Art in the Streets

Jo in front of Loomit's mural

Swoon

Mural by Blu at Moca


Went to Moca and saw the "Art in the Streets" exhibition with the Art Club on Saturday. Really impressive! My favorites were works by Swoon, Banksy, Fairhey, and Boroquez. Plus, I loved the ice cream truck and car.

Unfortunately, the mural above done by Blu, was not there....the mural was deemed to be insensitive to the community and was painted over immediately after Blu finished it! This little incident happened right before the opening of the show....how ironic!

2006 spherical sculpture by Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei.

This modern sculpture is made out of Huanghuall wood, which Weiwei uses to blend old and new together. According to the LA Times (4/19/11), LACMA has just purchased this piece for $400,000 at an annual MOCA fundraising event. Also, the museum has plans to show another of his sculptures "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" this fall.

As Jessica was talking about last class, Ai Weiwei is the artist that the Chinese government has taken into custody for subversive activities. His location or status are currently unknown.

"Art in the Streets" @ MOCA

Our field trip to MOCA is coming up in a few days...

The LA Times had an article on 4/20/11... Seems the LAPD has noticed an uptick in tagging activity and vandalism in the Little Tokyo area, adjacent to the MOCA "Art in the Streets" exhibit that just opened on Sunday. They are attributing the increase of graffiti to the theory that out-of-towners are coming in and putting up their own street art pieces outside the Geffen. Last Friday, two French nationals were detained...they had buckets of grout and pieces of tile on them. The LAPD believes one of them may have been the Space Invader artist, featured on the "Exit Through the Gift Shop"movie.

If you are attending this event Friday, keep your eyes open as you drive up, to see if you can spot any interesting street art on the areas outside of the gallery!

reALIze sculpture by Michael Kalish

This display was set up at Staples Center and just ended it's run last week.

Very cool.....looking at it from various angles it just looks like 1300 punching bags randomly hanging from scaffolding, but standing from a certain point you see the above picture!

http://www.youtube.com/user/realizeali#p/a/f/0/TjGAfJZDDmQ

CATFISH

Just watched the documentary "Catfish". The movie begins as a cute story about Nev, a 24year old New York photographer and his platonic Facebook correspondence with Abby, an 8 year old girl living in Michigan. Abby found him through Facebook, after seeing one of his photos on the net. She then sends him one of her paintings and they start chatting back and forth. Nev befriends the whole family, including Abby's Mom and older sister Megan. Not surprising, things are not what they seem.......as their story progresses societal questions come up about social media, privacy, identity and ethics....found the movie very interesting and at the same time troubling, too!

Dennis Hopper Art

Warhol

Jane Fonda 1965

After The Fall

Double Standard

Biker Couple

Since, I grew up in the 60's, though I was a very, very young child...thought I'd post photos and art from Dennis Hopper.

Dennis Hopper (1936-2010)

Warhol by Hopper

Coca Cola-by Hopper




Double Standard

Biker Couple

Having grown up in the 60's, though I was very, very, young...thought I would check out the art of Dennis Hopper.

Dennis Hopper passed away last May, but his legacy lives on. Not only was he a great actor, but he was a talented artist, too! Along with painting and sculpting, he was a prolithic photographer, who used many actors and artist friends for subjects in his works. Shortly after his death, MOCA honored him with an exhibition of his works.

Cute comic!

Bansky

Just an update.... Banksy's "Exit through the Gift Shop" documentary did not win the Academy Award, so we weren't able to see him pick up the award. Was rooting for it, mainly because it's the only nominated documentary I saw. Did read an article from the LA Times, by a reporter who researched the facts presented in film. He looked into his immigration records, business records and interviewed many who were around at the time this story was unfolding. Most of the info. they dug up tended to verify the story told in the film. Still the rumors persist, I personally like the one where Thiery is really Banksy himself!

MINI VAN ART

Was visiting San Diego's Mission Bay last November and drove past this tricked out mini van...made my hubby turn around to take a few pictures! Besides multiple bird cages you will note the child's car, angels, Christmas decorations, amazing what a little imagination and super glue can do.

Also, note the CA. license plate letters....GOV 1 DAY, this picture was taken after the Nov. elections, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't Govenor Brown's campaign vehicle.

Gustav Klimt

The Kiss

Over 10 years ago, I saw a copy of the top picture on my co-worker's desk. I forgot what the artist's name was, but wanted to look it up to share on this blog. Lo and behold, I spotted a story about Maria Altmann, who had just died. (LA Times 2-8-11) Mrs. Altmann was the niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer (second and third pictures). Maria and her family had sued the Austrian National Gallery to reclaim several of her Aunt's pictures, painted by Gustav Klimt. The paintings were stolen when the Nazi's took over Austria during WWII. Maria won the lawsuit and wound up auctioning off the pictures to private collectors. In 2006, Adele's picture went for 135 million, which was a record at the time!

Loved the pictures, they are very beautiful, sensual and full of color. The first portrait of Adele (left) was called the "Austrian Mona Lisa". Gossip note...there has been speculation that the married Adele may have even had a fling with Klint, who was a known womanizer !

Evidently Klimt used gold-encrusted paint. The Kiss is my favorite, but there are many more that I like. Take a look at more of his pictures, they are great!

David Hockney Luvs iPad

Read the LA Time's article on 1/23/2011 about British artist David Hockney. He does all kinds of different work...photos, paintings, drawings, set designs etc. The above picture is of a local area, which I thought was kinda neat. I like the way it's done sort of patchy, and enjoy the use of colors....

At the ripe old age of 73, Hockney has become smitten with new technologies...he began doing art on his iPhone and now has moved on to doing works on his iPad, which according to the article he totally loves!

Below is a few of his iPad works: