Michael Parker, Juicework, Human Resources, February 6–10, 2015

Money, influence, and hangers-on are descending on the LA art scene these days like vultures, turning it into a place that I barely recognize any more. Openings that were already crazy before are now completely unbearable, and at any given event, I’m more likely to run into wide-eyed escapees from New York crowing about how “things are much more possible in LA” than into the friends of ten years who used to populate the same events. It’s discomfiting, making it easy to think that the good times are over—yet another great grassroots scene ruined by its own popularity and inevitable gentrification.

But then something like Juicework happens and it gives me hope that maybe the truly great, unique, and beautiful stuff—the stuff that to me defines LA much more than any giant-warehouse-turned-blue-chip-gallery—can continue to co-exist alongside the annoying dreck. Michael Parker, an artist’s artist who is well known for beloved projects like Steam Egg and The Unfinished, has made another technically ingenious sculptural installation that also functions as a socially engaging participatory performance. It’s amazing, his knack for doing this, without ever falling into the ineffectual preciousness that mars certain other projects labeled as “social practice.”

AMRA, Set the MOOD, Human Resources, December 20–21, 2014

So I went to this event on Sunday night, billed as a “multisensory art show” put together by a group called AMRA. First we were directed upstairs to look at some art (mostly paintings) and some fruit arrangements. Then we were shepherded downstairs to watch/participate in a groovalicious, hippie-rave-like ritual/performance. The costumed performers began by leading the room in making sounds to awaken and cleanse each of the chakras. Then, they sang and danced a few numbers.

The large room at Human Resources was festooned with elaborate background video projections and fruits that swung from the ceiling. There definitely seemed to be a theme of organic growth; a lot of the projected images were of plants growing in nature.

I took some photos of the performance that turned out pretty cool, so I’m sharing them here. When it was over, the performers passed out fruits for people to eat and encouraged everyone to dance. Happy holidays!

Pieter Plays the River, Ed Reyes River Greenway, October 26, 2014

All photos by John Tain

From Pieter’s press release: “As part of Play the LA River’s year of riverside programming, Pieter Performance Space presents a day of dance and performance at Ed Reyes River Greenway in Lincoln Heights. Pieter is located near the confluence of the LA River and Arroyo Seco, where industrial and residential spaces meet a vibrant urban aquatic landscape. Pieter is commissioning site-responsive choreographed works, improvisations, interactive happenings, and a free community yoga class, to be presented as part of an afternoon of riverside art.”

Some of the works in the event are captured in the photos that follow. Thank you to JOHN TAIN for supplying the photos, and Allison Wyper and Maya Gingery for help with the captions. Pieter Plays the River was co-produced by Pieter and Project 51.

Option – option, choreographed by Harriet Bailey. Dancers: Laura Berg, Lindsey Lollie, Jordan Saenz, Gracie Whyte.

KISSME LO MAXIMO!, Corazon del Sol, Thea Boya, Colectivo KissMe and friends, Human Resources, July 3–6, 2014

Corazon del Sol and Margot Walsh welcome you to KISSME LO MAXIMO!

If you’re around this Fourth of July weekend, you should stop by Human Resources and check out KISSME LO MAXIMO!, a groovalicious installation by LA artists Corazon del Sol, Thea Boya, and several very helpful friends, in collaboration with a group of Colombian artists calling themselves Colectivo KissMe. The installation is part of an ongoing project that examines and critiques the culture and politics surrounding the infamous KissMe Cali, a Colombian sex hotel. (Think amped-up Madonna Inn with rooms rentable by the hour.)

The Human Resources installation looks like a very glamorous South American rave. At the opening last night, people roamed around amidst video, sound and light installations; outrageous sculptures, wall hangings and found objects; a slide that dumps people onto a bed and a pile of giant cushions; pornos by Margie Schnibbe that you can’t see; and even a sex room (which as of 10:30 last night had not yet been utliized). There was also a live feed from the artists in Colombia. Fabulous hostesses del Sol, Boya and Margot Walsh got dolled up almost beyond recognition in what I was told was approved Colombian hostess regalia (tons of makeup, huge false eyelashes and revealing outfits) and gladly offered tours of the show.

Elena Bajo, With Entheogenic Intent (Burn the Witch), finissage and performance, 18th Street Art Center, March 25, 2014: A Photo Essay by Andrew Chung

From the event description:

“During the exhibition, With Entheogenic Intent (Burn the Witch), the space will fluctuate constantly as an environment where new spells will be cast and new historical elements undertaken. Artist Lab Resident Elena Bajo simultaneously performs and investigates the ‘sculptural anarchive’ of suppressed political histories of the geopolitical context of California, using both anarchic structure and structured disorder as epistemological and ontological methods of performance research, becoming a Dadaist collage that creates new forms of alienation and aesthetic production.”

Well Played, organized by Gracie DeVito, ltd los angeles, April 12–13, 2014

Artist Gracie DeVito did such a great job organizing Well Played, a two-day mini-festival of short performance works that happened at ltd los angeles over the weekend. I caught most of the performances and everything that I saw was fresh, timely and compelling.

Looking at the group of works as a whole, I think you can discern certain qualities and trends that are at the vanguard of doing-performance-as-art right now. First, absurdist theater and improv are increasingly becoming the modes of choice, in a notable move away from the more conceptual and endurance-based works of the past. This makes sense to me, as I think theatrical formats can potentially offer a more pliable and multi-layered space in which to create work. Second, collaboration among peers and the incorporation of a variety of media such as video, installation, popular music and literature continue to be prominent, as they have for several years now.

And lastly, artists are hyper-conscious at the moment of the obscenities that have become commonplace in the current art market bubble, and are compelled to both comment on them and struggle against them in their work.

Emily Mast, The Least Important Things, LACMA, March 29, 2014: A photo essay by Andrew Chung

From the LACMA media alert:

“For The Least Important Things, Emily Mast selected a diverse range of works by Joan Brossa (1919–1998) which were written with the intention of being staged. Brossa was a Catalan poet, playwright, graphic designer, and visual artist who made work about the limitations of language and its material nature. His ‘stage poetry’ embraced incoherence, the everyday, and popular forms of entertainment such as magic, cabaret, and comedy routines. Brossa’s works are an integral part of the performances and were specially translated for the presentation at LACMA. The performances are staged throughout the LACMA campus in intermediate spaces that reflect Brossa and Mast’s interest in the undefined.”