The KLF - Fuck The Millenium

KLF incorporating the Jeremy Deller/William Fearley Acid Brass version of What Time Is Love, circa 1997.

Sue Teller Mash Up - One Cool Old Lady

Thanks to Matthew Betcher for sending me the link.
Have fun, and remember tomorrow is FBC!'s birthday, yay!

Your Social Life - Special I Am In A Jam Edition!

You've noticed, dear beloved readers, that I have been a bit absent presently. If you follow my adventures regularly, you know I'm writing a novel. It's pretty intense, and I'm trying to be done with the first draft in the next couple of months or so, after which I'll be really looking for a job. All of this is a bit time-consuming, so I don't write as much on the blog as I would sometimes like to, but after 8 hours of writing fiction non-stop my brain is pretty fried. Hopefully we'll have a contribution by LA artist Vincent Johnson soon, about his time in the US Air Force during the Cold War, when he was working in a Soviet-designed geodesic dome. I'm totally looking forward to it, let me tell you! And in about 3 days FBC! will turn 1, yeepee! There will be an anniversary post, I promise.

Also, this nerdy occupation (writing a novel) requires that I don't go out that much, or it kills my concentration, ditto not picking up the phone or responding to email. Especially if you send me too many at once, but really it's phone conversations I'm eschewing. All in all, I'm not exactly MIA but you won't see me around at openings, so it's starting to get tough recommending options for you and Your Social Life.

So, if I were to go out this weekend, what would I do?

I'd totally go to Chinatown to attend the outdoor video screening curated by Andrew Bernardini, from 8.30 PM onwards, this Saturday on Chung King Road. All info can be obtained at Chung King Project
Aside from that, I don't know, I haven't looked yet what was going on, but I'm totally excited by next week collaboration between Machine Project and Fallen Fruit, where you can all participate and make jam. FBC! adores making jam, but has some doubt about what will come out of the project, if only because FBC! doesn't use pectin in her jams (tip: just use a lemon instead), and macerate her fruit in sugar for half a day at least before making her jam. But that's just me being pesky, because it sounds like lots of fun, whatever will come out of all that jam!
So bring your own fruit, preferably picked up from an expedition with Fallen Fruit, and make some fab' jam. My favorite jam/jelly/preserve flavors are, in descending order:

1. Violet Petal Jelly (I bring it back from France, yes)
2. Rose Petal Jelly (Westwood is your best bet to find it)
3. Wild blackberry preserve (not jelly).
4. Redcurrant jelly
5. Apple, Hard Cider and Calvados Jelly (made in Normandy, yeepee!)
6. Pomegranate jelly (I buy mine from Ha's Apple Farm)
7. A fabulous Italian bergamot preserve I've found at Surfas once, alas they don't carry it anymore. Boo hoo.

Of course you know about using real cane sugar to make your own jam, not that disgusting High Fructose Corn Syrup found in commercial brands, including the ones that look fancy. Anyway, it sounds all so exciting, I'm dying to go but it's likely I'll be too busy writing. Have a spoonful for me, will you? Thanks!

And something else that happens next week is the Freak Show Deluxe in Silverlake, at the Sacred Fools Theater in Silverlake. It's only $15, and I'm sure by now you're already seen Dark Knight, so there you go. Right now it's the only type of performance art I'm excited about, along with the LA Derby Dolls. And speaking about cool performance art, there's this thing on the BBC website today, how to disappear without a trace. It happens to hundreds of artists every year, but it may not be *intentional*. I'd love to see one day an artist project about artists who disappeared but never reappeared. I mean, not some kind of master thesis in a third-tier university Art History department, if you follow my drift.
OK, all for today, and this weekend there will be the anniversary post, the result from the latest poll, a new poll, and some other stuff. Have a good one!

Another Summer Poll! Thingerati of the World, Unite!

You seem to like polls, here at the FBC! readership headquarters. So I thought you may like this new one. How should we name the entire class of curators, you know, the way we speak of the Literati, the Intelligentsia, the Glitterati, the Fashionistas , the Trustafarians and other Bridezillas of the world?
Curatistas sounded a bit gender-oriented, but you have a few other options. Look at the bottom of the page. 6 days to vote, have fun!

I was not sure I could post a pic of The Curator character from World of Warcraft, so instead I put a pix of the show Legend at Chamarande.

Your Social Life At Home, Light

OK, so as I was saying the blog posting is going to be rather light. I'm deeply immersed in my writing, and I don't intend to show up at any opening for the time being, not go do gallery rounds for a while. So, if you have to go to an opening this week, I'd say stick with LAXart and the Kori Newkirk show. It looks tantalizing, from what I see on the webpage.
You can also catch up on shows mentioned within these pages over the last 2 weeks, to which I'd add the Lisa Lapinski "Focus" show at MoCA. It opened when I was flying in between Paris and LA, so I haven't seen it yet, but it is much more attractive to me than the Marlene Dumas one (a very overrated painter IMHO), not mentioning the Sterling Ruby one. His work was all over the place in NYC in March, and, hm, I think the less you see it the best it is. Some things shouldn't be over-hyped and overexposed. Same goes with Rachel Harrison, who was also all over NYC last Spring. Give me Carol Bove anytime over those two last ones, and long live to Lisa Lapinski!

So with Lisa and Kori (if I may, I don't know Kori personally) you have two interesting sculpture shows to look at, and to round it up nicely how about a nice group show?
Continuing at SMMOA is the "Puppet Show", closing in about 3 weeks, so plan ahead and don't miss it!

Like the Three Musketeers, this selection of 3 shows to go to need a 4th partner, and how could I not mention Tom Solomon new space (with Sister and , China Arts Objects). Tom who's my other most adored art dealer in LA, with Susan V, curates fabulous group shows. I'm curious to see that one.

Pix is a production still of Kori Newkirk lifted from the LAXart website.

Poll results are in!

So the last poll was the most successful so far (12 votes in, yay!), with the Norton Simon Museum getting 50% votes on the "coolest, in the air-conditioned sense, museum in LA to take refuge from the heat", followed by "My Local Target Store" (30%) the remaining 20% being scattered between SMMOA, The Hammer, LACMA and MOCA. The Getty didn't attract anybody, maybe because it's designed as a beach resort and no one mistakes it for a real museum? (just kidding!). Target rightfully belongs to the list, as you can get some Michael Graves, Philippe Stark and Karim Rashid-designed stuff there.
Also, the cross-section of FBC! readers who are otakus/geeks must be close to zero, as no one decided to vote for their Mom's basement.
All in all I'm glad the Norton Simon won as it is a really good museum and it tends to be neglected compared to the LA giants. It hosts the fabulous still life by Zurbaran, with the lemons, a painting that is worth the trip just for itself (but the rest of the collection is good!)

Aside from the poll, there's not much going on. I'm very busy buried in my non-blog writing. That's why I don't really pick up my phone (well, I've lost it yesterday anyway), nor answer email. Likewise, I won't show up at openings for a while and I'm not even sure I will go see some shows. I have a September deadline and after that I'll need a job ASAP. I may get some guest bloggers again, hopefully, so check that space one or twice a week.
I've been to the Lautner opening at the Hammer and I must thank Aimee Chang who told me to go see the "printed series" show as it was closing on Sunday. It was very good, the art stars of print all together: Goya, Durer, Callot, Piranese, Hokusai etc. with a few contemporary print series, the one by Mona Hatoum by far the best (but Chris Ofili, er...doesn't hold a wall, really). I'm very happy I got to see that show, and I'm sorry it closed already as I would have gone back to the Hammer just for it.
Lastly I'm adding stuff to my blog roll: Carol Es and Pablo de La Barra and Andrew Bernardini and of course Words Without Pictures. It will need to be seriously reorganized and maybe merged but it will wait a couple of months.

Allons Zenfants De La Patriiiiiieuh Le Jour de Gloare Est Tarrive!

Today it's Bastille Day, and I realize some of my faithful readers may have expected a special post. I apologize for not having done so really but
a) I had to go pick up my car from my mechanic, and it's far away and involves 3 bus rides. In short, it takes time away from the computer,
b) I'm trying to write lots of non-blog related things at the moment, plus preparing an interview with one of the greatest artists coming out of LA in the last decades (hi Edgar!) and I don't want to screw it up
and
c) unfortunately Bastille Day is also the anniversary of a very close relative death 3 years ago, and I don't feel like celebrating very much. Its getting easier with the passing of time, but I'm usually not very joyful around that time of the year (Thanksgiving being another one).

So I didn't compile any list of French stuff to do in LA, but I did swing by La Maison du Pain to get my lunch, and today they offer you a very cool thing: a blue, white and red ice cream sandwich made with macarons! I totally loved it, its quirky and fun, very sweet (sentimentally speaking) and refreshing with the weather we have. It's not very big so it's a perfect (I don't like food that's too big-portioned).

Also I see the poll is exciting your interest, though the count is a bit off (there's a discrepancy between the actual number of respondents, which is higher, and what is posted under the poll.) It has given me an idea for the next poll, so expect to see one in 3 or 4 days.
In the next few weeks there will be very light posting on the blog as I try to advance my novel. And look for jobs because, you know, my savings are not eternal, unlike hope and audacity, so I have to think about my not too far future. Blogging is fun, but takes a bit of time especially for a non-native English speaker. But there will be an anniversary poll at the end of the month, as FBC! is almost 1!

Meanwhile, happy Bastille Day for you, please indulge your inner French, listen to Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin (she's an honorary French), Charles de Goal, Alain Bashung, Francoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc, you can even read Houellebecq (I find him boring personally) or Regis Jauffret, look at Alain Sechas or Matthieu Laurette's work (hi! I love you guys!) and go get yourself some pastries at la Maison du Pain.