Four concurrent shows and counting...

If you can't get enough of that Doug Harvey feeling, I am now going to have one or two new pieces in a show of slightly kinky work from Winnipeg-associated artistes (including Phyllis Green, Guy Maddin, and many more), at Antebellum Gallery in Hollywood (1643 N. Las Palmas Ave 90028 to be precise), which claims to be "the only fetish art gallery in America, and perhaps the world" - which kind of clashes with my understanding of most art collectors' motivations, but hey, semantics. Now there's a fetish!



The show opens next Saturday, June 2nd, from 6 - 9 and features a live performance by the inimitable Glen Meadmore.
Along with my solo show at Jancar Never Paint Again, my piece in Lineamenta at Beacon Arts, and The Patter of Tiny Brains kids audio curatorial at 323 Projects --- oh wait a minute, that's supposed to be over tomorrow. Better call right away! (323) 843-4652. Counting is tricky!

Michael Q. Schmidt at "Never Paint Again" Opening

The inimitable Michael Q. Schmidt graced the opening of my Jancar Gallery solo show Never Paint Again with his supposedly pay-per-pose pousse-pousse photo op although seeing as I only got $15 out of the deal, I'm thinking a lot of you people still owe me. How did you think you were going to get away with it? I have the photos, for godsake! Thanks to Robert Zargoski (seen in third from last photo). See if you can spot the director of Rugrats in Paris!

I'm going to try and join the above pair (MQS and John "Mr. Let's Paint TV" Kilduff at Pehrspace in Echo Park on Monday June 18th. Be there or stuff.

Whippets & Text

The Philosopher Ponders



Misleading Copy

You Had To Be Or Not To Be There

Jim Carter's smoke rings at the grand opening of the IFF space in Chinatown.

Synonymous with WHAT?

Tom never uses the announcement designs I make. But I distribute them anyway. Here's the latest, modified from the source of the show's title.

JANCAR GALLERY is pleased to announce a special exhibition of work by Doug Harvey:
"NEVER PAINT AGAIN"
May 19 - June 16, 2012
Opening reception for the artist: Saturday, May 19, from 6 - 9 PM

J A N C A R G A L L E R Y
961 CHUNG KING ROAD
LOS ANGELES, CA 90012
TEL 213 625-2522
Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 12 – 5 PM (and by appointment)
www.jancargallery.com

"The major portion of this exhibit came to me in a dream about 6 months ago – the giant sculptural/architectural painting/installation in the front, leading into the series of collages in the backroom. In the dream it was specifically installed in Jancar Gallery, and I pitched it to Tom on that basis, without expecting him to take me up. I often dream of artworks, but this one was unusual because all the elements for the main piece - some very specific - were materials that I had on hand.

Plus I had been looking for a new modular configuration for my collage works, which the dream prefigured. The resulting collages will eventually comprise an experimental non-linear novel of sixty-four 50 X 38 inch pages, entitled The Cryogenic Angel, the first chapter of which (History Lessens) was recently shown at Beacon Arts Building as part of the LOOP show. Never Paint Again debuts the second and third chapters, Eradication Age and Lorem ipsum Über Alles.


"Never Paint Again" also marks the release of a hand-crafted zine entitled Pussy Pussy in a limited edition of 40, edited by me and created in collaboration with other artists. Seven of the 40 are deluxe collectors editions, housed in a set of chairs – unauthorized collaborations with designers Mark Zuckerman and Monty Lawton, a stack of whose transparent plexi “pocket chairs” I found legless on the streets of Culver City, and made whole to the best of my abilities. The idea of using pocket chairs as display/distribution racks for a DIY publication I stole from Mark Dutcher."

In addition, a number of related performances will take place on the evening of the opening.

Other images: The Cryogenic Angel Chapter Two: Eradication Age; Verse One, collage on paper; Pussy Pussy cover; Assisted Pocket Chair recharging - all works 2012.

Hatfield/Kirby Roundtable on Comics Journal

"...when we talk about Kirby, for me we’re not just talking about an extraordinary artist who shaped and was shaped by commercial comic books for most of their history, but one who presided over (and arguably orchestrated) their death as a valid medium of artistic expression. This is why Kirby remains King and Frank Miller will never be more than Executive Producer."


To read the rest of the roundtable discussion of Charles Hatfield's new book Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby, which includes comments from myself, Jonathan Lethem, Glen Gold, Sarah Boxer, Dan Nadel, Jeet Heer, and Robert Fiore, visit the Comics Journal website by clicking here for Part One, clicking here for Part Two, and clicking here for Part Three (I don't contribute much until the 3rd round). That quote above is from me BTW. So if you come gunnin', Miller, I'm right here!

Images: Book cover; Jack Kirby original collage reproduced in Fantastic Four #51, This Man, This Monster

Darling Dears - I Don't Think I'll Ever Love Another

I just heard this on The Markness and had to track it down. I thought it was some totally hip post-TVontheRadio audio flaneurs, but it turns out to be from 1972! WTF?!

Flocked Pre-rotted Holbein Anamorphic Skull Deck

My Flocked Pre-rotted Holbein Anamorphic Skull Deck is part of the opening event of this year's Venice Art Walk & Auctions, benefitting Venice Family Clinic.

Surf & Skate Auction presented by 585 BOARDRIDERS
Friday, April 27
Silent Auction 6-9 pm
After Auction Party until 10 pm
Free event!

Track 16 at Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Avenue, Bldg C-1
Santa Monica

Dial-a-Brat Phase II

We've just added a bunch of new material to The Patter of Tiny Brains phone-in kids' audio-art exhibit, including additional tracks from kio griffith, Lucas & Friends, THUUNDERBOY!, Emily Mast, The Kids Of Widney High, The Fitzbergs, Zoe Scott, Marlo Irani, Billy and Mia Kheel, and Mannlicher Carcano (with Ring Noodle). New artists include Alisa Yang, Maya Lujan, Gus Eddy with Unconventional Science & Bizzart, Ayden Wardell, and the legendary Brain Sucking Peanunanners!!! If you haven't called in, do it now! Tip: Use google call phone and play the whole program over your computer speakers.

323 Projects Presents

The Patter of Tiny Brains

curated by Doug Harvey

• Exhibition runs from April 6 – May 27, 2011.

• Opening April 6 from 6-9PM. Come to the opening without going anywhere simply by calling (323) 843-4652.

• 323 Projects is an exhibition venue that exists as a phone number: (323) 843-4652 visitors call to experience contemporary art 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

323 Projects is pleased to present The Patter of Tiny Brains, an exhibition curated by Doug Harvey. For this group show sourced from dozens of contributors, Harvey presents a rotating selection of audio generated by children, up to and including adolescents.

Visitors who call into 323 Projects’ phone number will hear audio ranging from baby noises to musical performances, and a variety of surprising sound recordings performed by kids. In presenting the work of children, Harvey encourages listeners to bring serious, respectful aesthetic attention to works of performance otherwise disregarded as immature and amateur. This exhibition challenges value systems that deem children's creative output trivial or inconsequential, and instead critically and enthusiastically seeks to reframe the discourse surrounding notions of youth, professionalism, and creative expression.

323 Projects invites you to hear The Patter of Tiny Brains by calling
(323) 843-4652 or (323) TIE-IN-LA

The show is open all day and all night, every day of the week.

Visitors are encouraged to call back often to hear audio tracks, as works will rotate throughout the course of the exhibition.

Image: Invitation graphic and design by Tucker Neel, Founder and Director of 323 Projects. (inverted by DH)

Hot & Cold Streaming Teen Angst

I was blessed to attend the recent DVD release party for LiTTLEROCK at the fabulous Hop Louie lounge in Chinatown, where I got to see many of the Small Form Films crowd for the first time in a while. The "mesmerizing" indie film was picked up for distribution by Kino Lorber and features commentary by director Mike Ott (his butt, above; his front, bottom) and stars Atsuko Okatsuka and Cory Zacharia. "Mesmerizing" is the second pull quote I've had on the cover of a commercially released DVD (after Matthew Barney's The Order). Watch out Peter Travers! To read the other 933 words I wrote about LiTTLEROCK and the Small Form experience, click here.

Seeing a commercially packaged DVD version of LiTTLEROCK was one thing, but it took on a whole nother dimension when I was surprised while trolling new additions to Netflix to come across the selfsame title in their Watch Instantly section! It's actually on TV! Go watch it now!

I was also pleasantly surprised to see that Tim Hunter's River's Edge - a dark milestone in teen suburban wasteland movies (set in Sacramento and based on a true crime in Milpitas, CA, where in 1981 a humongous teenager raped and strangled his girlfriend, bragged about it at school and took groups of friends to see the body for several days before anyone turned him in) - had also made it into Netflix's stream.

River's Edge stars Keanu Reeves in one of his best performances, Crispin Glover in a speed-and-carpet chewing tour-de-force, and Dennis Hopper delivering a beautifully restrained turn the same year as he played Frank in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. The Lynch parallel is much deeper, though, as River's Edge reads like an irony-free template for Twin Peaks. Hunter - who also cowrote the seminal 1979 teen alienation flick Over the Edge (an acknowledged inspiration for LiTTLEROCK) - only made one other theatrically released movie before he disappeared into TV, where he actually directed several episodes of Lynch's groundbreaking Noir-Pop serial.


River's Edge isn't as well known as it should be, maybe because both Hunter and first-time screenwriter Neal Jimenez never followed up with anything near as compelling. And yes, that includes Sleep With Me and Video Voyeur: The Susan Wilson Story. Both of which Pearblossom Hwy promises to blow out of the water. The sequel to LiTTLEROCK.