Wabi-Sabi, Finding Beauty in Imperfection Through the Flaws of Perception

Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man c. 1487
A.K.A. Proportions of Man

Ever since the ancient Greeks waxed philosophical about the "golden mean" and proportion being the formulaic canon for aesthetic beauty we have been chasing the symmetrical dragon. But is symmetry always ideal?

Gestalt theory states that “we tend to order our experiences in a manner that is regular, orderly, symmetric and simple”. We like to put things in boxes, the laws of perception are a quick-hand in making snap judgements but these are intrinsically flawed.  

Biologically speaking there is scientific reason for the ideological and subconscious response to perfect symmetry but spoon-fed this concept in Western culture it's difficult to see past the Occidental axiom. Perhaps we should look further East and at the the Japanese term wabi-sabi for an appreciation in finding beauty in imperfection. Is a pearl not created from a flawed grain of sand within the oyster's shell?     

To prove my point here I've taken three famous faces which many would argue to have perfectly symmetrical features and used two of their right sides to form the center picture and the two left sides to form the face on the far right.  

Neither the two right sides nor the two left would be hard to look at, though neither add up to the sum of the original's parts.  

                              

Megan Fox

Christy Turlington

Cindy Crawford

Even imperfection itself may have its ideal or perfect state.

-Thomas de Quincey-

Single in the City: A Real-Life Tale of a Text and what Transpired...

December 1, 2010 1:53 PM

John Doe: Hey Reina, long time no talk! Been thinking about you. Wondering if this might be better timing for us to go out??? (His name).

2:27 PM

Gallerista: I'm not dating.

3:32 PM

JD: Still?

Gallerista: Yes

JD: Y

Gallerista: Don't want to.

JD: I think we would be good. Just go out w/me...udon't have to date anyone else!

3:52 PM

Gallerista: I'm happy being alone right now.

4:22 PM

JD: Ps, what are you doing work-wise these days?

Gallerista: I work at an art gallery why?

JD: Curious. Figured I could help u financially and...we could date.

4:57 PM

Gallerista: I'm not sure how to respond to this but to say I'm apalled. 

JD: Oh come on, don't be such a prude!

Gallerista: I don't think I am.

JD: Ok...well it's not apalling, if u were my g i would be halping you, taking us on vacations, paying for all. So if we can't date, but have a sexual friendship, i don't mind helping u

Gallerista: Thank you, but that's not my style

JD: If u change your mind i am open to it, its not like we didn't like each other anyway!

Gallerista: As friends, we never had a physical or romantic relationship.

JD: No, but when u accepted a date w/ me 1st time there was an attraction. We never had a physical relationship cuz of the stuff u told me about, not kissing and...u know!

5:15 PM

Gallerista: I guess I was a bit naiive. I didn't realize it was a date.

JD: Oh come on!

Gallerista: True story

JD: That's such bs. Right...I ask u out, pick u up, take u out to dinner @ a romantic place, pay, open your doors...that's what your buds do? Please!

Gallerista: Actually, they do.

JD: That's cuz they're still trying to f**ck you because you haven't told em the friend thing, just like you didn't tell me! I forgot you're a lesbian anyway

Gallerista: You need therapy. You're disgusting. Delete my number.

FIN

Now that I have your attention, this is the backstory:

One year ago I met an elder man who I suspected was attracted to the opposite sex, he invited me to an art opening. My interest in the subject and comfort in the fact that he was not attracted to me prompted my acceptance of said invitation. Once we had departed the exhibition I soon realized this was what HE had intended as a "date" much to my surprise. The text came on Dec. 1st, 2010 without as much as a "hello" in between.

I do my best not to pass judgment on people, life can be difficult to get through at times and we all have bad days but this was beyond the pale.  

Many have tried to dissuade me from publishing this here but I think it a grave injustice not to expose the gritty reality of what women go through in this city (L.A.) even in this day and age. I'm sure this isn't the first time it's happened, nor the last but at least this may open a dialogue about what does occur behind closed texts and the way women are treated in our society and why.

Please feel free to share your experiences and allow an exchange of opinions as I am curious about what is happening in our culture today.   

Gagosian Haiku, Three Major Openings in Two Days During Oscar Week

A fortuitous last-minute call from a friend turned into two back-to-back nights of art galore. Praise be to the art Gods! The deft Gagosian team pulled off a brilliant haiku of three openings in two days. Being that it is Oscar weekend, these were not just any openings, Gagosian not being just any gallery did not disappoint.

Whipping through the brisk night in my Mini (Cooper that is), we were attempting an exercise in fatality in a mad-dash to the gallery opening for Ed Ruscha's show Psycho Spaghetti Westerns. Fashionably late, we arrived to find ourselves one of the last few to be admitted entry at the eleventh hour. The ubiquitous guest-list so prevalent at Hollywood hot-spots and mansion parties, was being faithfully governed by the PR team at the front entrance. Artists Chris Burden and wife Nancy Rubins, both represented by Gagosian were turned away earlier in the evening, can you imagine? I came to learn that not fifteen minutes after our arrival, Richard Prince and fashion photographer Terry Richardson were told they were not welcomed entry because while yes, they were on the list, it had closed ten minutes prior. This is when things got interesting, and Mr. Prince became "unhinged" as my eye-witness recanted. "Do you know who I am?" our fair Prince barked at Ms. Clueless. Now here's the thing, not only is Prince represented by Gagosian but he was having a small, very private, very fabulous opening of his own the following day at Gagosian's newly remodeled house. Granted, we are in La La Land and Picasso couldn't get arrested here... but at a gallery opening, really? Terry Richardson in the meantime, took a step back to distance himself and looked thoroughly embarrassed as Dick tore into Ms. Clueless. All's well that ends well however and the duo were quickly rescued and whisked inside by an alert Gagosian staff member. Whew!

ED RUSCHA
Psycho Spaghetti Western #4, 2010
Acrylic on canvas 54 x 120 inches (137.2 x 304.8 cm)

Upon entry the room was electric with a who's who of rank and file. Major players in the art-world such as MOCA's director Jeffrey Deitch, mingled with fashionistas the likes of  The Last Emperor Valentino (glowing a stunning shade of orange if I may say) and Natalia Vodianova (with her son in tow), along with Tinsel-Town's very own aristocracy, Drew Barrymore with current beau Will Kopelman, and the kissing bandit Adrien Brody. Among other attendees were director John Waters, Bruce Webber, Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Alex von Furstenberg, Shepard Fairey and of course the man of the hour himself Ed Ruscha. Up to here in Louboutin's and puzzled looking CAA agents we found ourselves meandering towards the grail of vino awaiting us in the intimate tent set up at the stern of the galle(r)y. 

Will Kopelman, Drew Barrymore, Ed Ruscha, Shepard Fairey

But what about the paintings you ask? Well, aren't you a dear? What a novel idea indeed! Ironically these events are more conducive to people-watching than admiring the things which brought them to the "viewing" in the first place. You'd think that proper gallery etiquette would dictate people should at the very least feign interest, but alas this is not so. To be fair, it is difficult to see the works in their full glory through the swathe of bodies, a proper viewing is reserved for regular gallery hours. What I could see however, I liked.       

ED RUSCHA
Psycho Spaghetti Western #10, 2010-2011
Acrylic on canvas
54 x 120 inches (137.2 x 304.8 cm)

With ten genre paintings in his Psycho Spaghetti Western series Ruscha presents us with still-life's reflecting on the au courant subject of environmental sustainability and the impact of human consumption on the ecosystem. Antithetical to the vanitas' sensual depictions of symbols denoting the ephemeral, transient nature of life Ruscha looks instead at the Earth's perennial nature and society's responsibility to future generations. Distorting the perspective of the composition he successfully uses a device of omitting a mid-ground in favor of only a foreground and background while using harsh, angular lines to create tension and an unsettling feeling. The formal manipulation of the picture plane primes the canvas for the moralistic narrative, more precisely depicted with figurative renderings of rubbish. Coming full-circle from his first major show New Paintings of Common Objects  along with seven other painters Roy Lichtenstein, Jim Dine, Andy Warhol, Phillip Hefferton, Robert Dowd, Joe Goode and Wayne Thiebaud, Ruscha reinterprets where he started.  

Ed Ruscha
Psycho Spaghetti Western, 2010

Following the annual Gagosian Oscar week-end opening selected guests were treated to a dinner party a stones throw away at Mr. Chows where Mick Jagger held court.

GUS VAN SANT
Untitled, 2010
Watercolor and charcoal on paper
Unframed: 52 x 56 1/2 inches (132.1 x 143.5 cm); Framed: 55 1/2 x 60 1/4 inches (141 x 153 cm)

The Proceeding evening was a cold and dreary night, like out of the pages of a gothic novel. Oh Heathcliff! The sky was crying and Emily Bronte herself could not have imagined the angst of driving through a city where rain is an anomaly. As I saw it Heaven's gates were cleansing the path towards art nirvāna. Chariot don't fail me now.      


Navigating through the treacherous terrain was an exercise in defensive driving, I was prepared for battle as I finally arrived. Good thing, because his time it was a literal squadron of PR girls lined up to greet me. Oh my! Standing neck-to-neck in formation, the battalion was armed with nothing more than clip-board, pen, and five inch stiletto's. There was no penetrating that unit without being on the list, intimidation being the first weapon of defense. This was my first indication that it must be a very swank party if they were trying that hard to keep me out.  

New wing of Gagosian Gallery by architect Richard Meier 

     
Hosted in the gorgeous new extension of the gallery designed by the Getty Center's architect Richard Meier, the space had been transformed that very day into what was intended to make you feel as though you were... in an AA meeting-- coffee urns, cheap folding chairs, and dirty, distressed vinyl flooring. God, grant me the serenity to accept... that this had a bit of a sobering effect to say the least. Long swathes of cloth draped the length of the room, leaving a marginal arcade along the south facing wall adorned with four large-scale watercolors by RISD alumni Gus van Sant. Behind closed curtains two make-shift rooms projected art-films. One, a twelve hour beast appropriately titled Endless Idaho and the other a modest hour and something; both edited by Oscar host James Franco (who is himself attending RISD, not to mention Yale) from the annals of director Gus Van Sant's archival footage of My Own Private Idaho. The two met while filming Milk. R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe scored the music and Franco is rumored to be directing Stipe's next music video. 


Lovely as it was, I needed to temper my constitution with a cocktail. Jointly partaking in our sinful activities were Robert Duvall, the Rodarte sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy (who were robbed for an Academy Award nomination this year for Black Swan's costumes IMHO),  Adrien Brody in an encore visit, Alessandra Balazs (Andre Belazs' daughter), Bill Paxton, Flea, China Chow, Bryce Dallas Howard along with her father Ron Howard, Jeffrey Deitch, Ione Skye, Hailee Steinfeld, Larry Gagosian and his better-half Shala Monroque, Terry Richardson, Eddie Ruscha, Maria Bell, Gus van Sant & James Franco.    


The mise-en-scène was more New York hipster than L.A. wanna-be-hanger-on, which was a refreshing change. Everyone seemed to be dressed in black as a darker shade of ebony shadowed the room and only to be eclipsed by the colorful eccentricity bequeathed by the patrons.


A big shout-out to the Gagosian team (including James deLima & Cecile Le Paire) for pulling this haiku off with such faculty and panache.


I sadly bid adieu... until the next time.    

Banksy, is Graffiti Art the New Political Cartoon?

Communicating morality through satire is not a new idea, and yet we are seeing with the cultural phenomenon that is the street artist Banksy, a resurgence in our interest in social/political commentary. Where most graffiti art speaks to those within a fairly narrow margin of society, it's tags laden with esoteric symbols purposely meant to puzzle the uninitiated; Banksy's work delivers to a much larger audience partially due to the technological revolution and it's ability to document and send out real-time information on what would ordinarily have a limited life-span.

Banksy

Another British artist comes to mind when contemplating Banksy, William Hogarth who lived to mock the Bourgeoisie in 18th-Century, Industrial England. Hogarth was a thoroughly modern artist of the time, choosing  to satirize subjects and topics ranging from- politics, manners, social elitism, crime, marriage, hypocrisy, political corruption, patriotism, and sexuality– themes one can easily relate to, to this day and are also evident in Banksy's anthology.

During the Age of Enlightenment (18th-Century), the charm of the ordinary came to replace the preference for the artifice and frivolities favored in Rococo motifs. The aristocratic culture which the Rococo feted was challenged and along with huge political, social and economic reforms occurring at the time, so too was the art being turned on it's head. Reason & common sense were the new doctrine's of progress and the promotion of scientific questioning was encouraging humankind to think logically. The feudal system was out and the people were finding their voice.

William Hogarth

Marriage a-la-Mode: The Tête-à-Tête

1735

And so here we find ourselves in the Post-Industrial 21st-Century and the Technological Revolution is upon us. Just as Gutenberg's printing press made the Bible (among other books) more accessible, so too has the computer, internet and digital photography changed our lives forever. Information is now available en masse at the tips of our fingers, and communication has sped up light years. Most recently, the world watched as ordinary Tunisian & Egyptian citizens held revolts against their despots, ultimately deposing their autocracies using blogs , Facebook, Twitter, WikiLeaks documents, YouTube and other forms of digital media, both to report as well as to organize themselves.            

Caricatures or caricaturas were first documented during the Italian Renaissance in studies by Leonardo da Vinci on "the ideal type of deformity", the grotesque,  which he used to better understand the concept of ideal beauty and proportion. Over time the principles of form established in part by da Vinci had become so ingrained into the method of portraiture that artists like Agostino Carracci rebelled against them. Intended to be lighthearted satires, their caricaturas were, in essence, "counter-art". Even Martin Luther used caricatures as propoganda during the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church. Woodcutting and metal engraving had become popular trades and graphic art was born. This allowed for a number of prints ridiculing the hypocrisies of the Catholic Church to be more accessible, especially to the illiterate.      

Leonardo Da Vinci Grotesque Profile (1485-90)

Agostino Carracci (1557 - 1602) 
Rabbatin de Griffi and his wife Spilla Pomina

      

This leads us back to Banksy. With the dire state of the Newspaper and magazine industries, the political cartoons familiar habitat, so too is the art-form in a crisis of it's own. In the most ironic fashion, Banksy has transformed the craft and merged it with graffiti art to produce a new form of visual protest; none of which would be possible to view in large circulation without the aid of the digital camera, a quick upload onto the computer and of course your effort. His sharp, witty and provocative voice resonates upon a garage door, a water tower, a sidewalk, and speaks to millions who may never reach the location before city officials delete it forever. The brilliance of engaging an audience to become co-conspirators is genius. Although the work is two dimensional it is also a sculptural piece in many ways in view of the objects, building walls, lamp posts etc. on which he paints are cleverly selected and ingeniously incorporated into the mural, the environment plays a role.

Banksy

Much ado has been made about the fact that he keeps his identity shrouded in mystery. Even as he is up for an Academy Award nomination for his fabulous documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop he has chosen to conceal himself. What a refreshing choice in this day-and-age of every Tom, Dick & Harry grappling for fame in the basest of manner. If in fact "he" is rather a collective as the conspiracy theorists have begun to whisper, what does it matter? It isn't about him, it's rather about what he, or she, or they are thinking and how able they are to interpret that communication with us through this medium.  

Banksy

Banksy

               

Following the Pied Piper

Banksy has currently announced his presence in Los Angeles with a number of murals throughout the sprawling city, from South Central to Santa Monica which has everyone's tongues wagging and eagerly awaiting the next. In a campaign for an Oscar we've never seen the likes of before, it's bound to be an exciting lead-up to Sunday. I've collected the pictures and addresses of what I could find and will be updating this as I learn of more.  

Sunset Blvd., across from the Director's Guild of America offices
 (this billboard has already been removed & replaced sans lascivious Mickey)

Worker removing Banksy billboard

YMCA Beverly Hills

Arsonist Charlie Brown has now sadly been cut out of the building, most likely for profit.

Crayola Shooter (reference to the young Burmese soldiers)
Westwood, on Urban Outfitter's wall

Defaced Westwood Mural

Crayola Foreclosure
Washington Boulevard at Compton Ave., just East of the 110 Fwy  & South of the 10 Fwy

Venice, CA
Abbot Kinney & California

Spaulding & Melrose Ave. 

La Brea & San Vicente (Not technically a Banksy, has a Mr. Brainwash signature by base)

Santa Monica
Directions--If you're taking the 10 west it turns into the pch. It will be on the right side across from the first state beach parking lot. I think it's the Santa Monica state beach. Had to illegally park cause the beach was closed but in the day that will be the best place to park and walk over.
Satellite view of Location

Banksy?  Caught in action in Santa Monica

Caution, Fun
East 1st & Soto streets in Boyle Heights, East L.A.
Soto and 1st street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los.
Soto and 1st street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los.

The Caution Fun piece has since been stolen, apparently in broad daylight. 

La Canada
Montrose

 9th & Broadway, Downtown

F is for Fake...
Not a Banksy but it's interesting that his work is popular enough now that others are copying. Imitation after all is the sincerest form of flattery. This is in Oceanside, CA and has been getting so much attention that the store owner who was going to remove it has decided to leave it up. Has guerilla art become mainstream now? Will wonders never cease!

For the Love of Art

A month ago I attended a delicious art opening here in Los Angeles at the titillating club Voyeur for the artist Alexander Esguerra's show Love & Paint. Upon entry one was greeted by a coquettish mistress à la Eyes Wide Shut and transported into a fantasy world where sexual taboo's and social prejudices were challenged into submission. 

Lining the walls were large canvases writhing in paint. Each piece is the memorial of a singular act of lovemaking. Bodies used as brushes gesticulate over the fabric and what is left is a visual record,  liberated from form, race, gender & creed. In the oeuvre of  Jackson Pollock's action paintings the abstraction is composed by means of emotion-packed gesture. These are not so much pictures as they are events, abstract expressions of intimacy.

Interestingly, Guerra is a Spanish, Italian and Portuguese term for "war". Esguerra himself served overseas in the United States Air-Force before attending Parson's School of Design in New York.   

Alex is young, Alex is handsome, Alex is charming and furthermore... Alex is smart. When asked how he can consider himself an artist when it is others who are putting the paint to canvas, his answer is a simple quote from Degas: "Art is not what you see, it’s what you make others see."  I was brought to see that love is blind. Happy Valentine's Day!   

You can see the work for yourself this coming Friday, February 25th from 9-11 PM once again at club Voyeur.

7969 Santa Monica Blvd.

West Hollywood, CA 90046

This will be the last exhibit in Los Angeles for some time. Alexander will next debut his work in London. 

Here is the link to the events facebook page: www.facebook.com/event. Click to RSVP.