Fraser's punk manifesto, a pretty cool Gesamtkunstwerk of posters, flyers and other ephemera assembled by artist and erstwhile punk, Toby Mott.

Press release:
Ephemeral and throwaway as each of these objects were, collected together they tell, in uniquely immediate and visual terms, a part of the history of Britain, the history of ideas, and the history of art. Punk has always exerted a fascination, but perhaps never stronger than at this moment. The legacy of punk has permeated modern culture and society, and its visual vocabulary infuses much contemporary art, while the punk spirit resonates in particular with the anti-elitist, DIY ethos of today’s young, blogging artists and musicians. This exhibition recalls the anarchic spirit of authenticity and amateurism, the volatile and ambiguous celebration of negativity, creativity, violence and protest that was Punk.

Shepard Fairey mingled, I see him often on openings lately... Real punks didn't show up, just a dog with a grim chin.

On we went and swallowed a few really boring l'art pour l'art shows, jeez, what are they thinking? I guess they didn't. I can't be impressed by glow in the dark ropes or copulating flesh, nor do I find photographs of word puzzles appealing which need five pages of intellectual blabla to explain why they are supposed to be cool. The image has to speak, scream, whisper or yodel for itself otherwise it's like those annoying amateur movies where images just seem to be illustrations for massive dialogue.

Lost in the white open spaces...

Kopeikin showed some fantastic extraterrestrial works from Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick.

Look at this, one lady says to the other. He has wings... You know it's on Mars? asks the fellow on the left. Really? How do you know? Opened a bar there, he answers. Called: Blastaway... and disappears before I could get his card.

Cuba TV by Simone Lueck and Jeffrey Milstein's Cuba on the streets were totally worth wandering around for... Thinkspace, who rarely disappoints my slightly art snob taste, (I get impatient sometimes after the experience of searching for convincing new talent for my own gallery for a couple years) was the winner of red dots, Tran Nguyen's work was nearly sold out.

A skinny man in a bright and shiny silver shirt slithered into Blum and Poe, where a group show called Glee "is imbued in an atmosphere of joyful madness". We found the selected works neither "blissful nor seductive" as described by the gallery but felt the "incumbent sense of tragedy" when the silver man was sucked in by the "joyful madness" and loudly laughed at the pictures, before he, nimble on his feet like a Fred Astaire, disappeared in the crowd, the crazy laughter still hanging in the air... If he was staged this was good, really good...

In Honor of Punk

2011-07-16T17:43:00.000-07:00

In honor of punk and the writer of all things punk Hollow Skai, we announce:

Loud Flash: British Punk on Paper

The Mott Collection

July 16, 2011 —
August 27, 2011

Opening Reception
July 16, 2011
6:00 — 9:00 PM

Vamos ver...

The Narcissist's Mirror

2011-05-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

It's the simple I-Phone, people...not the Hipstamatic.

Curator Deitch white washed street painting as too political!!!

2011-05-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES, CA – MOCA LATTE: "The project aims to generate vital discussion and engagement in street art in the wake of the controversy caused by MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch’s decision to whitewash a mural he commissioned from well-known Italian street artist Blu. Deitch removed Blu’s work, an antiwar work which depicted military-style coffins draped with dollar bills instead of flags, from the side of MOCA’s Geffen building in Little Tokyo in an attempt to avoid what he thought might create a political uproar. Ironically, he was then skewered in the art blogosphere for destroying an important creative work."
(On a side note: Youtube now censors video clips from slaughter houses as they find reality to brutal, but chewing on tortured pig meat is not?)
The guys from privately underwritten MOCA-latte quietly launched their Red Sticker Campaign, which invites Angelenos to play “Deitch for a day” by ‘APPROVING’ or ‘DISAPPROVING’ the street art of Los Angeles.
“The incident piqued my interest, not due to the issue of censorship, or the removal of Blu’s work, but the existence of a newly engaged public talking about art in Los Angeles,” says Nick Douglas, the force behind MOCA-latte, “Deitch and his actions served as a lightning rod for debate regarding the role of the museum and art.”
Deitch, who put a glossy version of street art into the halls of the Geffen Contemporary, (see my comments below) already showed with the aesthetics that he does not seem to get the nature of street art: to question, to provoke and enlighten, not to show a rosy reality of the holy kind.

Moca's Street Art & Masses & Moi

2011-04-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

So I went to Moca's street art retrospective and to make my review short: It was a mass spectacle with hundreds of guests streaming in from all sides, which put me off first but then saved the day. The exhibit was too stifled, glossy, selective, somewhat plastic fantastic. The people brought back the life of the streets, gave the whole thing power and vibrancy.

My snaps show the unconscious communication between spectator and object, a cool, somewhat even magical interaction. The paintings effectively called for movement. Some just called for color, or this blurp in time...

Others watched to be watched...

... and some stuff was just fantastic fun.

... and many spectators were artful themselves.

I can't help it, I have this thing with mirrors...... this mirror plastered walk way was a dream come true.

MOCA loves street culture

2011-04-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

There is no way not to visit MOCA this month presenting the Ueber Zeitgeist exhibit Art in the Streets, right at the heart of our time. How many times did I lament about the eager white washing swat team painting over amazing story telling walls in LA? Maybe they'll last a little longer in the future. Check in for a review.

Street Art

2011-04-15T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hit the breaks, look at Alfredo's Market! Another one of these story telling walls, ahhh, lovely

In honor of Moca's street art exhibition tonight here's some real, unpaid, street art. I love how every detailed shot becomes a piece of amazing!! itself.

Tonight at Karnowski's

2011-01-29T19:39:00.000-08:00

Victor Castillo, Rebel with a cause, opening tonight at Merry Karnowski.

Invitation for screening of "The Fighter"

2010-12-03T14:03:00.000-08:00

Gallery 1988 invites you to a free screening on Dec 4, with beer and all...

Ah, La's street art

2010-11-30T11:27:00.000-08:00

Roa at New Puppy Gallery, LA

Roa left his signature on a couple of buildings...

I could bite myself that I had to miss Thinkspace Gallery 5 year anniversary. They are one of my favorites. Next show on December 11 from 7 -10 pm.

Friendly LA

2010-10-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

Street Art

2010-10-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

Enviro Rebel Art

2010-10-22T15:50:00.000-07:00

Dimitri Tsykalov is an avid environmentalist and animal activist creating interesting perishable art. He did some provocative meat work before.

love brick walls

2010-10-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Not to run into though...

Funky Cool Art Los Angeles

2010-08-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

Worth checking out at Merry Karnowski's in LA.

Girl with hairy legs, Hollywood, CA

2010-08-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Cruising Hollywood to discover new writer salons. Sabor e Cultura is colorful, eclectic with lots of Mac laptops and tasty food. The view is interesting but typical Hollywood funky grunge.

Always better to watch the computer bags....

Who doesn't love Dexter?

2010-07-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

... and Dexter loves those body parts.

Funky Silverlake, California

2010-04-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

Coming from beautiful Micheltorrena and the Paramour Mansion I have to stop at this lovingly adorned tire on some junky car. Looking further ahead, the flames on the gate behind it ask me to peek through the fence. Funky! an oh so Silverlakian design.

Kennedy in the paint shop

2010-04-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

The lovable thing about LA are those little surprises when one dashes by bizzaro art objects on street corners or finds trucs of the past in something so mundane like a paint shop. I saw Kennedy's image lurking between paint pots, it's actually an original with a handle and the owner of the business waived it at the Senator before he was the famous president.

Jill even lovingly framed the 60ties flyer inviting to support the charismatic democrat. Was the last honest democrat killed with him?
How fitting: the history channel announced it's mini series "The Kennedy's" airing in 2011 and produced by famously conservative Joel Surnow. Mmh.

Streets of Silverlake

2010-02-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

Accidental beauty in LA

2010-01-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

I visited Nature Friend's amazingly funky and accidentally super eco-friendly wedding site in the hills of Sierra Madre and, too excited to go back to normal afterwards, I do what I love, I aimlessly cruise LA's grungy neighborhoods.

... to find that my favorite story telling wall fell into the hands of the overly zealous LA clean-up crew. They seem not to have the sensibility to distinguish between art and "dangerous" gang graffiti.

...while shooting what's left, Jackie drives by yelling:" You wanna take my picture, hein, yeah?"

Moving into the hills, her huge engagement ring still sparkling in front of my eyes, I hear a beautiful saxophone melody soothing my ears.

Behind his truck...

.... he plays overlooking the valley where Silverlake dreams of Hollywood success.

Monsters on Melrose

2010-01-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Watch out when you look up from your steering wheel, some monsters are right in your face. What we can't often say from those living within us and make us step into the muddy puddles of life. But then, pain defines us, says Caprica, and challenges show us who we are or can be. So say we all.

Seeds of Rebellion

2009-12-13T22:01:00.000-08:00

Shut up, girl

2009-10-20T14:40:00.001-07:00

How often in a day to we say what we really mean? Antiseptic makes their opinions public through fashion.

Love LA

2009-09-09T15:07:00.001-07:00

LA is grunge, dirt, beauty and art and it surprises me every day with traces of creative people in the funkiest corners. Ephemeral art is gone as fast as our lives, so I try to hold on....

Fascinated by Decay

2009-09-04T16:40:00.000-07:00

"I am against nature. I don't dig nature at all. I think nature is very unnatural. I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay." Bob Dylan
Yeah Bobby you're right, who likes to see bodies wilting, faces wrinkling? Who wants to be reminded of their own demise in every media covered death or feel the pain of finite existence in aging dogs, cats, parents? Not me, I'm not Zen enough, not religious enough and lost my dreams of the amazing afterlife in science projects. Maybe, if I re-connect to my inner Alien I'll rediscover the sense of existing. Without free will it's all a bit of a joke. Just the fact that we have no saying in weather we wanna die or not absurdifies the notion of free will.
"I am against death. I don't dig death at all. I think death is very unnatural. I think the true dreamer would negate death." Angie Weihs

Decay fascinates me in a morbid way, crumbling houses, peeling paint, overgrown train tracks, disintegrating roads...rust, ah how beautiful can rust be. I stare into old people faces, intrigued, but never wanna see myself like that, I rather eat Nanos.

Copyright: Angelica Weihs

Growing up with Natives

2009-09-04T01:15:00.001-07:00

The boy who drummed with Indians is now on a vision quest of his own, walking the path of scientific discovery in college. Fry bread in the past, calculus on the plate.

Let go of the tension

2009-09-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

Santa Fe, play ground for my soul for five years, still rocks between ethereal hope and blood soaked dispair of impossible freedom.

Law of attraction

2009-07-23T02:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to visit Andrew Hosner a couple of days ago to check on a painting of Hannah Stouffer. The gallery was closed but I found amazing street art surrounding it.
Art to art...

Coldplay in LA

2009-07-20T09:53:00.001-07:00

Coldplay in Los Angeles, a great way to spend your Saturday night. The show steamed itself into an amazing, passionate, fun, and quirky event with surprises like the group disappearing and appearing again on top of the hill to perform a couple songs amidst the cheapest seats.

Chris Martin played the joker card all through the concert as in doing a kinda impromptu semi rap, commenting on himself: If you wanna summarize you shouldn't improvise... or when he praised LA at the end of a song: Actually I'm only talking so much, cause I fucked up the ending of the song...

A billion paper butterflies tumbled over the 15,000 flipped out fans, one being Tom Cruise... we left hyped and happy.

Photos: U2Soul

The Secret and the Shadow

2009-07-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Uh, I am so squeakyly happy. I love these rather rare but adorable moments when one feels like dancing on clouds without any apparent reason. What did I do lately for me to giggle with a shiver of acknowledgment? Against financial rationality I bought a painting by Hestin Lostwood called: You keep it in like that too long, it'll eat you alive.

I liked the anime-esk feel of it with the touch of innocent fairy tale and the stab with the golden dagger of truth cutting through the bull shit of reality.
Next day I spontaneously decide to leave my desk where emails of authoritarian power people made me shrink into my flip flops. I haven't taken pictures in weeks and the street is my adventure...
I peak into side roads and find Sancho. Ola amigo, what do you have to offer?

He's riding along in a colorful wall of graffiti and my smile gets brighter discovering fantasy creatures and even the beam me away space ship, which always lifts my moods. ET 101...

At the end of the street is a "recycling here" sign, pointing to a backyard full of bottles and cans and - more art.

I leave the car running in the middle of the street, just in case people get annoyed by me shooting into their business. A Hispanic grand pa walks towards me.

He involves me into a friendly chat and shakes my hand: I am Manuel. I am right back in Portugal, one of the countries in which I lived for a couple of years and my emotional "home". People are sweet there, innocent, warm and invite you into their houses for home made wine, big loafs of country bread and whatever comes from the char coal grill in their front yard.

What does that have to do with the painting I bought?
Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is
embodied in the individual’s conscious life,
the blacker and denser it is.
At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag,
thwarting our most well-meant intentions.
— Dr. Carl G. Jung
Obviously I bought the painting as I identified with it. It was time for the big bad shadow monster to remind me to be myself from time to time. Be happy, be angry, say yes or say no, but do what is real. The "secret" was nothing new, it's the ancient law of attraction, Jung's mirrors and the alchemists' : “As above, so below, as within, so without”. What it is saying is that what is within us, will also be outside of us. Inner states of consciousness will be reflected in outer situations time and time again, till we get it.

We attract what we are in the outside world so that we can see our hidden traits in the mirror our fellow humans provide for us. That's what makes our enemies our best friends: they have the power to open our eyes to know ourselves.

Hestin Lostwood "But the Simple Gesture Would Not Be Enough To Save Her"
My cute little inner demon, the princess of my shadow castle is Gina, mischievous, sexy, outgoing, powerful, demanding but only allowed to play when her gate keeper, moi, has an epiphany - or a drink... and that's why I get slapped in the face from time to time, facing what I deny myself in the mirrors of daily life. It's the revenge of the shadow girl, but sometimes life becomes her play ground and she shares her multi colored ice cream cone with me. The streets of LA are hers and she woke me up to creative projects I had pushed aside.
Of course today I'm sitting on the desk....

Thinkspace

2009-07-07T11:28:00.001-07:00

Don't miss this Friday (7/10) at Thinkspace in Silverlake: one of my favorites, Hannah Stouffer will be on the "Fresh Faces" wall. Her work is dark, mythical, symbolic with a touch of light and transformational vibes to awaken the interest of a Scorpio like me.

2009-06-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

I love my dog.

Venice Beach Fluff

2009-05-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

From Silverlake to Venice Beach - I changed the scenery to spice up my digital and work flow knowledge at Julia Dean's Photo workshops, right by the Venice board walk.

After exercising our new wisdom, the group had lunch in the rather cool, meaning not so touristy and partially organic, Figtree Cafe on Ocean Boulevard. Some of us produced some accidental art work.

After bumping into some ancient advertisement I couldn't leave without taking a mini stroll through the neighborhood.

Love the back yard culture.
Kill Pixie had a huge show yesterday at Merry Karnowsky and on June 4 a couple cool street art guys will exhibit at Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art.
"the times won't save you (this rain smells of memory)"
An installation and other moments by Know Hope & "Mood Swings", featuring:
Asbestos, Bumblebee, Cena7, Fefe Talavera, Imminent Disaster, Labrona, Oddzoo
June 4 - July 2, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 4, 7-10pm

Tiny dreams of Magic

2009-05-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

Urban communication: he loves grunge, she loves nada...

and little Miss Sunshine calls: "look at meee, I'm your little Unicorn"

Banksy in London, I feel so at home

2009-05-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

Dude, I love this not very subtle sarcasm, it's so German but it comes from Banksy, the English man, portraying the American baby gangsta pouching his lips over baby teeth living the inherited grim...
Found in London, March 09

Shark Toof, Meow, finally

2009-04-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

After abstinence (blame it on the economy) some of our beloved artists dare posting and stenciling again. Life just got better. Thanks also to newly opening businesses who provide the canvas in form of building fences.

Meow!

Ah, San Francisco

2009-04-20T16:09:00.001-07:00

Lots of stuff going on in San Francisco and lots of sweet stuff is happening in Berkeley... Yes, I fell in love with Berkeley.

Cute cafes, restaurants, smart, creative green people everywhere... I'm wondering the streets, a happy grin on my face. It feels like home, Paris, Lisbon... Following my intuition and not touristic research - that's the way I discover my towns - I found my way to the first high profile and now famous vegetarian restaurant, Greens at the Marina, which opened in 1979.

Greens Restaurant is located in a converted warehouse at historic Fort Mason, which currently is home to more than 50 non-profit cultural and environmental organizations.

Totally cool: the restaurant incorporates 12 types of wood - the massive black walnut doors, the hickory stairs at the entrance, the curved bar featuring Port-Orford-Cedar, and the dining tables of maple, walnut and cherry. Much of the wood has been recycled or reclaimed.
Sitting by the window I lost myself in view of the Marina with lots of yachts and a million bucks sunset. The amazing food brought me back to the table and the Raspberry lemonade, yum, catapulted me to heaven. No really, I was there, but in an unexpected place:
On the way back to LA, looking for a breakfast espresso, I saw a sign: Guerilla.

Opening the door to rebels' dream cafe an amazingly friendly staff makes the organic espresso taste even better. My table "number" is the story of Kenya born Wangaro Maathai, who was rewarded with the Nobel prize for environmental and social works.

I met a group of laid-off journalists form NPR, re-writing their profession by learning how to deal with the new media needs, hands on mics and digital cameras. Their professor from the Graduate College of Journalism gave me a run down of the program, I so wanna go back to study...

My life, my vibe.

Talking about vibes, on the way out we passed Wang Po Shu's "Tuning Fork", which is in tune with the "earth's vibrations" and emits a sound inaudible to humans and other animals, when activated by wind or traffic.
Quote: "Commissioners decided against adding a gong that passersby could bang.(???)"

Of course, San Francisco and Berkeley are ultra green.

Even the old timers follow, they just don't know yet how to spell it...

ooo so pretty

2009-04-19T17:13:00.001-07:00

I love street art telling stories...

... even more that this artist marked his framed paintings with red dots as in: sold.

Bunnies

2009-04-09T22:44:00.001-07:00

Free the Easter Bunny. He doesn't wanna lay eggs anymore.

Skull and Bones

2009-04-08T20:36:00.001-07:00

(Photo: Ange)
Danger and power, ah, what's out fascination with skulls?
From ancient Christian catacombs to Knights Templars, pirates and Yale University, the skull and bones symbol is suspected to be the symbol of secret societies, a fun read if you love to ponder about the matrix of reality. Another religious holiday in front of our doors, we might wanna look at the writing on the walls... who knows what they inspire us to find, various stories about origin included.

CHAZ BOJORQUEZ

Swoon (Photo: Hyrk)

Booker (photo:funkandjazz)

(LA sticker heaven, Photo: Ange)

Street Art

2009-03-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Aliens visit again

2009-03-26T11:06:00.001-07:00

Street art, the human's way to crop circle his environment, reminds us: Aliens are among us, or at least, as scientists like Zecharia Sitchin describe in dozens of books, they have been here: they actually genetically modified our predecessors, formed the two-legged species, us, and they are coming again. I wonder how they'll like their children now....
A different creationist theory, certainly as colorful and bloody as the other one.
Zecharia wrote: "Man is the product of evolution; but modern Man, Homo sapiens, is the product of the 'gods'. For, some time circa 300,000 years ago, the Nefilim took ape-man (Homo erectus) and implanted on him their own image and likeness."

Biker Craze

2009-03-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

Dead Mundo

2009-03-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

Brad Pitt and the Germans

2009-03-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

Something different: the art of car production...

BMW has built the first of their Hydrogen 7 cars for public use, and handed the first set of keys over to US funny-man, Will Ferrell. 25 of the first 100 cars will be handed out to celebrities in order to promote their hydrogen cars in a predictable PR stunt that rewards multi millionaires with free vehicles - as "loaners".

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori, Richard Gere, Sharon Stone and An Inconvenient Truth producer, Davis Guggenheim, as well as more unusual names like German Federal Minister for Economy and Technology, Günter Verheugen, who most probably is the only one not swimming in cash.

The Hydrogen 7 doesn't use a fuel cell, but a normal ICE engine which can run on either hydrogen or gasoline. When running on Hydrogen the only emissions are water vapour. However, there is a long tail-pipe problem as with electric cars, in that producing the hydrogen uses a large amount of energy. In truth, these cars will do little to reduce the emissions of daily transport, but will at least create cleaner air for cyclists and pedestrians. (Courtesy: Treehugger)

Hey, BMW, what's about me? The lease of my Camry Hybrid runs out in June.... I'd be happy with a loaner.

Krauts in LA

2009-03-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

I m driving along on PCH, pass the new retro Hotel M right by my favorite health joint PC Greens, where one meets those famous Malibu residents shopping for fresh made guacamole while sipping a fresh pressed Carrot juice... Pierce Brosnan (hilarious in Mamma Mia) and wife Kelly are honorary hosts of Green Machine's St Patrick days party in Malibu next week....

Driving by Cher's marvellous villa, does she still own it? I saw her quite a while ago stepping out of her black Porsche... talking about German cars...

I'm thinking of my dad, who lives in Germany, every two minutes lately, he 's sick, so when I wipe my tears I see this oh so typical German thing. My first car was exactly the same, with the divided window and turn signals actually physically popping out of the sides by the doors like little flags. I was so proud of my antique then and wow is this antique now.

This one even features Felix the cat, born in the 1920ties and resurrected in the fifties for TV.

More Kraut less Wurst.

Skeletons in my mural

2009-02-18T01:43:00.000-08:00

Jef Aerosol

2009-02-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

Guns, no roses

2009-02-16T00:48:00.001-08:00

Glendale Boulevard, Silverlake: Where we find Ginger Grass restaurant, (absolute amazing coconut curry cod) Ghetto gloss Gallery, Silverlake Wines, the Red Lion, a German bar with wurst and all, (I only like the kartoffel puffer, but people on Yelp just love the place: "Holy Schnitzel! My dying dish is the Red Lion Schnitzel with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, and a Hofbrau Lager and from no where else!", Panty Raid, an abandoned Neutra office, Cha Cha Lounge, a weekend flea market at Citi Bank plus people's small houses and new modern dwellings. Rough-ish area with pretty spots. Get out of the car and look closer, there's real interesting stuff behind the bushes.

Life styles LA

2009-02-15T23:59:00.001-08:00

City of murals, city of passions. Taking some of these pictures I drove through run down neighborhoods. People were staring. I looked back into their eyes. I am not intimidated I thought. Coming out of the hood I drove over a side walk...

All you need is love

2009-02-09T17:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, we are creative around the upcoming day of schmooz... Thinkspace's opening on Friday the thirteenth will show one of my favorites: Anthony Clarkson. His cartoony sarcasm is right up my alley way in Silverlake. It surely reminds me of the good old times when I loved one of Germany's dark humor dandy's, Uli Stein (nowerdays a more comercial guy) in a grungy house by the Hannover canal: foggy often, spooky sometimes and always surrounded by small minded but completely lovable neighbors.
What will I do when I don't have a smart, sexy, Stargate traveling Daniel Jackson type guy around on Feb 14? See: below.

Flesh Life

2009-02-08T22:46:00.001-08:00

Close to Valentine's, the day of passion: It's dark, shivery wet and rainy in LA so it's no wonder that philosophical pondering about sex and love occurs cozied up behind the walls of our dwellings, fireplace or not. Also very timely: exhibition to the theme, like Joseph Rodríguez Flesh Life: Sex in Mexico City , which opens on Saturday, February 14 with a reception from 7 - 10 pm in the Darkroom Gallery in Los Angeles.
My friend and photographer Jihan Abdalla is on a months long journey to befriend and understand the working ladies of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and subsequently publish a book about her findings. I on the other hand dug out this clip I did a couple of years ago when the "Erotic Museum" on Sunset was still in full sexy sensual bloom.

I haven't edited the clip yet as I have no clue what's called pornography and where my limits are to publish the clip. Are photos of naked people and oh, some juicy boys on the walls of a gallery, which is packed with hundreds of guests and animated discussions, forbidden?

Attraction NO 1: Mel Roberts "California Boys". Mr. Roberts, (1923-2007) was present, rather shy behind a desk so I went over to shake his hand. He was openly gay when he was drafted for WWII, which is quite amazing - the 50ties were before him and the liberating sixties 20 years away.

"California Boys showcases the male physique blossoming amidst Southern California's most breathtaking landscapes between 1959 and 1980. From Mulholland Drive and Point Dume to Palm Springs and the Angeles Crest National Forest, boyish models swim, climb, and ride with a spirit of wholesome sensuality embraced by Roberts' Rolleiflex and his vision of man in the natural environment...."
Because frontal male nudity was considered obscene, and commercial color processing photo labs could not legally develop such content, Roberts learned to develop color photos in his home. He soon became one of the most prominent male photographers of the period, with his work being published internationally. Between 1977 and 79, Roberts was the target of two LAPD raids on his home studio, with police confiscating everything, from darkroom equipment to mailing lists, for over a year. In 1981, shortly before the AIDS crisis broke, Roberts put down his camera."

The Erotic Museum, which also presented a solo exhibition of sex-spiritual art by Mike GIANT, one of the most sought after graffiti and tattoo artists in the contemporary art revolution, put down their invitation list in May 2006.
The museum with it's goal to "deal honestly and openly with eroticism in hopes of realizing the positive potential of human sexuality" closed their doors as their heavily frequented art happenings couldn't pay the bills. The daily customer stayed away: too many clean cut tourists looking for Mickey Mouse T-shirts for the brads of their picture perfect one boy, one girl families.
Mike Giants Kundalini series integrates Buddhist philosophy with punk sub-culture as it appears on the skin of tantric and tattooed girls. He now has a clothing line, Rebel8, a new interview online and an exhibition coming up on April 25 in Paris of all towns, I'm so jealous.
My Erotic museum clip also shows the images from their at the time permanent Kama Sutra exhibition. Hey, the store is still open!
How did we get here? Ya, it's Valentine's and Robin Bros sales sparkle. Of course in our days the guys do a pilgrimage to Jared's... I'll visit Rodriguez and If I'll get the green light, the EM clip will follow - on Feb 14.

Really?

2009-02-08T19:10:00.001-08:00

What are friends for?

2009-02-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

Photo: Jenny Helene Wübbe
Today I proudly "borrow" a picture from my friend Hollow Skai's daughter Jenny. They did a road trip through half the US last summer and snapped lots of cool pictures, kinda like in the book "Weird California". Hollow wrote a couple books about punk, Neue Deutsche Welle and funky gossip about famous rockers. As music is his life, they drove to graves, dwellings and studios and everything else related to the scene and sucked up many side remarks of the bizarre.
From Johnny Ramones' statue in "Hollywood Forever" to Grateful Dead chucks in SF they took it in and Hollow poured it out and into a well known German magazine. I have mixed the stilettos into my notes - it rains, I'm imprisoned in the heated house and don't wanna soak my Nikons. I call it the act of appropriation, all in the good tradition of Shepard Fairey, who was called a plagiarist by several other artists. In his book "Supply and Demand” he actually features descriptions of source imagery and the history behind the art he "plagiarized." Not so bad then? There's a rather emotional defense for Fairey in Super Touch Art: "Many of these descriptions clarify that Fairey either chose to appropriate certain images specifically because of their historical relevance and context or selected images that best exemplified a historical period, event, or group that he wanted to illuminate." A permission to grab and re-mix for all...

Alien Head

2009-01-29T10:16:00.000-08:00

This guy is everywhere, painted on postal stickers he grims from the impossible corner or the obvious mail box. It's the subversive messaging power from stickers, (there are everywhere and whisper to our unconscious) which fascinates me and also the sparks of wonder: why would you glue a grim dude all over town? What's the deal? Who's the person behind this? Is there a deeper meaning?
It's an interruption of the daily rod, a kick with an elbow. Yes, I have to go to meet some important clients, but I'll come back to this....

Jason Wu big bad Boo

2009-01-27T23:41:00.000-08:00

Remember the dude whose website received some massive wave of 4 million hits cause he did Michelle Obama dress? Maybe they should have checked more than his style, for example his ethics, philosophy - his brain??
It turns out that Wu has some massive plans for his fall 2009 collection…and by massive I mean massively cruel!

“I’m doing a significant fur collection, and the message will be all about luxury.” ”Fashion is also sort of escapism, and women need beautiful dresses to lose themselves in.” (Access Hollywood)

The message is not just banal and chewed to tastelessness like a week old gum. One has to asked if he's a Manchurian candidate of the fashion industry: To promote luxury in scary economic times is breathtakingly insensitive and hellishly superficial. But to go for fur when the rest of the slightly aware world is leaving medieval mind sets and fights the brutality of China's fur industry where dogs and cats are stacked in crates and skinned alive - that's just, wait, does that grin look slightly insane?

Comments from Michelle Obama are greatly appreciated.

Green is wild and fun and quirky and shaman's like it too

2009-01-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

Silverlake high noon

2009-01-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

The Coffeetable in Silverlake is the real thing: no West Hollywood chiceria, no Beverly Hills hipsters, no pretense. I most probably could hang here in my pajamas and call it fab. The guys who work here are not starving actors fishing for an agent: Don sings in the Silverlake band Exoneration, Mike raises a three-year-old, O bakes gourmet cup cakes at night and dreams to become a chef. (photo) The people who hang here are the creative types: screenwriters on Mac Pro's, TV directors, graphic designers, actor from TV shows like Bones, Alter Eco, 6 feet under, House and the rest of the arty gang from the neighborhood and beyond. How fitting that the walls and feel of the cafe changes with its exhibitions, which are sometimes a little amateurish, as in: "support the community" and sometimes cool.
Deedee de Gelia certainly knows what she's doing, I love her wrapped ladies. (on the walls now)

The food is tasty, lots of greens with your turkey burger, great salads and enormous cakes. Local stuff. Were there organic offers and anything free range this would be close to paradise.

Byron (left) and manager Matthews, who's the creative mind behind holiday decor and such, posted the lunch special of today.

Brett who also owns the Taco Spot in Eagle Rock always seems to be in a good mood, joking around with his staff and conversing with his customers here and there. Paparazzi, screamed his guys and he left the building - laughing...

Mural squad

2009-01-26T01:47:00.000-08:00

LA isn't just the mother town of murals, now we've got the mobile mural squad, protectors of the art on walls. I experienced for the first time that it's really all ephemeral - the cool cat posters down below are all gone, the walls are bare, beige and boring again. Paintings have a better chance to survive just a little longer, especially now with their saviors patrolling the streets.

The end is not

2009-01-26T01:29:00.000-08:00

Nice'n heavy

2009-01-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

How old do we have to be to have have cruised the neighborhood with a boom box? I admit to the angel wings...

Green in LA

2009-01-23T23:26:00.000-08:00

The Green Business Fair on 1/22/23/24/25 had some cool, some funky and lots of useful eco stuff to offer. I checked in with the media guys, writers Mariel Hemingway, Josh Dorfman radio and TV hosts Beall and Boise Thomas.

Jason Wu, a dream come tru

2009-01-22T15:15:00.000-08:00

I wanted to keep quiet but I can't any longer - after Jason Wu's wedding type dress for Michelle Obama sparkled with a million Swarovski crystals during the first couples ten dances on various inauguration balls, it sparked 4,000.000 hits on his website - so far. The bandwidth couldn't take it and the site collapsed yesterday. Ah, the fame born by sharing the stage with the royalty of our times: presidents, Hollywood actors, rock stars...
Wu's design got lots of mixed critics. To add my 2 cents: it made her shoulders look too broad, her waist disappeared and I've seen too many fluffy wedding gowns to love it. Jason is 26, he most probably didn't ball-dance with a lovely Lady yet to know that his design wouldn't be easy to move in. Quel domage, with a snazzier design we might have seen the first love birds salsa...
Whatever the design - Michelle Obama presents herself and any robe with a calm, no fuzz self confidence inspiring us all to create our own lives and looks. Rules, regulations, so called tradition? Who cares to follow the beaten path? Now I can unearth my bell bottoms and wear them with pizazz, power and perky pride.
The Obamas are either just perfect or rising out of the best PR campaign (David Plouffe) ever. Mixing young and experienced, new comers and established vendors is great, choosing immigrants from Taiwan ((Wo) and Cuba (Toledo) - priceless.

Rebel Angels

2009-01-20T00:46:00.000-08:00

"We're in", smile all forward thinking fellow humans and hopefully the grass root movement which co-created the buzz around Obama will expand. Hopefully everybody will soon understand the slick words of the elite, words, so beautifully carved and wisely presented that they smooth our aching hearts after so much darkness, stupidity and murderous intent. Pinky grinned his bushy grin, Laura looked at the floor and the brain? He smiled his charismatic smile and doesn't wanna take over the world, he offers love and understanding to all, Muslims and Atheists alike. Thank God!
And thank the father and his black son for the promise of giving science its rightful place, things like questioning, research, innovation...
This might be the paradigm change New Agers talked about: power to the people. Is this dangerous? Are we getting real? Conscious? Will Mac Donalds finally go down? Are we letting go of Ted (or was it Tim or Tom) and Barbie? Are we saying NO to all the lies and write our own history? Hey, was Lucifer the good guy?
Obi One is our inspiration, but not the answer, we are the answer. Re-claiming our power as humans. Knowledge for all, the second coming of an advanced society...
Are we humans or are we dancers? Sure, we are absurd, but potentially lovable.
In honor of passion and the flames of truth, the slightly subversive communication through stickers burns red today:

And sometimes I get nervous
When I see an open door
Close your eyes, clear your heart
Cut the cord

Are we human or are we dancers?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancers?

Must love stickers

2009-01-19T01:36:00.000-08:00

Must love myself...

Re-Mix

2009-01-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

Party Posters inviting us to celebrate on Tuesday....
Shepard Fairey, the creator of the famous Obama poster, and often criticized for plagiarizing other people people art work, was just recently at Colbert's. Asked how he feels about other people using his Obama poster without him getting a buck for it, he didn't seem to enthusiastic about sharing. He shrugged his shoulders and everybody knowing his record wondered if Colbert was giggling inside. Democracy is big, sharing is the theme of 2009 and remix is the art of the future. Joseph Beuys (1921-86) is dancing in his grave. He proclaimed that "Everybody is an artist" in the sixties and was a very influential art guy, a classy punk, smearing huge amount of fat in corners for lots of money.

Me again, flying through the universe

2009-01-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

Monte Thrasher , creator of a fantastic mural in Los Feliz, is a designer and illustrator based in Los Angeles, California, who designed the Romulan Star Empire insignia as well as the Romulan script. The Empire was a major galactic power from the 22nd to 24th centuries. It was know for its extreme secrecy and territorial protectionism. And I thought we just had that in the last eight years. There are actually conspiracy theorists out there claiming that Bush and friends are "Greys", as in reptilian humanoids.

(Photo credit: Pablo) Monte wearing his incarnation of the "Hoffman-Meeks Infinite Minimal.."

Angelenos might have seen Monte's mural in Los Feliz - it's worth checking out if you have any inclination to one day travel through a Stargate and don't wanna loose the hope that some wise-cracking Quantum physicist will actually get to it. The generation who grew up with Stargate SG1, (whose Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson, so one of my physicist friends, proposed several theoretically sound theories) and ends up at MIT, is my hope for the jump into a parallel world. I had mind sharpening experiences in the Langued'oc/France and an area called Mata(r) Frades (killing monks) in Portugal, spontaneous, drug free connections to stories of medieval times. Living in LA, movie worlds like the Matrix or Equilibrium became my home lands as the otherworldly in daily life is subdued here, where body comes way before mind and spirit. Morphic fields... But also, thinking of ourselves as receivers, we only pick up on wave lengths we are tuned for... Roland Emmerich surely seems to have a connection open, he's now working on a possible reality of 2012.
Thanks Monte, your really put me out of my... wait, my life actually is never too rational.

Develish

2009-01-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

There you have it.

Streets of Brooklyn

2009-01-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

I popped myself up just a little and still felt totally overdressed in the "Streets of Brooklyn crowd" on Friday night, these were Silverlake folks, not your typical gallery schickeria. I walked through rather fast as the presentation of small and mid size frames had something so - thrift store to it. The small frame loaded wall somehow grows on you as Gesamtkunstwerk. I stopped at amazing Gaia, Imminent Disaster, Dennis McNett, Swoon and held the Nikon up to Matt Siren and Royce Bannon.... There's something strange about changing ad hoc art into hang-on-the-galley wall art art.
Fascinating though, as much as the discussion of re-mix, copy right and plagiarism Shepard F. style: The sense and senselessness of art, it's pedestal and punkishness, usefulness or annoyance are old ponderings. Street art collections in a rich man's foyer or guys like Fairey put it back on our plate.
The Brooklyn show is worth checking out, also, Rami Kashou, sadly beaten by Christian Siriano in Project Runway, Season 4, has his shop next door. I definitely do a re-run.

Saw this one the other day, bagged it and only discovered when I saw it full screen that it wasn't a Hail Shepard Fairey! but a Boo...

Preaching to the Quire

2009-01-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

Little did I know that, when I signed the petition in November of last year asking Barack Obama to get a shelter dog, he already had made up his mind in 2005. He had promised author of "A Rare Breed of Love" Jana Kohl to support her in her fight against puppy mills. Her book, inspired by super cute rescue dog Baby, features over 40 celebrities -- from Barack Obama and Judge Judy to the Chicago White Sox and the New York Mets. The book was written to raise awareness about the horror of puppy mills:

Baby, on Obama's arm, was rescued from a puppy-mill after nine years of confinement in a cage, her job: churning out puppies. She cannot bark because her vocal chords were cut and also lost a limb due to maltreatment. Since being rescued and adopted by Dr. Kohl, Baby spends her time advocating for other abused dogs and animals. Her plight inspired a Congressional bill that would end the inhumane practice of lifetime confinement of breeding dogs. "Baby's Bill" was proposed by bipartisan members of the House and Senate and will be voted upon in the next Congressional session.

Do your own thing

2009-01-08T19:03:00.000-08:00

Read the fine print, it says: make your own stickers

Drink your coffee in a fur coat, 1950

2009-01-07T11:18:00.001-08:00

While coffee is still on the top of our fun health sins, fur is out. Wear it in LA, be sprayed or at least spit at. I went to a 250 guest Bat Mitzvah in 2008. Not the clouds of pesticides around over-the-top center pieces made me gag - every second dame was wrapped in an exotic animal. So out, so formaldehyde... Lucky for them, they were hidden in the basement of one of LA's "luxury" hotels.

That's my LA, Baby.

2009-01-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday. I schlep groceries into my house, slam them into the fridge, grab the Nikon, jump back into the car. I need to do December sales for the accountant, but.... I drive towards Echo Park instead. There's always something cool to catch. Hundred hearty stickers on a telefon post on Glendale Boulevard stop my swift driving. U turn, snap. Little hearts are good luck: I see Tibetan prayers flags and turn into Earl. The flags turn out to be Christmas decor but the black cat guarding them is cute. Already a third down into the narrow street I'm too lazy to find a way to turn again. There's a bright blue tiled mail box... and a house by Dion Neutra... and a rotten car with a Superman "vanity" plate. Did I see a Mini Buddha glued to that mailbox? I actually u-turn for the holy man.

I wait that those two loud arguing contractors split and shoot the Buddha, then the fluffy white dog behind bright blue gates. The remaining third guy asks me what I am photographing. I explain Snap La and he invites me in. Really? He's the owner of the mail box and the house attached. I saw too many Law and Orders for this. I am Brian, he says, and this house was originally owned by Tom Mix. Tom Mix? I have to see this. Mix was an eccentric character, the first on screen cowboy, doing all his crazy stunts himself, riding three talented horses, Old Blue, Tony and Tony 2. He also was a rich womanizing man who was married seven times, drank too much and was killed after he hit the breaks of his convertible so hard that his aluminum suit case smashed his head in.

"Look at this", says Brian, "when we dug the foundations for the pool, I found old horse shoes." Shiver. Might they be from Tony, the Wonder horse? Tony was "humanely chloroformed" two years exactly on the day his beloved master Tom had died, on October 12, 1942. He was 42. Tom is buried ten minutes from where I live, a cemetery high on my list. I'm a Scorpio after all with the love for dark mysteries and bent light.
The gate closes behind me. Forget gruesome TV shows, live life. Five same size little dogs follow me around busy wagging their tails, posing for pictures: "this corner works for me."

The dogs are from local shelters, explains Brian, who might be a little eccentric himself: he invites strangers off the street, has an office stuffed with electronic music machines and collects small dogs, cartoonish art and porcelain plates. As it turns out the ladies on those plates are the only scary thing here. From his office window Brian watches little birds in the biosphere of his koi pond sipping H2O from a water spiral. For money he renovates houses - in an arty a n d eco-friendly way: non-toxic paints, bamboo flooring... I did that in Portugal where I built Adobe houses while following the styles of Antoni Gaudi and Luis Baragan. Fond memories come up and I start to like the guy. Even more when I see the amazing pool, the hand painted tiles from Mexico, the Gary Baseman paintings, the space ship lamp and the table made from an antic door and his, oh my green heaven, bio-dynamic gardens.

The man loves Lautner like me, invites me to hang out with 82 year old Dion Neutra, knows where to get gourmet vegan food, dislikes authorities... What's wrong with him? Aside of the Marihuana plants (he's legalized them) he could be my twin. We both talk as if penned up for decade and when I leave an hour later it had clicked so many times that I'm reminded of one of my "play around with weird theories" scenarios; this one says that we, as energy beings, are split into two manifestations of male and female when entering the Earth atmosphere. Not bad for a crummy Sunday to find somebody so close to my self in some little street called Earl.

Synchronistic voodoo

2009-01-04T02:16:00.000-08:00

Signs are there to be interpreted. I say: my 2009 will be super.

Real lovely actually...

Still on it...

2008-12-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

So Shepard Fairey had his fingers in the election jar powering us up with the famed Obama portrait. It was everywhere and still is. Cool, I 'm a fan. But then there's some stuff around the guy, which I find slightly disturbing. To rattle the cage, make people listen, observe, maybe even become aware of how gullible they are is a goal which I know well. Did that all my life with writing articles about "the other culture" to opening an art gallery and performance space in Portugal showing artist, who rocked their fellow beings hearts. McCain created a bad vibe around the word maverick, is Shepard the next? How can we call a guy, Shepard, a maverick when he works for multi national companies? Is the mass production of "obey" fashion subversive as in: use the corporation's money to advertise against themselves, against a mind numbing order? Or is this merely watering down rebel power by making opposition a commercial joke? Fairey has his enemies and critics who demonstrate in detail what he copied and used from other artists without mentioning the source. Not only that, he copies art works, often from revolutionary painters and graphic designers, surrounds the original with his own design or simply sticks a flag of Andre in a soldier's hand - then copyrights the whole as his own. Feels weird and not really inspiring weird. Fairey laughs about being "busted" for plagiarism. A conflict again: is he cool and punky or just somebody who makes a buck from other people's talents, amused about the art collectors who pay big bucks for it and the masses who run around in his semi- originals feeling rebel-cool for a day?

Caffeine Affectionado

2008-12-28T23:45:00.000-08:00

I refuse to own a coffee machine. I make it easier on myself and just move close to my favorite coffee houses. In Paris it was the Cafe Daguerre in the Quatorzieme, where the waiter yelled "express double" when I came in. In Santa Fe I lived two minutes from Downtown Subscription, sipping Cappucchinp with Val Kilmer who took over my baby sitter, and feeling generally in heaven as the air was thick with philosophic talks about parallel universes, visitors form other planets and finding our souls. Now it's the Coffee Table and the other gems I discover on my way through LA and surroundings. Here's is to you Viento y Agua (in Long Beach) you get the "coffee addiction of the week" in the side bar.

Air born

2008-12-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, I get it, no more shoes in the air. So what do these animals stand for, cocaine snoopy and rubber duck dope?

Lots of hats to wear...

2008-12-26T13:03:00.000-08:00

Deru. Okay then.

2008-12-26T01:23:00.000-08:00

The cat dude is back

2008-12-24T20:02:00.000-08:00

Still searching for the artist... XXX seems to be the signature, so who knows them please post a contact.

Cats are overwhelmed by Aliens...

Who doesn't like a nice monster?

Update on April 15: It's over Meow.
I flirted with the monsters, smiled at el Gato every morning on the way to my double espresso until these bozos glued some ugly invites over it. Not even stapled, no, glued....oh, dark cloud on my heaven.

Finding myself

2008-12-22T18:29:00.000-08:00

Searching for the artists

2008-12-17T21:29:00.000-08:00

Same paper, similar walls, different doers - who are the makers of this art ?

Che Obey!

2008-12-17T17:52:00.000-08:00

I found the rebel duo in a tiny format on a post opposite Ivanhoe Elementary in Silverlake. Would make a great stamp for winter solstice greeting cards.

Echo Beauty

2008-12-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

American Dreams

2008-12-03T19:34:00.000-08:00

the magical mail box...

2008-12-03T16:28:00.000-08:00

Magical animals...ever heard of the narwhal? It's the unicorn of the oceans, gorgeous beast, endangered and all with only 4000 remaining. The Canadians just killed 600 of them: when they came to get air through a hole in the ice they got a bullet into the brain instead.

Celebrations...

2008-12-02T22:11:00.000-08:00

Jared Iorios's, Los Angeles upcoming photographer, visual remarks on receptions.

Concrete Jungle

2008-11-30T14:26:00.000-08:00

Stuff reclaimed

2008-11-28T00:38:00.000-08:00

Viva La Junk

First thing I saw was the horse, I love horses and I love kitsch. I break, turn around and I find a small oasis on a street corner. Stuff reclaimed and made into something new; a story told on the side walk, junk revived in the grunge of this long road alongside the highway in Echo Park.

I peak over the fence into the artist back yard where stuff waits to be applied. Like the bones, which look rather human to me.

Loving la LA vida

2008-11-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Snapped out
Paris in the 80 ties: walking through yelling, laughing, fruit and cheese loving vendors on La Rue Daguerre in the Quattorzieme, I did not feel any other sensation than my eyes taking in bicycles, bars with Pastice drinking mustaches, fleur de lys on ancient gates, dusty canvas on easels in courtyards corners... Out of body without any drugs, I was mind only. I figured I'm a bio-machine, a recorder of the prime and demise of my time. At that time I was actually able to see between the sheets of reality but that's a different story and slightly bizarre.
My first big project was photographing Peter Brook's Ubu Roi in a decadent theater, its decaying baroque ornaments transmuting into a new morbid beauty. I spent most of my nights in my photo lab and sometimes partied with the actors celebrating them and the black and white art I had wrapped around them. After that I shot thousands of pictures of the side notes of life, the funny, the futuristic, the unforeseen. I sold hundreds of illustrative pictures to the news papers I was working for as a free lance journalist: portraits of cartoonists, the grandma from next door who had a distillery in her basement, a restaurant for dogs... I found the people with courage, talent or guts who did amazing, daring and sometimes wacko things. I told their stories to honor them and to help others to find that spark that makes life worth living. It's like telling your best friend the juiciest gossip...
In a different business for several years, my hedonistic walk by shoots became drive by shots; it's LA where you hybrid not walk, then they died out completely as time is money and every moment of senseless fun seemed like a buck lost. Not doing what we love creates a sad desert inside.
Beverly Boulevard, November 19, my birthday.
I stuffed my old cameras in the car, drove to Samy's, bought the Nikon D90 with the 18-200 mm lens : new start, new year and only 15 minutes before the sun goes down. I had to make a point, set the tone for 2009. For my take on life, LA's streets are l'inspiration absolut.
Here's to Numero Uno: