Beyond the Orange Curtain

By Chris Hoff Nothing is true and everything is possible. – Peter Pomerantsev At this juncture, I don’t think there are many artists now that haven’t heard about a Beeple NFT going for $69 million, or a large series of arguably mediocre illustrations of a bored ape having a price of entry of 52 ether, or $210,000. I imagine this sort of news has many an artist, isolated away in their studios, wondering how they get a piece of the action and what this might mean for...

17 February, 2022 /

[caption id="attachment_6942" align="alignright" width="345"] Blinky Exhumation Bone, Jeffrey Vallance[/caption]Blinky the Friendly Hen was memorialized Saturday by Los Angeles performance artist and curator Jeffrey Vallance on the occasion of the artist’s walk through of the Cal State Northridge gallery exhibition “Blinky the Friendly Hen: 40th Anniversary Exhibition.” Vallance, a 2004 Guggenheim fellow whose "Relics and Reliquaries" was exhibited at CSUF Grand Central Art Center in downtown Santa Ana in 2007, purchased Blinky the Friendly Hen in the frozen poultry section of a Ralphs supermarket on April...

19 February, 2019 /

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Kyoto, Japan during peak fall season. As I understand it the last two weeks of November are the prime time in Kyoto to visit temples, explore zen gardens, and take in the sight's and sounds of this unique city, while the local foliage burns red, yellow and orange. In between visits to the many breathtaking temples and gardens, we found some time to take an art break and check out the fairly new contemporary art museum in...

03 December, 2018 /

4:30 p.m., Venice Los de Abajo is a Southern California printmaking collective whose members strive to keep alive the Latin American tradition of printmaking while also experimenting with new techniques and individual expression. Their show "Division: Reflections and Shadows" at SPARC in Venice, Calif., an Art Deco former police station, is socially-engaged in a way uniquely appropriate to the coming Trumpocalypse, as in Yvette Mangual's Flight, inspired by the Caltrans immigrant crossing signs on the I-5, or Daniel González's Unidos o Morimos, which plays off of...

26 June, 2016 /

By Roberta Carasso Artists deal with human issue just like everyone else, except, being visually-minded, they make their thoughts accessible to all who can appreciate their meaning. Katie Stubblefield is drawn to that moment when things shift, the cliff hangers of life when events suddenly are no longer the same. Working with various artistic disciplines, her metaphors embrace imagery inversion from methods of horizontal and vertical processes. The final canvas captures a movement with no direct destination, a sense of uncertainty. Tom Dowling observes that when...

11 November, 2015 /

[caption id="attachment_6439" align="alignright" width="305"] Art and Craft (2014), directed by Sam Cullman and Jennifer Grausman and co-directed by Mark Becker.[/caption] Mark Landis is a curious little man, aged 60 years but looking much older, with a high-pitched, mumbly voice, pronounced ears and a residual wisp of hair at the top of his head. Known to dress up at times as a Jesuit priest, he would surely be played by John Malkovich in the movie of his life, but for the fact that his life lacks the...

25 September, 2015 /

The First Friday art walk in Oakland, California — known as Oakland Art Murmur — is a chance for galleries throughout the city, from uptown to downtown to Jingletown, to throw open their doors for an art-loving public. Current shows of note include Kurt Fishback’s “51 Portraits of Women Artists” through July 18 at Transmission Gallery in West Oakland and Chicago-based painter and textile artist Samantha Bittman’s “Material Data” through July 4 at Johansson Projects. The Friday commute is a killer for Orange County residents though,...

07 June, 2015 /

With gas prices down and the stock market reaching all-time highs as we approach the end of 2014, no doubt you’re looking for a place to put your excess cash to work. If so, you might want to consider throwing your weight around in the local art market this holiday season. Here are a few options in and around Orange County:   Cal State Long Beach’s 47th Annual Holiday Art Sale runs through this Wednesday, December 10, and features everything from ceramics to printmaking. Something tells us...

08 December, 2014 /

Chiron Review has long been one of America’s most respected literary journals. After a brief hiatus, they have returned with a new 6 x 9, perfect-bound, softcover format, as well an e-book option supporting kindle, iBooks, Nook and most other readers and devices. In 1989 Gerald Locklin came on as poetry editor and Ray Zepeda as the fiction editor. Since then the magazine has showcased consistently raw, vibrant, often controversial writings from the likes of Charles Bukowski, William Safford, Marge Piercy, Edward Field, Albert Huffstickler, Lyn Lifshin, James Broughton,...

17 November, 2014 /

The second wave feminists of the 1960s famously coined the phrase "the personal is political". This is true of a vast number of issues, yet often times the very personal impact of political policies gets lost in the furious debates about fiscal impacts of laws or the hypothetical scenarios debated on television talk shows. At a time when immigration issues are hotly debated topic in United States politics, art can be a powerful tool that helps us connect to the personal stories within this multifaceted...

29 January, 2014 /

Get a room together of the most prominent photojournalists working today and you’ll hear a discussion about whether they perceive and document their subjects as “the Other,” or stated more bluntly, is there legitimacy to the question “who is the white person holding the camera?” The latest photography exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston strongly underscores that in documentary photography it is very important who holds the camera. She Who Tells A Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World hands over...

15 October, 2013 /

As part of an ongoing series featuring contributors from all over Southern California, below international art dealer Delia Cabral gives an account of her recent visit to the studio of artist Tony Brown. An external view night view of Tony’s Down Town LA installation of X-rays One of the very best parts of being who I am and doing what I do is going on studio visits. I get to go into artist’s studios and see them in their natural habitat and their art fresh off, or still...

24 November, 2012 /

Santa Ana, CA  Grand Central Art Center is known by most Orange County residents as an artistic hub for contemporary art and culture. They have been turning out great contemporary exhibitions for years, but recently had a programming shift with new Director, John Spiak. Their once heavily pop-surrealist galleries now take the lead for OC in their new abstract and conceptual art obsessions. If you're not into conceptual art or abstract art, go ahead and click off, because this blogger friggin loves it. Grand Central Art...

31 August, 2012 /

[caption id="attachment_4179" align="aligncenter" width="406" caption="Baldessari leaves MOCA board"][/caption] NEWS.  On Thursday, July 13, 2012, renowned artist, John Baldessari resigned from his post on the board of trustees at MOCA. Baldessari's exit is the fifth MOCA board member to leave since February. "His exit after 12 years is another signal that the old guard of L.A.'s contemporary art scene has grown disenchanted with its direction under Deitch," according to LA Times writer, Mike Boehm. Baldessari told LA Times that his reasons include the recent ousting of respected chief curator...

13 July, 2012 /

         NEWS TODAY-- Apparently, long time curator at MOCA (pictured above) was fired last night. According to the Los Angeles Times, “The firing was made by the museum's board of trustees [last night] and is effective immediately.” Schimmel’s sudden departure was first reported by art journalist Mat Gleason. On his personal blog, he wrote: “Paul Schimmel was fired at MOCA - it was the end of the fiscal year and they tightened the belt.” Gleason, who is not favored by Schimmel from an incident years ago by calling...

28 June, 2012 /

San Antonio, TX.  At the 2012 SSCA annual conference, this year held in The Alamo City, San Antonio, three Orange County writers were shocked and amazed by this fascinating and artistic city! Who would have thought that The Alamo City had good art! Ok, maybe Los Angeles and Orange County have warped my mind into forgetting about the other states outside of New York and California for art in America, but I stand corrected! Texas definitely has art. With a slew of public sculptures that brighten the...

17 April, 2012 /

Los Angeles, CA  At the 100th Annual CAA Conference in downtown Los Angeles, I got a chance to sit and listen to a panel of women that could impress even the most haughty of elite art folks with their hard work, dedication, and professional experience. Among these women, Carrie Yury knocked my socks off with her helpful advice and personal experience in the art world. Carrie Yury, a professor at CSUF, an occasional writer for Artillery Magazine, and a creative photographer, and art world professional--Yury is...

06 March, 2012 /

Located in the glass jungle of Century City the Annenberg Space for Photography hosts one outstanding exhibit at a time based on a distinct theme.  The current installation, Digital Darkroom consists of 17 photographers from the US, UK and France who create surreal and impossible scenes using digital and/or darkroom manipulation. The Annenberg is modern yet welcoming; the main gallery is circular with the display walls surrounding a central screening room showing an entertaining behind-the-scenes film. The Annenberg exhibits are always accompanied by a film narrated...

22 February, 2012 /