From yarn sushi to James Franco in drag – the art world never disappoints. Now, now if you’re an art critic (from NY) you can go ahead and express your anguish over this post. You’ve made your feelings about Deitch and Franco very clear – everywhere. Wait, if you’re an art critic you’re likely not reading my blog. It’s way too pretty and I like Deitch. But if you happen to pass by – Hello. I totally get what all the backlash is about. I do. However, I must be honest. I love it when feathers gets ruffled in the art world. It gets people into museums. And when this museum educator sees people line up to see a show, my heart gets all mushy inside.

If you’re in LA, REBEL is your opportunity to see the work of James Franco, Douglas Gordon, Harmony Korine, Damon McCarthy, Paul McMarthy, Terry Richardson, Ed Ruscha and Aaron Young’s work all in one space. The exhibit is an ode to the movie Rebel Without A Cause and includes photography, video installation, painting and sculpture all nestled in familiar Hollywood structures and avenues. Over all, I enjoyed the exhibit. But I strongly suggest you leave the kids at home.

A few weeks ago, we were invited by Vanity Fair, Cadillac and the Museum of Contemporary Art to the unveiling of The West Hollywood Murals (artists Shepard Fairey, Retna, Kenny Scharf) at The West Hollywood Public Library …

As you can imagine, my son was excited to meet Shepard Fairey (again). You know, I sometimes wonder what will go through his mind when he’s in college taking Intro to Art History and Shepard Fairey comes up.

I suggest heading to West Hollywood for dinner and mural gazing. More pics HERE.

I really don’t think I expressed my enthusiasm for Art in the Streets enough (here or here). I needed to spread the love to other blogs so I interviewed Espo for Catalysis Projects. Please click to join the love fest!

Here we are back at MoCA with my 3rd post about Art in the Streets. I had to blog about the member’s opening. I was going to post this weeks ago, but my workload did not allow much time for photo editing the hundreds of pictures we took that day.

I was so excited to take my son to meet the artists. Not only did he meet them (they were all so gracious with their time and super sweet) they signed his black book. The beauty of this book now is that the signatures are – art. This precious book has since been stored under lock and key.

Everything has been written about this show. So, for this post, I will just indulge in pictures and names – Henry Chalfant, Street Market snippet, Futura 2000, member’s opening line, Rosie Perez, Jayson, Risk and Saber.

Fab Five Freddy was so sweet to my son. He chatted with him about old school hip-hop, Grandmaster Flash, Tribe … Oh wait, I should probably tell you that my son is 11 going on 45. He listens to music from way back, watches the Cosby show and loves Lena Horne.

After his convo with Fab, we ran into Charlie Ahearn who laughed at their outfit similarities. At some point, we hung out at Ramelzee’s recreated loft, which was pretty amazing. Don’t think I could live there, but it seemed like a fun place to visit.

We also met Ken Swift, Mister Cartoon, Roger Gastman and Lady Pink.

Then we ran into Taki 183 and James Franco. My son went up to him and said ‘Hey, I’ve seen a few of your films’. That was super funny and he was very nice. Then Lady Pink and Lee signed the black book as well as Retna .

But … the highlight of Mikey’s night was meeting Shepard Fairey.

On the way out, we ran into Roger Gastman again. Mikey asked if Space Invader or Shepard Fairey were there (yes, he saw Exit through the Giftshop). In that moment Shepard walked in, Roger yelled out his name, and Mikey got to meet him minutes before we left.

The night also included lots of “he looks so cute, what is he wearing”. He is wearing an Urban Outfitters hat, F21 kids shirt and vest, Old Navy jeans, neon yellow indoor soccer predators and more importantly, a little red button that says “Save Japan”. And since we are on the topic of clothes now, I’m wearing a Guess dress I have had since the 90s. There are just some pieces in my closet I will never part with. Can it be called vintage now? Yikes!

Anyway, after the Fairey meet and greet, we left, grabbed some Ramen and put the black book away.

The most important show in American history – Art in the Streets. Not only do I view this show as an art historian and museum educator … but I lived this history.  The D train in the 80′s to the Grand Concourse, where my grandmother lived. Hi guys ….

The man responsible for introducing (and re-introducing) the world to Lee, Taki 183, Risk, Saber, Revok, Cornbread, Futura, to name a few, and placing these legends in their proper art historical context, Jeffery Deitch.

Thanks, guys.

Now on with the show that has now gone down as one of the most important retrospectives in American History.

A bus painted by Risk. Homage to back in the day, no? Now buses are covered in corporate graffiti. Interesting.

When you enter the exhibit, it’s completely overwhelming to say the least. I thought of multiple ways to approach it for my blog. All I can do is give you snippets of what I saw. It really is the kind of show you need to see a few times. And for me, this was too personal to give create an art historical essay.

After strolling the Geffen several times in amazement, I turned a corner and saw this Tracey 168 piece. I said “Oh, my God, I hated this painting when I was kid”. Palm trees? Cali looking dude? I couldn’t relate. But, to see this again was nostalgic, especially now that live in Cali.

Then I decided to stalk Lee Quinones. Why not? We followed him to Street Market, where we ran into Todd James aka Reas. I learned that my husband was friends with Todd. The two have known each other since their Rock-a-fella Record days.

They chatted about the past. I love to hear stories about my hubby’s younger years. I live vicariously through them. Like when he sold computers? Coincidentally, the one you see here in this installation is one of them. Weird.The installation does not leave one stone unturned. Photos do it no justice. It’s way too exploratory. Must be seen.

Irak, Mode2, Larry Clark and Swoon

If you’re not familiar with street art, you may wonder why Swoon? Her installation stands on its own behind a curtain creating beautiful shadows on draped fabric. But, here is a sample her work in Street Art context.

And at the risk of sounding like a completely brown-nosing hob-knobber, I gottay say, I felt proud to see Kaws’ work on these walls. I knew him as Brian Donnelly, my ex-boyfriend Vert’s friend and part of the IMOK crew, who I attended weed rallies with and watched spray paint murals in the village during our SVA days. Sweet, sweet times. Does he remember me? Meh, who knows.

I was guilty of believing there was nothing west of the hudson. I was wrong. Here’s what the west coast was up to – Mister Cartoon and Risk

While I waited for Roger Gastman to finish an interview, Saber came by to say what’s up. He is super cool. I learned a lot about the ins and outs of the show, graf life in LA in comparison to NY and the fruition of Known Gallery, which has been top-notch with their shows.

Shepard Fairey took over the bookstore.

Oh, and of course. Did you think this wouldn’t be part of the show? Now, go. And if you’re on the east coast, don’t fret. According to Fab Five Freddy, Art in the Streets will light up Brooklyn in 2012.

Artists in the show: ALEXIS ROSS, ANDRE, A-ONE, BARRY MCGEE, BEAR 167, BILL DANIEL, BILL RAY, BLADE, CHARLIE AHEARN, CHAZ BOJORQUEZ, COCO144, COST, CRAIG COSTELLO, CRAIG R. STECYK III, CRASH, DAN MURPHY, DASH SNOW, DAZE, DELTA, DEVIN FLYNN, DON LEICHT, DONDI, DRUGS, ED TEMPLETON, EINE, ERIK BRUNETTI, ESTEVAN ORIOL, FAB 5 FREDDY, FREEDOM, FUTURA, GORDON MATTA-CLARK, GUSMANO CESARETTI, HAZE, HENRY CHALFANT, HOWARD GRIBBLE, HUGH HOLLAND, INVADER, IRAK, IZ THE WIZ, JAMIE REID, JAMES PRIGOFF, JANE DICKSON, JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT, JOHN AHEARN, JOHN FEKNER, JON NAAR, JOSH LAZCANO, JR, KAWS, KEITH HARING, KENNY SCHARF, KIELY JENKINS, KOOR, LADY PINK, LARRY CLARK, LEE QUINONES, LOOMIT, MALCOLM MCLAREN, MARE 139, MARGARET KILGALLEN, MARK GONZALES, MARTHA COOPER, MISS VAN, MISTER CARTOON, MODE 2, NECKFACE, NOC, OS GEMEOS, PATTI ASTOR, PHASE 2, RAMMELLZEE, RETNA, REVOK, REVOLT, REVS, RISK, ROA, ROBBIE CONAL, RON ENGLISH, SABER, SHARP, SHEPARD FAIREY, SJK161, SNAKE 1, SPIKE JONZE, STELIOS, STEPHEN POWERS, STEVE GRODY, SWOON, TAKI 183, TEEN WITCH, TERRY RICHARDSON, TODD JAMES, TOXIC, TRACY 168, ZEPHYR

Curated by Jefferey Deitch, Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose.

MOCA LA.

I attended the Art in the Streets preview today. Blown Away. To witness this in my lifetime amazes me. A bombed subway and handball on Haring’s mural was normal for me growing up. Today was surreal.

I have a ton of pictures to edit – Deitch, Saber, Fab 5 Freddy, Reas, Espo, Ket, Lee, Mode2 – to name a few. To mark this historical time in art history, I would like to share this clip my husband shot of Fab 5 Freddy introducing the show. Expect a post tomorrow with tons of details.

Photo by Unurth

I’m looking forward to the upcoming exhibit “Art in the Streets” presented by MOCA at The Geffen Contemporary in downtown Los Angeles.  The show is a retrospective of graffiti from the 1970′s to present.  Recently, the museum’s director Jeffery Deitch, commissioned Italian artist BLU to paint a mural outside of the Geffen Contemporary as a precursor to the show. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. It seems like a lot miscommunication took place, and as a result the massive anti-war mural depicting coffins draped in dollar bills was whitewashed on December 15.

Fast forward to the night of January 3rd, 2011 – A protest took place in the parking lot of the Geffen Contemporary, which included Chicano artist and Vietnam War veteran Leo Limon and The Phantom Street Artist. Using a laptop and a laser projector, approximately 20 artists projected animated light-graffiti messages in support of BLU’s work.

I contacted the Phantom and asked him about what went down on Monday. Here’s what he said.

On Monday Night Jan 3rd 2010, I aka the Phantom Street Artist participated in an intervention with several other urban artists in staged a protest against the Deitch and MOCA’s for censoring BLU’s artwork..

In sharing the Phantom Street Artist thoughts through its critical essay!

The ABC of Abuse of Power Comes as No Surprise..
By Phantom Street Artist

It comes as no surprise when explicit censorship can be carried out and named by Politicians in the interest of defending National Security all the while denying our inherent rights to the freedom of information act. Earlier this week it is the Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough who ordered the removal of a short video-excerpt from a critically acclaimed exhibition in Washington DC by the deceased Artist David Wojnarowicz. Today it is the local Los Angeles Museum Director Jeffrey Deitch who objects by nonchalantly choosing to whitewash BLU’s walls in fear of embarrassing the public policy of MOCA for its next Graffiti Exhibit in 2011. These factions and their cohorts present the age old argument that any release of information and or expression will lead to threats of national security or cultural, economical and political loss in place of discursive knowledge and expression.

How Pathetic??

In its absurdity, MOCA prides itself as an international progressive institution which allows for freedom of expression and thought. Before we understood How to Say and Mean Deitch’s censorship has chosen to exclude certain topics and language from the value of our community expression.

In finality these acts of censorship by those who rule and are seated in cultural and political power are only defending themselves and their gratuitous hegemonic groups, by not allowing such a harmless inalienable right and discourse to be engaged in our culture they have ignorantly undermined themselves and their institution. Such actions by a provincial Director tells us through his actions that the Museums next premiere Street Artist Graffiti exhibit will have to be safe as its criteria in its applied decor.

So let’s remember never to forget that in the future we will all need to meet the complacent and censored criteria of its Museum Director in masquerading as Street Artists for the Next MOCA sponsored Graffiti Exhibit.

Where’s my Shoe and my Can of Spray Paint?

Phantom Street Artist

Questioning Our Kulture in Question…

http://www.vimeo.com/18419889

Thanks Phantom.

So guys, what do you think? Does the MOCA have the right to do what they want with their wall or is it censorship?