Your Social Life Is About To Get Very Complicated

This week at least. It's this time of the year again, you know the first weekend of openings that follow the holidays (other hellish times chockablock with openings are the 1st Saturday following Labor Day, and the last wave of openings in June prior to the Summer/Venice Biennale/Art Basel/whatever periodical big art thingy happens this year). My readers overseas (hello, gentle readers overseas!) know it's exactly the same thing in Paris, London, Berlin, etc.). What they don't know is because Los Angeles is so spread out, it becomes an impossible marathon to try and go see everything, since gallery "rows" are scattered between Culver City, Chinatown, West Hollywood, and other spots like Venice and Santa Monica and even Beverly Hills if you're Gagosian-inclined.
Some galleries try to stand out and facilitate everybody's life by opening one week sooner (they are courageous, as it guaranties meager crowds), or closing their shows now, while others open one week later. Now if there was an über-calendar-regulator, we'd like to have, say, all galleries in one corner opening on the same Sat., then the other major row a week later, and our scattered friends elsewhere could have a mid-week opening as well (I suggest to our gallerist friends who are in hellish-for-parking locations to open on a Thursday, rather than a Friday. WeHo art dealers, I'm talking to you.). I'm giving you an edited version of where I'd go if I were you, and if traffic was no object.

To complicate things further, we have an art fair opening tomorrow, Photo LA. Which I love because you don't see the same artsy-fartsy mindfucks™ as elsewhere, and also if you go leaf through the bins you can find some nice anonymous early 20th century prints for a few hundred dollars. There's an opening/gala tomorrow which benefits LACMA's Photography Department, where Charlotte Cotton curates and does lots of interesting things.
This takes care of your Thursday, so Friday you can go to some place in Koreatown where a space called COMA presents Teeth Keep with artists Gina Clark & Robert Hansen who, if I understand correctly the press release, are doing performance. It's 7 to 11PM at 3503 West Pico, you can call them at (323) 652 0596 if you want them to explain the press release to you and confirm that yes, there's an open bar.

Now, there's Saturday. I'd say you start very early in Chinatown so you can attend the last day of Darren Almond at Dave Patton. Then you can move on to Charlie James Gallery and attend the opening of FBC! pal David E. Stone (hi David!) and also, maybe, spot me.
At Cottage Home/Sister there's a show I'm curious about, Kirsten Stoltmann. I have no idea if anything is happening at China Arts Objects (Steve, your website is a mess).

In and around LACMA, there's Lecia Dole-Reccio at Richard Telles, and at Steve Turner you can see Julia Meltzer and David Thorne (+Jeff Ono). But wait! A stone throw from Steve Turner, at 6150 Wilshire you can go to Acme and see not only Monique Prieto solo show, but a group show that includes Justin Beal (and Kai Althoff but I'm more into Beal). There's also a show at Marc Foxx and I think something at 1301PE but I'm not sure. Daniel Weinberg curiously has an opening too for a show that's been up since early December, aptly titled "another damned drawing show". Gotta love that man!

If you made it there by 7.45, what with the traffic, the schmoozing, and did I mention the art? - then you're good to head to Culver City where, if I were you, I'd go see the shows at LAXart (someone asked me why I don't write it with the characters that look like European single quotation marks: because it messes up my html).
There's Yunhee Min and also Uri Nir, curated by the ever interesting Aram Moshayedi. I'm hoping to make it to some of these openings, but my back is currently killing me and getting in and out of the car and driving are a bit painful, so we'll see how far I'll make it.

Also on Saturday, but honestly I think going there on Sunday is your best bet, is the vernacular photography fair, a.k.a. the "found photography" fair, where you can buy anonymous pictures for very little money, and if you read Bourdieu in French you can also prepare by cramming Un Art Moyen. It may be translated in English, I don't know. It's a great book, and a good precursor to explain Web 2.0 and reality TV, without the glitz. As for the *fair* it can be fun, if you have some stamina left.

Now, it's all well, but there are a couple of shows that opened last Saturday and deserve to be mentioned. Nicholas Grider opened at Sea and Space and his shows looks interesting, so please go have a look. And Kaz Oshiro opened at the grand dame of LA art dealers, Rosamund Felsen.

If you are in Florida, Sarah Gavlak has an opening ("dilettantes, dandies and divas", a group show), and if you are in Berlin Gaudel de Stampa also presents some artists including FBC! very good pal Matthieu Laurette at Micky Schubert. In Paris, Laurette's exhibition at Gaudel de Stampa is prolongated until the end of January. Speaking of Matthieu Laurette, he just started his blog, where you can see his pictures of the Martin Margiela retrospective in Antwerp. Don't miss Matthieu's visit to IKEA, and his pictures of Amsterdam's architecture!


Now I fear I've forgotten and left out some openings in LA... I apologize, pals, I only have one brain and still no sexy young intern (you know, the dark-haired Daniel Craig I've been waiting for for a while now) to help me. Also, LA readers, brace yourself for the other art fairs coming in 2 weeks, Art LA 2009 (it's the one they chose to hold at the time of the year when it's raining like hell, it's held in the shabbiest setting ever and sales are really slow, so this year, uh, I wish the best to all the art dealers. Really) and its lame sister, Los Angeles Art Show 2009, which moved to the LA Convention Center but still has a lackluster roster of exhibitors, mostly secondary market dealers. If you have to get wet, Art LA is the exciting one.

Pictures: David E. Stone, Uri Nir and Nicholas Grinder. Click on the link to their respective shows for credits.

Your Social Life Takes You In Paris And In The OC

Hello, my dear beloved readership,

Your social life is going to be fairly complicated this weekend, what with the California Biennial opening, and a bunch of other things here and there.
Before I get onto that, a personal message for my friends: my family keeps on being on the verge of decimation these days, so I'm not particularly social, in addition to being reclusive on account of the novel-writing. So apologies for not going anywhere, also please be kind and don't call me, I wouldn't be able to hold a conversation. At the best of times I loathe the phone, but at present a truly, truly don't want to even look at it.
But I appreciate if you forward me links to silly websites, YouTube songs and whatever, as long as it is funny.

For my readers who I do not know personally (you have no idea what you're missing), please disregard the paragraph above, and enjoy seeing how I'm going to organize your social life with the few tips below.

On Friday night, you can go by anotheryearinla and see the Richard Hailey exhibition. As usual it's from 7 to 10 PM, so you can have dinner before and head to the Eastern part of town after traffic slows down a bit.
Now, on to Saturday where you will have to be all over the place. With the time difference, you will have to be simultaneously in Paris for old FBC! pal Matthieu Laurette exhibition at Gaudel de Stampa. It's a fairly new gallery opened by Denis Gaudel, a former director at Yvon Lambert.
Approximatively at the same time, here in Los Angeles the 3rd Archives Bazaar will be held at USC. If I haven't messed up with code you should be able to find the pdf. program here.
Meanwhile, tomorrow Friday and Saturday is the REDCAT symposium, Untitled: Speculations On The Expanded Field Of Writing. FBC! gal pal Stephanie Taylor is speaking on Saturday afternoon. Saturday is also the private opening for the California Biennial organized by Lauri Firstenberg of LAXart fame, but you would be well advised to avoid traffic and go down to Newport Beach on Sunday to the public opening. I see it's up until March, which I'm very happy about as I don't see how I can possibly go down there before early next year. There's a fairly interesting list of artists, mingling California artist veterans with a younger generation. There's also a bevvy of off-site projects, which in theory are always cool as it is indeed called the California Biennial, not the only-if-you-live-not-far-from-Newport-Beach-Biennial, but in practice I doubt most people, your truly included, will be able to schedule road trips up North, in the desert and elsewhere to see everything.
If you think you cannot possibly go down to the OC on Sunday, you can alternatively go to Highland Park to Sea and Space Explorations (yes, this is their complete name) and attend the show called "The Audacity Of Desperation" . Is it political? You betcha'. Note on November 9, Nancy Popp (a very, very old friend of FBC!) is curating a screening of videos. While FBC! is usually reserved about the effectiveness of political art, I can only encourage you to have a pre-election art viewing and participating.

While I'm at it, since I cannot vote, let me endorse Barack Obama as a president, of course, and "No" on Proposition 8. As for the rest, I'm all for forced collectivization of national production means, or whatever are left of them, redistribution of wealth (tax the rich, subsidize health care, no tax breaks for anybody, thank you) and let's send the Trustafarians on farms as day laborers. I'm kind of waiting for the creation of new currencies and fixed exchange rate between those as well, but I don't foresee that before a few years. Oh, and Halliburton should surrender all he profits they made during the last 8 years to improve public educations. C'est la lutte finale, groupons-nous des demain... And before you label me a communist or a socialist or whatever, for the record I'm more of a neo-Keynesian, and I do think Obama is a fairly conservative Democrat while McCain is a purely loathsome old crank, war hero and all. My Grandpa also is a war hero (WWII), it didn't prevent him from becoming an old crank in old age, except he's not loathsome an doesn't pretend to lead the free world.

Your Social Life In Paris!

Hello dear patient FBC! readers!

So I'm finally almost over the jetlag and able to write without too many typos. As many as usual, but less than what I produced last week in the few emails I've sent to my friends (sorry guys).
It's almost July, and the loaded amongst you want to know, what is it that's good in Paris? Where should I direct my post-shopping sore feet and look at decent art

Well, my Frenchy self in fact spent very little time there, stuck that I was with depressing family duties in Normandy. I've done only ONE art thing in Paris, and it was outside Paris proper: I went to see the fabulous Legende show at the Domaine de Chamarande, curated by FBC!'s pal and legendary curator Alexis Vaillant. It's totally worth taking a suburban train and do a 45 minutes ride (on weekends) to that tiny village. I'll review the show soonish and will put up as many pix as Blogger allows with this template.

Meanwhile, there were many good or interesting things to see in Paris, according to what my art friends there told me. I'm starting with the few ones I regret missing. First, the group show l'Argent at Le Plateau. Then the Bridget Riley retrospective at the Musee d'Art Moderne de La Ville de Paris (sorry, cannot link, server doesn't respond!), a show that would have been totally impossible 7 or 8 years ago, and now, thanks to shows such as Beyond Geometry, it's now OK again to like Op Art (a totally discredited movement when I was a student, to the point that we never even mentioned it in class).
Another show I regret missing is the Alain Sechas one at the Bourdelle museum in Paris, where he's exhibiting an animated sculpture you can see on his website (click on the Quicktime icon to watch a movie of the piece). Alain is a friend and one of a handful of French artists I find unfairly under-estimated. He is also showing at Sonsbeek 2008 this Summer, the sculpture festival in the Netherlands were, among others, Robert Smithson and Mike Kelley have created legendary pieces in the past.

In another lesser-known Paris museum, the Musee Maillol, was a show titled "China Gold", a very indecent and apt description, I guess, of the Western rush on the Chinese market, as it seems it is all what Chinese contemporary art is all about if we believe what we can read here and there in the Western art press (check James Elaine's blog on the Hammer site for a different point of view). I would have liked to see that show to de visu understand what this is all about, as there is in fact very little Chinese art to reach ours shores and whatever we're shown has a tendency to be derivative and be massively painting-oriented (and Pop-ish). Which I suspect is only the tip of the iceberg.

Lastly, they were 2 shows I didn't think about whatsoever, if only because they scream "Blue chip! Establishment! Boomers! Born-Again Catholics! Curators hailing from the decadent French aristocracy!" One was Richard Serra at the Grand Palais, where I'm sure his work must look fabulous compared to the much smaller space of BCAM. I used to really like Richard Serra, and I still do, and I think his work totally fits the monumentality of that type of space, but I'm not terribly excited about, hmm, the newness of it. If you follow my meaning. There's even good old Yve-Alain Bois interviewing Serra on the website. How about some youngish writer-curator to do the same?
The second show sounded so unappealing I never, for the life of me, would have even thought about seeing it, it's the Spirituality-Is-The-New-Art-Religion-Confusion at the Pompidou. The banner is atrociously ugly, for one thing. And the subject is the most boring this side of Painting Is Dead But Is Still Alive.
But, according to friends who saw it, some of the works are to die for, even if they are clearly miscast within the concept.

Lastly, I didn't have the opportunity to see the tastefully titled Superdome at the Palais de Tokyo, but according to friends it's just as well, though there's also a Jonathan Monk solo show, whose work I adore. There's also an installation by infamous Christoph Büchel. Crazy the number of Swiss artists showing there since Marc-Olivier Wahler became director there. Did you know it yourself, that Swiss art was the most fabulous in the world?

Neither could I go gallery-hopping so I cannot really tell you what to go see in Paris galleries, but I'd like to signal to your attention the opening of a new gallery, Gaudel de Sampa. The program looks promising. And of course, there's Reena Spaulings at Chantal Crousel


Pix: The entrance to the castle in Chamarande, the inside of the Chapel (it has a very good sound installation), and a view of the Paris sky above the Seine river and the Grand Palais.

Your Social Life, Europe Edition

If, unlike me, you are not stuck with family obligations in your native backwater of a hometown, you probably wonder what to do this weekend?
Well, jump in the first plane and head over to nüans in Düsseldorf to see the Documental show about video in Los Angeles. It opens tomorrow with a performance by FBC! gal pal and favorite LA Art Girl Nancy Popp. Unfortunately their website isn't updated and the press release is on a pdf doc I cannot copy. But the address is on the link, it starts at 7PM tomorrow evening. Go say hi to Nancy for me, if Doris Krystof from K21 is there ditto, and drink a couple glasses of sekt for me. Thanks!
If you're in Paris this weekend, say hi to Matthieu Laurette, an old pal of FBC! too, when you head over to Le Plateau for the opening of l'Argent, a group show about what else? Money, and maybe it also references the Zola book and the Bresson or L'Herbier movies. French people hate to speak about money, it is plain rude, so I'd be curious to see the show if I can. FBC! will be at the total opposite of Paris for only a few days next week, so not sure I'll be able to make it. I'll try, as well as the show at Le Palais de Tokyo, and of course, Legende at the Domaine de Chamarande.

Pix: courtesy Nancy Popp. Nancy, if you ever climb Chris Burden's street lights at LACMA, be careful not to damage the paint, OK? Good luck for tomorrow's performance!

Your Social Life: A Very Busy Week in LA!

Wow, it's not the moment to come down with a cold or the flu, as tons of things are happening in LA.
Let me start with the LA art fair, Art LA 2008. There's only 2 reasons to go, and here they are: my very, very good friend Matthieu Laurette who also happens to be a very good French artist has a one-man show at the Blow De La Barra booth! Matthieu has been infiltrating media and making comments about "The Society of Spectacle" (Debord and Situationist fiends you know what I'm speaking about) for a long time. His practice his not restricted to guerrilla-type actions live on the Today Show, but I'm posting an image for you to see. Matthieu will spend some time on the booth, so please stop by and say hi. Better yet, buy his work or curate a show with him!
Now it's all very well are you going to say, but what is the other reason to stop by the fair? The second reason is called Julie Lequin, who's volunteering at the booth of her publisher Second Cannons on Friday evening. Please go say hi to Julie, make sure to buy a copy of her book/DVD and look up upcoming publications including one on FBC! fav' Michael Smith (with Doug Skinner).

So tomorrow there's a talk a the Getty, along with an upcoming symposium Friday and Saturday, both events for which you need to register. FBC! will be at the panel tomorrow, but has too bad a cold to go to the conference, even though I would really need to go see it.

UPDATE: FBC! keeps on forgetting, but on Friday evening is the opening of Michael Asher at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. I like the SMMOA a lot (hi Elsa and Lisa!) and I'm delighted they are showing a great LA artist who hasn't been seen that much around lately.

And then what? Then things are not over, but there will sadly be a scheduling conflict for me, as Saturday I'll be attending the Patriot Acts opening at 18th St. complex in Santa Monica. I would have loved to be able to also attend Chris Lipomi's project (see details thereafter) but I doubt I will be able to make it on time. It's too bad because it is right next to my house.


Uzihektakta Wakipi
by Chris Lipomi

Saturday, January 26, 2008 9pm

1021 South Orange Dr.
Los Angeles, CA. 90019


Los Angeles based artist Chris Lipomi invites you on a
personalized tour through an off-site art
installation. A new project encapsulating 10 years of
art production, Uzihektakta Wakipi (loosely translated
meaning "the backwards dance") functions as a
subterranean pre-career retrospective.

Opening Reception at 9pm. with tours leaving every 15
minutes.
RSVP for preferred tour placement.

RSVP at: caveproject@gmail.com

We Are Not in Art Basel Miami Beach

Beloved Devoted Readers,

I know that, as a FBC! devotee, if you are reading this right now you are certainly not at Art Basel Miami Beach.
Because, first of all as FBC! readers you are part of an elitist, discriminating band of connoisseurs who know better than to mingle with the great unwashed in that citadel of bad taste and overflowing free cocaine. This is, oh, so 2004. So vulgar.
I mean, just the fact that Gianni Versace died there should be enough to deter you from ever uttering that dreaded name, Miami.

Second of all, there is no second of all. The above reasons should be enough to comfort you in your choice of being elsewhere now, until Sunday. After Sunday, feel free to go visit your Grandma there but you should know better than brag about it. Because we are oh-so-not-there, and if you run into us please do not state the obvious: "you are not in Miami?". No, neither are you, so you are not suffering from hallucinations nor am I possessed of the gift of ubiquity. I'm here in the same temporal/space wavelength as you are. I think.

In the meantime, join us in the Matthieu Laurette-created Facebook group, as described below. As an added bonus you may even get to become my Facebook pal (that is, if we are not already friends in real life). Only if, like us, you are not in Miami.



Facebook Group
Name:
We are not in Art Basel Miami Beach
Type:
Entertainment & Arts - Fine Arts
Description:
a group for those who are tired to answer several times a day to people "No, I'm not in Miami".

Your Social Life, At Home and Abroad

Hello my dear humongous readership,


This week is very busy, with tomorrow's Edgar Arceneaux book launch at LAXart, and Matthieu Laurette's opening at Deweer Art Gallery in Belgium this coming Saturday (pictured above, please click on link for the info).

And on Thursday evening, here in LA, a treat: a free lecture at LACMA by Kevin Salatino on Fuseli's erotic drawings. See press release below.
I can only urge you to attend because:
-a) Fuseli's drawings are amazing, erotic or not
-b) Kevin is an hilarious speaker, if very scholarly, and he is such a treat as an orator/speaker his lecture shouldn't be missed. And, it's free!








Fuseli's Phallus: Drawing Sex in 18th-Century Rome
Kevin Salatino, Curator of Prints and Drawings, LACMA

Thursday, November 8 | 7:00 pm

This lecture closely examines a remarkable group of erotic drawings made by the great Swiss-English artist, Henry Fuseli, while resident in Rome in the 1770s. Placing these drawings in their larger historical and cultural context, as well as probing the relationship between drawing and meaning, the lecture argues for a broader consideration of pornography as a liberating force in Enlightenment Europe and the important role that Fuseli played in that liberation.

Please note: some material may be considered objectionable.

Bing Theater | Free, no reservations
Call 323.857.6074 for more information