Wednesday 30th, 2008
Rebel With Out A Cause at the Arclight
As part of the AFI 100 Years 100 Movies, the Hollywood Arclight continues to screen classics films from the first 100 years of American Cinema. This week's highlighted film is Rebel Without A Cause starring James Dean & Natalie Woods. Need I say more.
Admission: $11
Time: 8 pm
6360 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
323-464-4226
Thursday July 31st, 2008
Last Call for the Now FestivalThis is the last week to experience the third and final Now Festival program at Redcat. This week's program features dance/performance art by Rosanna Gamson, Anne Lebaron, Douglas Kearney, and Kristina Wong. Runs July 31st - August 2nd.
Admission: $18/$14 Students
Time: 8:30 pm
Walt Disney Concert Hall
631 W. 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-237-2800
Friday August 1st, 2008
Get the lead out ~ Group ShowThe Black Maria Gallery in Glendale is scheduled to open a group show on Friday. The featured artwork is an array of small sketches pen & ink drawings, watercolors, and some sculpture. The show is an homage to the artistic process. They will be raffling an original painting and if you bring a book you may just walk away with an original sketch.
Admission: FREE
Time: 7 - 10:30 pm
Black Maria Gallery
3137 Glendale Blvd.
Glendale, CA 90039
323-660-9393
Public Enemy w/Ghostface Killah
It may be difficult to remember the days when Public Enemy was a real Hip Hop threat. Their present day menace may very well be skewed by visions of member Flava Flav's recent escapades with reality television, but I assure you this is the Flava you will love. Also featuring Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah this blast from the past is sure to be both an old and a goody.
Admission: $22
Time: 8 pm
Crash Mansion
1024 S. Grand Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
213-747-0999
Saturday August 2nd, 2008
Doug Henry & Joe Potts: Still Life With DancerAs a tribute to the 100 year anniversary of Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, composer Joe Potts and artist Doug Henry have collaborated on a new video work Still Life With Dancer. Honoring the birth of cubism the video is scheduled to show at Cardwell Jimmerson Contemporary Art in Culver City.
Admission: Free
Time: 6 - 8pm
Cardwell Jimmerson Contemporary Art
8568 Washington Blvd.
310-815-1100
Ryan Graeff : Restitution Press
Artist Ryan Graeff is infamous for his garilla-tactic art installations of the LA "Bandit," that you can often find as you walk through the Los Angeles urban landscape. An artist by day, and a cultural Zapatista by night, Graeff's new exhibition includes over a dozen volumes of urban-coated, textured, color-enriched newspapers that he has aptly labeled "The Restitution Press." You may run into one of Graeff's many celebrity collectors at his opening on Saturday, fully equiped with DJ and drinks.
Admission: Free
Time: 7 - 12 Midnight
2380 Glendale Blvd.
Silverlake, CA 90039
323-912-0008
ghettogloss@ghettogloss.com
Inspired by Japanese folklore, the dreams transform into nightmares, where fantastical creatures emerge from the mists of the forests to frighten us. Spirits and gods come to life and we get swept under the currents of these lurid images. Caught in the riptide, it can be easy to get carried out to the turbulent sea and be overwhelmed by these surreal visions. But Ushiro wisely instructs us from the beginning that the best course of action is to succumb to the pressures of the waves and eventually if we let go of our panic and fear we will be guided home on a friendly tide. 
Walker’s conjuring of these racial profiles of the past forces us to search for our racial identities of the present and future. Even as we walk through the exhibition, projectors on the floor cast our shadows upon the gallery walls and we are compelled to examine our own silhouettes and own places in history.
Credit should be given for the use of shadow and light, however there is some skepticism as to the authenticity of this "development". It is clear that these nuances in color variation were not achieved in a darkroom since each piece is digitally printed, so it must be assumed that Berg “developed” them elsewhere. What is evident is that this work is forged in the studio of a beginner and if Berg wants to stay in the game, he is going to need to step up the plate and “develop” something new.
Vahe Berberian is one of those rare contemporary artists that can truly be defined as a renaissance man. Not only is the Armenian born artist a gifted painter, but he is also a celebrated playwright, director, and performer. His most recent play Baron Garbis, which enjoyed a successful run in North Hollywood and Pasadena, was true to form, and deeply connected to Vahe’s heritage as an Armenian and the history of that culture. Vahe’s ancestry is one of many resources for his art to feed upon. In truth Vahe is the kind of artist that allows his life experience to be fodder for his hungry and fertile imagination. He behaves like a sponge, soaking in the world, bathing in its chaos and its glory. All his hopes and fears are processed and then haphazardly poured out into his art. "I am a blender…or maybe a grinder - processing everything I consume," says Vahe, "Everything goes into this processor- the books I read, the music I listen to, the friends I have, my fears, my politics, my loves…"
One might compare Vahe’s paintings to a child’s notebook, filled with incoherent words and images, but all together a unique and intrinsic form of expression. His minimalist abstract paintings are reminiscent of cave drawings, quite raw and honest, whose progeny comes from a rather simple and innocent place.
