As the new art season is set to begin the OC Art Blog will be doing several Gallery Spotlight's introducing our readers to our many exciting local gallery's and their respective programs. First up is an interview with Brett Rubbico who opened Brett Rubbico Gallery in 2009. Brett Rubbico Gallery will be opening an exhibition of work by David Michael Lee on Saturday September 8th. The opening will run from 7 to 10pm. We hope to see you there. Now the interview: OCAB: Why don’t we start by...
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...
The legendary music of 1930s jazz virtuoso Django Reinhardt is alive and well in Orange County… if you know where to look. Long Beach-based Gypsy jazz band Hedgehog Swing plays every first and third Wednesday at the Gypsy Den in downtown Santa Ana, along with members of the Orange County-based Gypsy jazz band Riff Raff. Riff Raff have hosted this event for many years, leading the song choices on the first Wednesday of every month, with Hedgehog Swing hosting every third Wednesday. Their lively...
I began writing this music blog at a time in my own music career- in between albums and right about to turn 30 years old- when I have felt myself changing, growing, and reassessing why I do what I do. My ulterior motive for writing was to get out of my head, my studio, and my everyday life to ask other musicians how they have gotten to where they are and how they have faced whatever struggles they have encountered. I wanted to learn from others further down the road in their careers than me....
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 Paul...
"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." If you have had any contact with the Orange County art scene over the past decade then you know what ISM: a community project is, what they do, why they do it and who they are. Right? Well, partially. In the spirit of the above saying by Abraham Lincoln, ISM is as an organization as elusive and open-ended as the classic definition of the term and that is...
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...
Santa Ana, CA. Downtown Santa Ana Artist’s Village gets a kick in the contemporary art butt with newest creative addition, Grand Central Art Center’s (GCAC) new Director and Chief Curator, John Spiak. Spiak is a whirlwind of creative energies, and his expertise in Relational Aesthetics and Social Practice are giving the Artist’s Village a transformative new take on the art scene in Orange County. Spiak is bringing in artists from all over the world, to engage and exchange with the Orange...
I recently had the privilege of interviewing Ciscandra Nostalghia from the LA-based avant garde electro-acoustic musical duo Nostalghia. They have been called "post-apocalyptic gypsy punk," which is the best description I have heard of their intensely creative music. Nostalghia is the brainchild of recording and performing artists Ciscandra Nostalghia and Roy Gnan. The musician and visual artist pair blend beautiful, mysterious romantic visuals with passionate music and avant garde...
I first heard a Margot and the Nuclear So and So's song when I saw the Long Beach-based singer and songwriter Will Morrison of the Vacuum Bell perform a beautiful rendition of "Broadripple is Burning." Though the song is absolutely gorgeous, it has desperate lyrics like "I'll be hanging from a rope/I will haunt you like a ghost." Frankly, because Morrison is a friend of mine, I was concerned for his mental health until I discovered he did not write the song. Because the song's melody was so...
Emulex Corporation is usually a computer parts manufacturer based in Orange County, but this year Emulex has taken an interest in spreading their wealth-- with their never-ending supply of creative materials, otherwise known as e-waste, and their passion for Orange County art, this computer parts company has partnered up with Cal State Fullerton to create The Art of Convergence, a sculpture competition featuring Emulex parts and products and CSUF sculpture students. The Art of...
This past Saturday April 21st, folk singer M. Ward played an intimate sold-out show to an enrapt audience at Long Beach's Fingerprints Record Store during their Record Store Day celebration. Fingerprints, located at 420 East 4th Street in the Long Beach East Village Arts district, continually showcases awesome talent during their free in-store performances. The in-store performances I have attended over the years have all felt special, as the audience is getting the privilege of seeing a...
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...
Joe Sorren's paintings remind me of the sweetness of the simple moments in life, like a flower covered in dew sparkling in the sun or a child quietly playing in a garden. We have to intentionally stop being mentally absorbed in the incessant activities of our lives, to mindfully notice these sweet and movingly beautiful moments happening before our eyes everyday. Going to see Sorren's paintings on display feels like this. Like a visit to a park just to lay down on the grass and stare at the...
The OC Art Blog is hosting a re-launch party for it’s website in the back room of Memphis at the Santora on Saturday April 7th from 7-10PM during the Santa Ana Art Walk. The OC Art Blog is dedicated to the Orange County art community and has re-launched with a new format, new features and new writers. Enjoy drinks, appetizers, art by Suzanne Walsh, Sarah Walsh, Joy Shannon and Natasha Shah all while learning more about the new OC Art Blog. The OC Art Blog was started in 2004 to build community...
When real estate investor Davin Gumm set out to refurbish the Pacific Building in the heart of the Santa Ana Artist's Village, he hoped that the office spaces would attract tenants who would use the lofts for "creative uses." Gumm's Copper Door beer bar in the basement of the Pacific Building has become a notable music venue that showcases quality local music, so it's only fitting that the Pacific Building lofts would attract artists immersed in the local scene. So far, a fashion...
I was supposed to write about the OC Music Awards that I attended last Saturday for my next blog, but instead I have chosen to write about a Swedish Satanic metal band called Ghost. I might say that I have chosen to write about the lesser of two evils, but Ghost revels in being pretty comically evil. Never fear, I will write about a few bands worth mentioning from the OC Music Awards, but I need some time to process. While at the awards ceremony, I found myself feeling familiar feelings that I...
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...
The Pacific Building: Part Two When refurbishing the Pacific Building, real estate developer Davin Gumm hoped to attract arts-oriented tenants to the upstairs offices. What I discovered when I climbed the stairs was a colony of intriguing artists creating some interesting work... Coming Soon… in Part Two.
The OC Art Blog was created in 2004 as a way to build community and promote the marginalized but dynamic Orange County art scene.
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Where Are Our Museums When Communities Need Them? Last Friday, major art institutions across Minneapolis, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Science Museum of Minnesota, Museum of Russian Art, and others, closed their doors in solidarity with a...
JANM Symposium on Democracy, January 23, 2026 At the Japanese American National Museum's symposium "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Building Democracy," a panel of cultural leaders gathered to discuss an increasingly urgent question: What is the role of...
Grand Central Art Center Awarded Prestigious Warhol Foundation Grant. As part of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Fall 2025 grant cycle, Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana has been selected alongside 56 other arts organizations nationwide to receive...
Notes on Yancey Strickler, Metalabel, and the Future of Collective Creative Power There's a quiet but growing subculture of artists, organizers, and creative misfits who are experimenting with a strange question: What if artists borrowed the structure and scale of...
Join Chris Hoff of the OC Art Blog as he navigates the visual overload of Art Basel Paris, where thousands of works compete for attention in a spectacle of color, concept, and commerce. Amid the noise, he searches for, and finds, a piece that stops him in his tracks....
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