Sunday, October 21, 2007

It's OUR Healthcare Vigil

Adbuster

The wall of participants

Agitprop in action

Reverend Campbell

Testimonial


In September the California State Assembly approved the bill SB 840 that was authored by Senator Shiela Kheul, a bill that would have created a Universal Healthcare situation for the many affected by the healthcare crisis in California. The Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill, stating that it will create Socialized Healthcare in the State.

The healthcare debate has been a major concern of most Americans, as the cost of healthcare rises at a percentage far beyond the rate of inflation. The dialogue seems to be more and more split along partisan lines. On the federal level, any talk of fixing the healthcare crisis often comes with the label of Socialism. It is puzzling that the most powerful Empire of the industrialized world cannot provide its citizens with the basic human rights such as affordable healthcare. The majority of the industrialized nations do provide this right to their citizens, often time at no cost.

One has to look no further at the priority of the current Administration than at the action of our President. His veto of the bill to provide funding toward health coverage for childern over five years is telling of the Bush Administration true agenda. Within the same breath of promise to veto this particular bill, he also said that he will allow passage of another bill that provide more money for the war in Iraq.

The dialogue from the presidential candidates have not been very encouraging either. The lone cowboy within the ranks of the Republican party who SHOULD be talking about healthcare is obviously Mitt Romney, whose state of Massachusetts tackled the issue with the passage of a bill last year. Yet he has been trumpeting the GOP line of government involvement in heathcare equals socialized medicine.

The Democratic candidates have not really done a great job at coming up with proposals that attempt to fix the problem either. The proposal of the top two candidates simply do not do enough to promise a fix to the issue. The only person who seems to have a plan that will even possibly deal with the problem head-on is probably John Edwards. But the Democratic party is too hungry to nominate one of the two minority candidates to show their progressive stance, even though the messages from those candidate can be consider if anything Centrist. Edward's proposal on the social issues facing the American landscape today, especially healthcare, are the progressive messages that affects the very lives of ordinary Americans. John Edwards' failure to get the Democratic nomination will not be because of lackluster messages, but his pedigree.

At the vigil, a small group of people came in shifts. Some talked about their personal experiences with the current healthcare system. While other, particularly those involved with religion, held prayers and sang hymns to the crowd. I became involved with the vigil after receiving several email messages on a Yahoo! group. The messages were geared toward artists and their inclusion into the debate. The majority of artists either work part-time, seasonally, or as a freelance. They are self-employed, and, in a sense, operate exactly like a small business. Obtaining affordable heath insurance is of great concern.

The vigil was held for 48 hours from Wednesday to Friday, both in Los Angeles and San Francisco in front of the Govenor's office.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Parallels of Obstruction @ Junc Gallery

Brian Rush

Brian Rush

Drew Beckmeyer

Drew Beckmeyer

Drew Beckmeyer

Kate Guillen

Kate Guillen

Kate Guillen

Parallels of Obstruction
Drew Beckmeyer, Kate Guillen, Brian Rush
October 6 - November 24
Junc Gallery
4017 Sunset Blvd.
Silverlake, CA 90029
juncgallery.com

Gallery Revisited

Gallery Revisited was part of Art Crawl 2007 this past weekend. I could not hit all the gallery on the list because one of our friends had minor knee injury, and he had trouble walking after awhile. So we had to leave early. But I did see a couple of shows that I liked. In the main space at Gallery Revisited is the show of Paige Wery's work, while in the back gallery were works of various artists hung Salon style. The show of Paige Wery will be up until October 20.

Paige Wery

Paige Wery

Paige Wery



Paige Wery
Gallery Revisited

Show ends October 20

3204 Sunset Blvd.

Silverlake, CA 90026

galleryrevisited.com

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Cut & Paste

Cut & Paste Los Angeles was last night. It was an interesting event. Eight contestants are placed head to head to a design competition to see who will go to the final round. All this in a party atmosphere at the Music Box @ Fonda, set to the soundtrack of a DJ set. I was surprised that though the event was billed as a design competition, most of the works that resulted were more illustrations than nothing else. The whole evening could have been a ad for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, because those were the two main software used by the competitor. And of course Adobe was a Sponsor, but even in there booth they were demoing Illustrator CS3 only and no other software. Strange.

But it was an interestingly good time. It was the geekiest even I have ever been to. A bunch of designers and creatives paying $10 cover charge to go watch a bunch of video projections showing the computer screens of the contestants. Yet it was interesting to see what the contestants could come up with within the 15 minutes time frame that they had to work with. And to see the process of design as it morphs and shifts over those 15 minutes. A design that started out strong sometimes went into the opposite direction, while the reverse was also true in some cases.

The opening act

Round one, group one. Theme: Currency.

The butt plug composition

The DJs rocks the crowd

Bottom image reads Grabbin' Our Peanuts


Round one, group two. Theme: Currency.

Round two. Theme: Breakthrough.

The finalists. Theme: Phobia, with the canvas to work with being the license plate.

Second place design

The winner

The lone Thai representative. She was eliminated in the first round

The judges. That's SABER in the middle.

The audience competition. They also had 15 minutes to complete their designs

Another audience contestant

The audience competition area

Survival of the Fittest

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Art Crawl



Art Crawl is this weekend. I am planning to go. This will be my first year, so I'm curious about which galleries are involved. Hopefully photos will follow.

3M Reception

The reception for the show 3M: Artists and Office Supplies was last night at the Cypress College Art Gallery. All three artists showed up for the opening. I had a short talk with both Jerry Mischak and Allison Foshee about their work. My favorite pieces in the show are probably Allison's leaves pieces that she recreated using staples. 3M runs until November 8.

The artist Jerry Mischak

Jerry Mischak installation view

Jerry Mischak

Jerry Mischak

Jerry Mischak

The artist Allison Foshee

Allison Foshee

Allison Foshee

Allison Foshee

Allison Foshee

Sharan Gillespie

Sharan Gillespie

Sharan Gillespie

The jazz band

Ed Giardina of Finshing School on the piano. . . playing the Star Wars theme no less

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Hybrids I - Actias Playstationintellwirelessipodspeakerae Documentary

I posted about my attendance at my friend Paul Paiement's reception in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. At the reception, there was a 15-minute documentary film with Paul speaking about his work playing on a monitor. Now the filmmaker Jim Sottile has posted up the video on YouTube. You can check them out here. I'm in the end credits for this one, so keep your eyes out for it.




Monday, October 08, 2007

MUNI Maps

When I went up to San Francisco for my friend Paul Paeiment's reception a couple of weekends ago, I ran into a very interesting poster advertisement for the MUNI along Market Street. It was all hand drawn illustration featuring one individual MUNI worker's profile. I thought it was a really smart campaign. Apparently it is the work of the artist Helena Keeffe in conjunction with the San Francisco Arts Commission. The SFAC has apparently for years commissioned artists to do poster series for their "The Art on Market Street" project. This particular series of six posters is titled MUNI Maps.

San Francisco's public transportation system is a many layered and often overwhelming flow of people moving to and from all parts of the city. We depend on transit workers to keep this complex system running despite any number of obstacles they may encounter on their daily routes. Inevitably Muni operators gain an intimate familiarity with the city and accumulate a rich history of experiences as the travel their daily routes. Muni Maps is a series of six posters created for the San Francisco Arts Commission's Art on Market Street Program. Each poster features a route map that has been annotated with an individual operator's portrait, hand-written notes, interview excerpts and related drawings — depicting the public transportation experience from the perspective of the operator.
Helena Keefe

Sunday, October 07, 2007

3M: Artists And Office Supplies


3M opens next Wednesday at Cypress College Art Gallery. The show features artists who works with office supplies you can get at your local Staples. The artists involved are Alison Foshee, Sharon Gillespie, and Jerry Mischak. I designed the poster invitation for them again, as well as being involved in the installation of the show.

3M: Artists and Office Supplies
Cypress College Art Gallery

October 10 - November 8, 2007

Reception: Wednesday October 10, 7-9pm

9200 Valley View Street

Cypress, CA 90630

714.484.7133

What's Inside


Wired Magazine teamed up with KCET of Los Angeles to create a new science show for PBS called Wired Science. Part of the show is a segment called What's Inside. Here you can find out what the products you buy everyday are made out of. Fun little facts to keep you shopping . . . or not.

Wired Science
KCET or check your local listings
Wednesday 8 pm

Cut & Paste

Next Saturday night is Cut & Paste, a design competition held at the Music Box in the Henry Fonda Theater. It's sort of the Iron Chef of graphic design. Or is it the America's Next Top Model. No matter. My friend Peter Perez and I are going. There is even an after party. Photos will follow next weekend with all that will go down at the event.

Thai Insurance CM

An advertisement campaign for Thai Insurance CM. They used all of the Hollywood devices to really tug the heart and jerk an bit of tear out of you. But I think it's a nice campaign that really got the message of their company across. The videos are subtitle so you do not have to understand Thai to follow. And the subtitles are pretty accurate so you will not be lost in translation.



Grandpa


Daddy



Marry Me



My Girl



My Son


Grandma

Santa Ana Art Walk

First Saturday art walk in Santa Ana was last night. I have not been down there in probably close to two years. There is still a good scene going on with many galleries showing work. Night Gallery did an interesting Halloween-themed show with cartoons and illustrative works dealing with all things ghouls and goblins. I was surprised more gallery did not take up the theme. I was also surprised to find Basil Wolverton of Mad Magazine fame at Grand Central Art Center.

Basil Wolverton at Grand Central Art Center

Basil Wolverton

Basil Wolverton

Jeff Gillette in the Rental and Sales Gallery at Grand Central

Jeff Gillette


Dana Lovell

Dana Lovell

Dana Lovell


Todd Davis

Todd Davis

The artist Louis Longi


Louis Longi


Basil Wolverton
Grand Central Art Center

September 1 - November 11, 2007

125 N. Broadway

Santa Ana, CA 92701

714.567.7233

www.grandcentralartcenter.com

ferally PLUCKED, the Art of Todd Davis

Scribble Theory Gallery

210 N. Bush Street

Santa Ana, CA 92701

www.scribbletheory.com

Dana Lovell

Legacy

Orange County Center for Contemporary Art

October 4 - October 27, 2007

117 N. Sycamore

Santa Ana, CA 92701

714.667.1517

www.occca.org

Louis Longi

Unleashed

Space on Spurgeon, an Urbane Gallery of Art

Continuing through November 2007

210 N. Spurgeon Street

Santa Ana, CA 92701

949.464.0105

www.spaceonspurgeon.com

Across The Universe




I went to see the movie Across the Universe with some friends yesterday, and we all thought the movie will definitely be one of those word of mouth films. It is a musical, but all the music come from the Beatles' and John Lennon's discography. They did a really, really nice job integrating the songs into the script. It is directed by Julie Taymor, who also directed The Lion King: The Musical, so all the visuals are totally amazing. There are some signature Taymor stuff with the puppets and the masks she often uses in her theatrical productions. Plus Bono appears in the movie, doing a number, along with Eddy Izzard and Selma Hayek, who both did cameos.

Across the Universe is my favorite John Lennon song. So for the occasion of this write up on the movie, I am posting a music video of the cover of the song that Fiona Apple did several years back for the soundtrack to the movie Pleasantville, directed by her then boyfriend, the director Paul Thomas Anderson of Punch, Drunk, Love and Magnolia fame.

Lightmares Closing Reception

Last week I did a post on the opening reception for Lightmares at C1D Gallery. Last night was the closing reception. The show was short, but sweet. This time I have some images of the artwork in the show. Enjoy.







Friday, October 05, 2007

Peter Blake Gallery

I went to the opening reception at Peter Blake Gallery in Laguna Beach last night. Peter had two shows going on. In the front gallery was the works by the painter Chris Gwaltney. Gwaltney's paintings remind me a lot of the Bay Area Abstraction.
In the back gallery was the works of Alvin Gregorio. Gregorio's paintings definitely have recurring motifs, especially images of owls. Gregorio said the images came to him almost organically. Many of the icons in his paintings also references personal family history. There is a definite feel of street art in Gregorio's painting, and he did say that he is influenced by a lot of graffiti artists. Gregorio lives and work in Boulder, Colorado.

Both Gwaltney's and Gregorio's shows are up until October 25th.


Alvin Gregorio

Alvin Gregorio

Alvin Gregorio

Alvin Gregorio

Gallery view of Alvin Gregorio's show

Chris Gwaltney

Chris Gwaltney

Gallery view of Chris Gwaltney's show

Chris Gwaltney

Chris Gwaltney & Alvin Gregorio
October 4-25, 2007

Peter Blake Gallery

326 N. Coast Hwy.

Laguna Beach, CA

949.376.9994