Vertical Landscape

Someone planted varying grasses in wool insulation. Sunset Junction.



Mmmm...I like it. Reminds me of Zelda.

Touch Me!

I was ogling pretty electronic gear online when I stumbled upon a gallery of retro audio ads on The Vintage Knob (an online audio museum by French photographer, Axel Dahl). They are wonderfully absurd and...just so fetishistically TRUE (see La Dolce Vita for more on this topic).

Russian Confectionery Design

After helping design a Russian themed party hosted by Taschen for MOCA in celebration of their 30th Anniversary, we excitedly scored mountainous volumes of leftover Russian candies. The confectionery graphic designs (wrappers and websites) were coooool. The company producing these particular designs, United Confectionary Manufacturers, was originally a small candy workshop founded in 1851. It was nationalized after the October Revolution and then privatized in 1992.


Alenka brand.

The Big Payback

I remember when my college boyfriend introduced me to Juxtapoz Magazine. It was against the Inglewood backdrop of his apartment, poorly made mac n' cheese, coronas, and cinderblock decor.

Last night Juxtapoz celebrated their 15th Anniversary with a charity art auction benefiting Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope's Detroit Power House concept – a project dedicated to building low income, architecturally significant homes. They have been generating much attention over the past year for sowing artful housing throughout neglected urban Detroit areas. 140 pieces of art were donated towards building five more homes.


Snakes by Richard Colman. Pen, ink and gouache on wood panel. 9"x12", 2009.


Bambi Was A Dude by Kenyon Bajus, 1 of 8. Gouache on wood panel, 12” x 12”, 2008.


Roar by Josh Keyes. Acrylic on Wood, 24” x 18”, 2009.

The event was great. In addition to the usual booze and DJing, the displayed lowriders, projected boxing footage, and venue itself (Factory Arts Place Complex) reflected - like the Power House ideal - the art of the economically disenfranchised.

Lirit

Johnny Mustache

I begged my friend Andy to let me make the birthday cake for her friend, Johnny Mustache. He was having a bow tie party.

Karmann Ghia

I was driving on Venice just east of La Cienega when I pulled alongside a powder blue Karmann Ghia, a 60-something tan man at the wheel. They just seemed so timeless. Italy in the 60s? California in the 70s? I imagined cold chicken and frosty beer picnic ready on the passenger seat (see To Catch A Thief for more on this topic).



I fell in love a little. Italian design manufactured by VW, the Ghia has a humble sleekness and classic charm. Something romantic about it.

Butt...

I love thrift stores. Can happily spend hours in them, seeking out value in the discarded like a truffle pig (see The Gleaner and I for more on this topic). While sifting (for hours) through Santa Barbara's Alpha Thrift, I find this derriere painting in a pile of ratty motel-esque prints. It is 7'x'6 and of impeccable quality. I love it. I have always been a sucker for photorealism. And classic women. So I buy it for $100:



Back at home on a whim, we google the signature penciled on the back of the canvas: John Kacere, 1970...

Who is John Kacere again? Turns out he is a significant artist of the 1970s photorealism movement (a reaction to post-WWII abstract expressionism) along with Chuck Close, Robert Bechtle, Howard Kanovitz. All of these guys tend to focus on the ubiquitous mundane and fixate on one subject matter throughout their work. Chuck has faces. Robert has suburbia. And John has ladies' lingeried backsides (and sometimes frontsides).





His work is the inspiration for the opening shot in Lost in Translation; one of his pieces ("Jutta") hangs in Charlotte's hotel room. We got the painting authenticated. It hangs happily in our living room.