Category Archive: Recent Work
For Eric Alperin, ice is a transcendental thing. Call it frozen water, and you will almost entirely miss the point. Alperin, the barman of downtown’s Varnish, describes ice as “the barman’s flame” and a blank canvas with which to mix spirits. In layman’s terms, ice acts as binding agent between the sweeteners and spirits in [...]
The subject found in the photographic works of both Richard Gilles and Bernadette DiPietro is the object- the object as the billboard that frequently crosses the path of the motorist, and the clothesline, which is rarely seen in metropolitan cities. Aside from this shared fascination, Gilles and DiPietro present two diametric worldviews. DiPietro sees cultures [...]
Since it’s creation in 1989 the Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICI) has quietly sought to unhinge the phenomenon known as “culture,” indicated parenthetically by the ICI because culture is deemed an unstable term whose meaning is in flux. The Institute’s interest lies in how we construct and represent our own culture through visual methods. These [...]
Libby Black’s sixth solo show Timeless at Charles James Gallery demonstrates the artist’s savoir faire of constructing and reproducing exclusive commodities using only acrylic paper and a hot glue gun. Her eye is both masterful and deceptive when it comes to mimicking the aesthetic of luggage pieces and hatboxes of brand names that include Prada, [...]
By the time the X Games were created in 1995, pro skateboarders Steve Berra and Eric Koston felt their beloved boarding had become more about merchandising and corporations than camaraderie and spontaneity. To help bring the sport back to its roots, in 2007 they founded the Berrics (a combination of “Berra” and “Eric”), a private [...]
Korek is the great matchmaker of the art world. Having worked in the prints and drawings department at LACMA, she found herself disillusioned by the lack of collaboration within the museum system. So she left that world behind and founded ForYourArt, where she became a “metacurator,” a link between artists and a larger audience. Among [...]
The conceptual explorations of this London-born artist find fertile ground in Los Angeles. Take, for example, Passages, Beshty’s recent installation at LAXART, which required visitors to walk on a tempered mirrored surface laid throughout the gallery. A single step or shift in weight caused the glass to splinter beneath the thin laminate coating. Such intricate [...]
If Guitar Hero is the natural progression for anyone who ever shamelessly emulated Joe Perry with an imaginary ax, then Activision’s next gig, DJ Hero, will let anyone who ever did a song mix channel his or her inner spinmaster. Activision has kept its new product, slated for release this fall, under tight security. The [...]
