Shepard Fairey DAMAGED: vast, beautiful, unsettling
Nov
10
2017
Ed. note: Guest contributor Dana Ross covers a new mega-show in downtown Los Angeles, providing photos & text. DAMAGED, Shepard Fairey‘s new exhibit in Los Angeles, is vast and beautiful. His graphic sensibilities and social commentary rattle the bars on the cage and give us the strength to break out. Fairey is most famous for ...
Clown Tomas Kubinek, professional lunatic, walks the walk
Nov
10
2017
Tomas Kubinek, who smartly selected an always in-demand profession, that of a clown, is described as a comic genius, virtuoso vaudevillian, and all-round charmer who gives audiences a joyous experience. Kubínek, born in Prague, was smuggled out of the country at age 3 by his parents to escape the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. After ...
It concerns us all, says choreographer Miguel Gutierrez
Ed. note: arts·meme is delighted to reprint an artist’s statement from choreographer Miguel Gutierrez on the occasion of a commission for the French Ballet de Lorraine soon to have its premiere. Gutierrez, an artist who is alternately outrageous and deeply thoughtful, shares his ideas here: I was invited by Petter Jacobsson and Tom Caley to ...
Jason Moran, in a Monkish mood @ CAP UCLA
“The horn is blowing according to what the drummer is playing, you know?” –Thelonious Monk to Hall Overton, 1959 Thelonious Monk’s 1959 Town Hall concert was an artistic landmark and a personal triumph for the iconoclastic pianist and composer. His pieces, conceived for the small ensemble format, had been orchestrated for the evening by the ...
Juan Bastos: California Portraits: people, places & pets 1
Nov
3
2017
Shall I look at your Juan Bastos portrait? Or, should I look directly at you? That was the question at yesterday’s sneak peak of “Juan Bastos: California Portraits,” a rich exhibition of 40 portraits of prominent Californians painted by the Bolivian-American artist, a longtime resident of Los Angeles. The exhibit is part of Pacific Standard Time: ...
‘Delicate and sensitive’ film, ‘The Whales of August,’ in 30th anniversary screening
Film producer and marketing executive Mike Kaplan is a friend of arts·meme. This super nice guy is the leading collector of a massive trove of superlative movie musical posters; more to the point, Kaplan’s collection zeroes in on the art of dance as captured in artful movie posters. We like that. Kaplan published a companion ...
Golden-voiced Jack Jones, a golden performer
Oct
31
2017
Irvine Barclay Theatre, where we have enjoyed so many wonderful dance performances, hosted a super-special treat Saturday evening, a show by the master pop and jazz song stylist, Jack Jones. Jones was in his living room. A boffo performer, the guy settled into the theater’s intimate quarters with an ease and control that reflected his ...
Hank & Jim & Scott bring new book to Los Angeles
Oct
29
2017
In his new book,“Hank and Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart,” New York Times bestselling author Scott Eyman tells the story of the remarkable friendship of two Hollywood legends who, though different in many ways, maintained a close friendship that endured. Henry Fonda and James Stewart were two of Hollywood’s biggest ...
‘Variety’ got it dead wrong: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) 1
On the occasion of the hugely talented, innovative and original filmmaker George Romero receiving his star on Hollywood Boulevard (the auteur director died in July) and the wonderful tribute event we attended (screening Romero’s marvelous and underrated CREEPSHOW) this past week, we sense that Romero’s pioneering in the horror genre can’t have been easy. A tough ...
Strange times for women echoed in Sullivan-Beeman paintings
Oct
26
2017
These are disorienting times, as a parade of women spills forth the secrets and lies they have been porting in private, some for decades. Stories rife with shame, collusion, dominance, desperation all tap distressing emotions. Upside-down post-feminist realities careen, as well, through the fantasy portraits of Los Angeles artist Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman. Sullivan-Beeman is soon to ...