images from me to you

I had two shows earlier this month. The first was at Gallery 825. I got to meet two curators from the Hammer Museum which was a great benefit. Rhea Pearlman and Danny Devito were there. (see photo) I was also interviewed by KPCC. It will air on New Years Eve. We then went to sushi and sake with Ester and Marcos.

Sunday night I had my thesis show. I got some good feedback and had a nice opening. Joe and Christianne win the trooper award for making it out both nights, which Chris getting a runner up for driving down from San Fran! After the opening we went to the Gold Room in Echo Park to have some drinks.

The next Tuesday we went to the Short Stop for Engagement Drinks. Racheal actually danced!

This week I also got a possible spot in a group show in LA and a part in the show Photography as Witness at the University of Maine. The same day as the Maine letter, I got my first rejection letter for jobs.

On Christmas Eve we drove up into the Angeles National Forest, hiked and played in the snow. We hiked about halfway up to Strawberry Peak and then had some drinks at Newcombs Ranch.

Just a taste of how small we really are compared to the universe. Thanks to Spurgeon Blog

Living in LA is funny. You see stuff being filmed that is supposed to be elsewhere. You also see places you go to in TV and Movies. Sometimes the places are themselves or sometimes they are supposed to be elsewhere. The movie Los Angeles Plays Itself is all about this. See it at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood if you get a chance. A funny example is the bar right by our house, the Short Stop, was on an episode of Ugly Betty the other night as a country western bar in NYC. I think my favorite was when this shutdown resort at the Salton Sea was a biker bar in the future in the movie The Island.

Back to the Short Stop, next Tuesday the 19th at 9pm, we'll be having drinks to celebrate our engagement if you can make it. (I've got a busy weekend, Ryan's bday friday if I have time after installing, Opening Saturday night, thesis opening Sunday Night, engagement drinks Tuesday...hope to see some of you at some of these)

Well I am engaged. :) to the right is the ring.... I wrapped it in the foil at the end of her corn on the cob so when she opened it it fell out.... So yeah. No date, no place yet give us some time people! :)

Wednesday night, the grad students went to The Pike in Long Beach. I think social interaction is a major part of any art program and is severely lacking at CSULB. The grad students need a lounge to chill out and talk. Those are the places were collaborations and ideas are born. My second year there I tried getting stuff together with the Graduate Art Students Association. It went ok, we had some sales and a few gatherings, but then when I moved to Canada it fell apart. We'd discussed doing open studios and a Biennale type event, then Fine Arts Roundtable came from its ashes and seems to be doing well. They've helped put together Open Studios and GLAMFA twice now. They just need more bar and bbq type stuff.

Last Sunday Racheal and I went to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. It was nice. A small sculpture garden with pretty and clear water. A good assortment of work from the 14th to the Early 20th century. They have a good selection of Picasso, who I'm studying in great detail right now.
They also had printmaking exhibit by Ed Ruscha (who is great all around) and a good photo show down stairs: The Collectible Moment... My favorite (pictured) was a set of baseball cards of photographers. The photographers wrote the back and posed for the front. I also really liked the correspondence and old show fliers that were displayed.

I've finally dropped off a few of my pieces at the finisher's. I am having them mounted to sintra with a backframe. I'm selling a kidney to do it.... I can't wait to see how they look all finished. One of the pieces (the one in the distance here) is part of a piece that is 3x23 feet! I did a test print of The Yard Where I Grew Up and wasn't happy with the size so I have to remake it and print it bigger. Let me tell you, Photoshop CS2 and 3GB of ram make dealing with these huge images with tons of layers much much easier. The entire piece is taking me less time than each section did before the update/upgrade.

Thursday Night, I was able to attend a Gallery talk by Kendell Carter. It is the first museum show, Hommie/Homey, by any of my classmates (at least that I know of, and I mean by the ones that started grad school the same time as me). His show is in the Project Room at the Hammer Museum. Kendell is also working with Mark Moore Gallery in Bergamot station. I had a chance to talk with Mark. He's the kind of gallerist/dealer the art world needs more of. Open and honest and willing to help. I guess if he has Craig Stone's stamp of approval you know he's a good guy.

I'm very proud of Kendell. We had a great group that came in together to grad school and actually most of them were representing at the Hammer at least 8 that came in within a year of one another. And on another CSULB note, Christine Nguyen is the 2nd photographer to get her BFA from there and then show at the Hammer this year! Check out some of the grads here. I bought the domain artgrads.com to promote GLAMFA and open studios and donated it to the school this year, hopefully following generations of grads will keep it up. I'd like to be able to keep up with the program when I'm gone.