West LA

What is Mindulful Awareness?  And how do you do it?

Right now my brain is thinking of a way to describe this new-age, medical concept while sending signals to the muscles in my fingers in order to type out, letter by letter, the words and eventual sentences to communicate this notion to an imagined, future audience.  Oh, and I’m hungry.  That’s Mindful Awareness: the “moment-by-moment process of actively and openly observing one’s physical, mental and emotional experiences.”

To hear more specific information about the proven health benefits of such exercises, as well as how to do them, head to the Hammer Museum at 12:30 PM this Thursday for their free weekly “drop in” session.  Leading the discussion is the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center’s Director of Mindfulness Education, Diana Winston, alongside Dr. Marvin Belzer, an expert practitioner of Mindful Awareness.

What is Gesamtkunstwerk?  And how do you sing it?

Well, Gesamtkunstwerk, pronounced ‘guess-amt-kunst-verk,’ is a term made famous by German composer, conductor, director, anti-Semite, and writer Wilhelm Richard Wagner, and it’s usually translated to mean “total artwork.”  Wagner, in all his “Ride of the Valkyries” gusto, had a vision of a kind of ‘future art,’  in which the end-result would be a synthesis for every art-form known to man (i.e. music, performance, drama, architecture, poetry, etc.).  It’s debatable whether or not Wagner actually achieved a true Gesamtkunstwerk in his work, but his deep influence and brilliance as a composer/writer of opera is hard to match, let alone perform.

At 7:00 PM on Thursday night at the Hammer Museum, Wagnerian singers Linda Watson and John Treleavan of the on-going Ring Festival LA (an enormous cultural compilation of lectures, exhibitions, shows, and conferences revolving around the first-ever Los Angeles performance of Wagner’s four-opera masterpiece, The Ring of the Nibelung) will discuss the intricacies of belting out complex tonal and chromatic changes, while still remaining a simple piece of the overall Gesamtkunstwerk.

What is the connection?  And why would you attend both lectures?

Besides the obvious similarity in setting, there does seem to be a thematic crossover between these two programs.  Both attempt to explain the whole in terms of its parts, and those parts in terms of their smaller parts, and so on.  This mode of thinking assumes there’s a greater organism at work, spinning wheels inside wheels, and what better way to get lost inside these rotations than to spend a day at the Hammer?  Either that, or write an opera.

“Mindful Awareness” starts at 12:30 PM on Thursday, March 11.  “Ring Festival: The Challenges of Singing Wagner” begins at 7:00 PM.  Both programs are free of admission, and take place at The Hammer Museum, located at 10899 Wilshire Blvd.  For more information, please call (310) 433-7000, or visit hammer.ucla.edu.

Ever wonder what happened to Ed Templeton?  That professional skateboarder turned internationally renowned artist, photographer, D.I.Y. innovator, entrepreneur, ‘Beautiful Loser,’ and book publisher?  Well if you haven’t, then Ed Templeton has.

His eclectic career as both a skater and an artist has always seemed to be about his own relationship to time and motion.  In his famous photography book, Teenage Smokers, for instance, each medium to close-up image of a young person with a cigarette has the feeling of personal impermanence, like a flash-memory of a kid you might have seen at the mall once when you were nine.

Templeton, especially in his most recent work, seems to be obsessed with these fragile, ephemeral moments, and what they might mean.  His 2008 book, Deformer, which took him 11 years to complete, examines his youth growing up in the ultra-conservative suburban “incubator” of Orange County, using childhood letters, notes, photographs, sketches, and paintings to tell his story with as much physical accuracy as possible—even if it’s all long gone.

His latest photography show, The Seconds Pass, at the Roberts and Tilton Gallery in Culver City once again has Templeton on the move.  These thirty-some separate collages of pictures, mostly all taken from the vantage point of a moving vehicle, attempt to capture exactly where he’s been these last few years, so as not to miss a passing second.

Ed Templeton’s The Seconds Pass can be viewed at the Roberts and Tilton Gallery in Culver City until April 3.  Roberts and Tilton is located at 5801 Washinton Blvd.  For more information, please call (323) 549-0223, or visit www.robertsandtilton.com.

There is something about our daily commute these days that is visibly different.  Actually, now that we think of it, the streets of Los Angeles have changed, and we are thinking this change is for the better.

The MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House has decided to turn Los Angeles into a gallery space.  Instead of hanging paintings, they commissioned artists to create 21 billboard-sized artworks that will replace normal advertising spots.  So you can get a daily dose of public art without ever leaving the comfort of your car’s leather seats.

The exhibition How Many Billboards? Art In Stead — much like Clockshop’s Billboard Series, which also transformed Los Angeles’ landscape with artist designed billboards — is spread across the city, but is concentrated in West Hollywood and the Pico/Fairfax area.

We are hoping these artist billboards are a habit Los Angeles will keep.

The opening reception is this Saturday, February 27, 1-6pm at the Schindler House.  On Sunday, there will be panel discussions with participating artists from 1-5pm.  Also, make sure to check out their calendar for other programming accompanying the show.  Click here for more information.

Image: Artist Kerri Tribe’s billboard on La Brea Ave., north of Venice Blvd., on the east side of the street, facing north; photo: Gerard Smulevich

Women’s Rights have come a long way since 1920, the year that the 19th Amendment granting women suffrage was finally passed. Since then, women have thrust their way through the second and third waves of feminism, achieving greater economic, as well as social, equality. We’ve now reached a strange post-feminine stage, where the trend seems to waver back and forth between second- and third-wave values. Women are encouraged to be strong and independent, to choose a career, to foot the bill—but also to marry, to raise children, and to retain youth and beauty. While women have more power than ever to determine their own destinies, there still exists an overwhelming societal pressure to conform to that feminine ideal. Look at Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw —independent and successful, but also desperate for the one man who will make it all worthwhile.  It’s a lot to grapple with—and no wonder feminism has entered this confused stage today where women have hit the streets placarding for Botox and boob jobs.

Joanna Murray-Smith’s play The Female of the Species, on now at the Geffen Playhouse, promises to articulate just that frustration women are feeling with the state of feminism in 2010.  The play stars a ferocious Annette Benning as Margot Marron, a successful theorist of feminism who is held hostage in her country home by a former student.  Marron’s character is loosely based on Australian feminist Germaine Greer, author of the feminist classic The Female Eunuch, who was held hostage by an outraged dropout in her home in 2000. David Arquette, Mireille Enos, Julian Sands, and Josh Stamberg join the ensemble in this farce that is sure to underline everything outrageous, infuriating, and hilarious about modern feminist theory.

- By Helen Kearns

The Female of the Species is playing now at the Geffen Playhouse through March 14th. Visit the Geffen’s website for ticket information.

Finding the lobby of the brand new Pacific Stages theatre in El Segundo to see the debut production of their debut season, Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, is difficult.  The freshly-painted, modern alcove is tucked away in the ground floor of a corporate office complex, squished in between a giant Pacific Theatres multiplex, a P.F. Changs, and a golf accessories warehouse.  It would seem like the last place to see an intimate, contemporary drama in the Los Angeles area, let alone from the likes of Lonergan, one of the best living, American playwrights.  But then again, that’s what Lobby Hero, probably one of his best works, is all about: exceeding expectations.

Lights go up on Jeff—played by the young, pitch-perfect Edward Tournier—lounging with a newspaper during his shift as a lobby security guard at a middle-income apartment building in New York.  Jeff seems like the type to end up in such an overlooked position; he’s lazy, has a thicket of permanent, unshaven stubble around  his face, and is prone to making unnecessary wise-cracks about absolutely anything and everything that crosses his path.  He’s hardly unlikeable, but lacks the ambition to make him worthwhile.  Jeff’s supervisor, William, or ‘Captain’ as he likes to be called, doesn’t seem like the type.  William (Kareem Ferguson), walks with his head held high, his posture upright, always with a direct and just purpose.  He admonishes Jeff for not writing down the exact time when a policeman entered the building.  William’s harsh reality is that if it weren’t for his skin-color and his societal upbringing, he would most likely be a C.E.O. or a doctor, a high-priced lawyer or politician.  But instead he’s the captain of a security guard outfit, the same outfit he’s worked at since he was sixteen.

The two co-workers have a competitive, familial bond with one another that gets heightened when William looks to Jeff for advice about his troublesome brother who got arrested for murder and wants William to provide the alibi.   Enter the arrogant, womanizing Officer Bill (Nick Mennell, an uncanny Vince Vaughn doppelgänger), and his attractive, rookie partner, Dawn (Dana Lynn Bennett). Bill has not only involved himself in the sexual lives of both Dawn and a female tenant of the building, but also in the family troubles of William.  He wants to help out his brother, maybe corroborate William’s side of the story—if he does indeed have one.  But Dawn’s not so happy with her two-timing “partner” Bill, and she would gladly tell her superiors about his nightly, on-the-clock visits to the apartment building, if only she had actual proof of some wrong-doing.  After all, she’s simply a newbie female in the force, sexy though she may be.

This whole situation puts Jeff, the simple lobby security guard, in a suddenly powerful position.  In his hands he holds the fates of William, William’s brother, Dawn, and Bill.  The question is whether he should sacrifice morality in the name of loyalty and equality?  And this is the central question of the play, one each character must deal with on their own terms.  Essentially, Lonergan is asking if an equal morality can even exist in our unequal society.

It’s pretty deep subject matter for a first-year theatre company who’s own lobby could be mistaken for a boutique ad agency.  But just as Jeff is much more than his security uniform suggests, Pacific Stages‘ Lobby Hero goes above and beyond any set expectations.  Under the direction of Robert Bailey, the relatively young cast members each manage to glide past their respective stereotypes, and what appears at first a passive, jokey performance from Tournier or a Vince Vaughn impersonation from Mennell, for instance, becomes realistic and nuanced.  Even the simplistic set-design—a desk, a door, and a background painting—lit on each side by free-standing lights, in the end allows the actors and the drama to take precedence.   I walked away from Lobby Hero impressed and hopeful for the future of this new company.  Then I went and ate at P.F. Changs.

Lobby Hero runs until March 21nd at Pacific Stages located at Beach Cities Plaza/Continetal Park, 2401 Rosencrans Avenue in El Segundo.  For more information, visit pacificstages.org, or call (310) 868-2631.

Rachel Whiteread, Study for Village - 1st, 2004

It is fascinating to see a sculptor’s preliminary study of his or her work. Especially if the artwork has been created, it is a glimpse into the ever evolving nature of the creative process.  These type of drawings are like a secondary, kid sister manifestation of the artist’s idea.

Rachel Whiteread, House, 1993

Speaking of sculptors, Rachel Whiteread, one of the British Young Artists, is well-known for her encompassing sculptures that depict negative space. For an example, the work House is a concrete cast of a house’s inside.  It is as if someone had poured concrete through the chimney, filled up the interior space of the house, and then cracked the roof and walls away with a huge chisel.  But before the sculpture, there were the drawings.

The Hammer Museum presents the first museum retrospective of Whiteread’s drawings and other preliminary work. And the drawings are coupled with objects that Whiteread found and sought inspiration from for her artistic practice.

This show will make you want to dust of your black book to get drawing again.

Rachel Whiteread Drawings closes April 25th, 2010.  For more information, please click here.

Imagine it; it is year 4708.  It turns out that hovercrafts are passé and robots serve you breakfast in bed.  See, the future isn’t too bad.

If you follow the lunar calendar, you know that year 4708 starts a little sooner.  Actually, Chinese New Year has joined forces with Valentine’s Day and the New Year will start this Sunday.  Time flies when you are following the lunar calendar!

And you’ll like this one; it is the Year of the Tiger.  The tiger is one of the most powerful, but also most sensitive animal on the Chinese zodiac, just like someone else I know, you ol’ lug.

Giant Robot is taking it upon themselves to ring in the Chinese New Year in style.  And by style, we mean with lots of art.  They have coordinated a group show titled Year of the Tiger, which features illustrations, works on canvas, prints, drawings, watercolors, and sculptures by dozens of artists.  In short, all of your art fantasies will come true. But we must warn you, champagne is not included.

The Year of the Tiger opens this Saturday, February 13.  The opening reception is 6:30 – 10pm at GR2 (2062 Sawtelle Boulevard).  Please click here for more information.

Image: Jeni Yang, Dumpling Cub

Yesterday, I journeyed to the center of the Earth.  And by the center of the Earth, I mean Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth, an exhibition at the Fowler Museum.  The whole experience wasn’t too strenuous and it provided a welcomed break and plenty of inspiration into my day.

Upon entrance, there is a huge bear made out of striped sweaters standing on its hind legs.  Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlemen.  Your journey has just begun.  In the same room, a three-panel screen showing different videos sets the tone of the show because they depict Nick Cave’s Soundsuits in resonating action.  Soundsuits are elaborate, labor-intensive costumes, or “suits,” made out of household materials.  The name of each suit is the sound each costume makes when worn.

Marching straight out of a hallucination, the 35 Soundsuits on display boggle the mind because they are part ritualistic garb and part Alice in Wonderland with a touch of Liberace.  They range from knitted bodysuits patched together from afghans to intricate headdresses turned body-based sculpture covered with sequins and video tape.  Considering the sculptures are to be worn, one can start to think about the notions of performance whether in terms of art, ritual, or art and ritual’s intersection.  Furthermore, just imagine wearing one of these suits.  Not only would you need a team to help you put it on, but also you would need to relearn how to move and learn how to be this character.  There is only room for one personality when wearing a Soundsuit.  And I think the Soundsuit would win.

A close inspection of the suits’ materials dazzle the mind.  Materials include remnants of cozy sweaters, sequin jackets, kitsch bird sculptures, vintage toy tops, and buttons galore all stacked on top of each other or sewn right next to each other.  You start to wonder about the life of each material before it was placed onto this sculpture.  Each button was once sewn onto a shirt.  Each afghan warmed families on their couch.  The sheer amount of found materials is astounding.

Furthermore, the show’s installation was a treat.  Instead of following the works-on-white-wall model, brilliantly colored walls and screens lead the viewer throughout the exhibition Wild Toad-style to examine the Soundsuits in the round.

As you walk out of the exhibition, you might be wondering where you could see one of these Soundsuits in action.  If you keep your eyes and ears open, you will.  Nick Cave is partnering up with UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures to create a series of impromptu performance-interventions around the city called Soundsuit Invasions.  Just keep tabs on the Fowler’s Twitter and Facebook feeds for the details.

Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth closes May 30, 2010.  Please click here for more information.

Here’s what I think about Michael Cera: I like him, I believe he chooses his work carefully, he’s consistent in his sense of subtlety, and he starred in one of the best movies and one of the best television shows of the past decade (Superbad, Arrested Development, respectively).  But he needs to grow up.  As of right now, the Michael Cera we know, or rather the character of Michael Cera is an asexual, pre-pubescent, morally humbug man-boy, despite whatever sperm he may have donated to Juno.  He has survived thus far, but in my opinion, he has hit a crossroads in his career.  On one hand, he could try and milk his youthful looks and dry wit for the next ten years or so, until he’s forced to squander his fortune on a series of unfortunate plastic surgery operations.  Or he could try and follow in the footsteps of fellow actor and doppelganger Jesse Eisenberg, accepting roles such as Walt in The Squid and the Whale, thereby challenging himself to look beyond the purely adolescent, and start pondering the existential; basically, become a real actor.

This Thursday, January 6, at the Hammer Museum in Westwood, Cera may just make this leap.  It’s the sneak preview of his newest film, Youth in Revolt, based on the book by the delightful absurdist, C.D. Payne, and directed by Miguel Arteta.  The movie certainly contains all the elements of a passage into adulthood.  There’s the suggestive title, first of all, which seems to insinuate a mutinous yearning for independence.  Then there’s the movie’s source material, the popular series of novels that revolve around the intellectual Nick Twisp as he discovers love and sexuality outside the realms of his family or fantasy.  Sounds like typical Cera territory, but then again, it is from the mind of author C.D. Payne who’s probably best known for his other work of twisted, teenage fancy, Civic Beauties, which was the literary inspiration for the darkly inventive Drop Dead Gorgeous. Last but not least is the film’s director, Miguel Arteta, who essentially specializes in stories about child-like, outsider males forced to deal with their own psycho-sexual leanings, be it in Chuck and Buck or The Good Girl.

Both Arteta and Cera are set to be present at the Hammer screening, and I can’t help but liken the occasion to a Bar Mitzvah of sorts–the young actor and director standing side by side at the podium, not all that dissimilar from a student and rabbi.  I only hope I can approach Cera at the end, and wish him a well-deserved Mazel Tov.

All Hammer Screenings are free of charge and take place inside the Billy Wilder Theatre.  For more information, call (310) 443-7000, or visit www.hammer.ucla.edu.

A good lot of us cannot wait to say good-bye to 2009 and the ’00s as a whole.  Sayonara, the aughts.  And hellooo, teens!

But there are a couple of us having a hard time letting go of the holiday spirit.  And if you happen to be one of them, keep your iTunes radio on the Christmas carol channel and bake those cookies just a couple more days.

If ice-skating is your thing, swing by Pershing Square for some outdoors ice with your sweetest.  Hot cocoa is not included, but the fee and skate rentals are  only $8. [Info]  Need a few drinks to ease the pain when the ice breaks your fall one too many times?  The W Los Angeles in Westwood offers a skating rink of its own for those who need a little liquid courage…erm, holiday cheer to accompany them. [Info]

Do you need lots of bright lights to stay warm and cheery?  The DWP’s Holiday Light Festival is going strong…until tomorrow night.  You don’t even need to leave the safety of your own car while driving down a mile-long stretch of ligh decorations gracing Griffith Park. [Info]  If you tend to trot the unbeaten path, head down to the LBC to see Phantom Galleries’ version of a holiday light show.  Aptly titled Let There Be Light!, twenty-eight exhibitions in 25 storefronts will be shining with various light-based works ranging from the subtle, abstract shapes to the bold and fluorescent. [Info]

You don’t have to say good-bye just yet to the holiday season, but since CVS has its Christmas display right next to Valentine treats, the countdown is on.

Image: Fiat Lux IV – Susan Chorpenning; photo by Dan Scott