The Vader Project is back in Los Angeles: 100 customized Darth Vader helmets

Hey "Star Wars" movie fans and pop-culture enthusiasts: this show is for you. One of the most popular events during the annual Star Wars' fan convention held in Los Angeles in 2007, the Vader Project returns this month (June 11-20) to its own pop-up gallery at 6812 Melrose Ave. The brainchild of my friends Sarah Jo Marks and Dov Kelemer of DKE toys, the Vader Project is 100 Darth Vader helmets customized by artists such as Gary Baseman (above).

At the pop-up gallery you will be able to not only see the one-of-a-kind creations (and some are rather wacky) but also buy a catalog of the entire collection before it goes to auction in July at Freeman's Philadelphia Auction.

You may not get to see "real" "Star Wars" characters like those at the fan-boy convention, but you never know.

Daily from  Noon- 6 p.m. June 12-20, 2010
The Vader Project
6812 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Dwell on Design to tour Eastside L.A.

June 24-27, the design and architecture conference Dwell on Design will come to the L.A. Convention Center. Home tours are included in the event.  The Sunday June 27 Eastside Home Tour (which starts in Larchmont--not even faux or near Eastside) features six modern homes such as Silver Lake's very fab Auburn 7.  Expect hills and hipster enclaves per the website: "This isn't a part of L.A. that many tourists get to see. We head East from Larchmont into Silver Lake and Atwater Village along their peaceful, leafy streets for anyone who dares to stop by. "

Tour if you dare! Screen shot is from the concurrent Mobius LA event.

Ventura, California's Art City and Art Walk

A few shots from my trip to Ventura's Art Walk (next one is October 16/17). Art City Gallery and Stone Supply was one of my favorite studios: completely outdoors, its home to 20 sculptors.  Per my story in the Los Feliz Ledger:  For more than 25 years, the acre site has been home to Art City Gallery & Stone Supply: a vast yard that exhibits fine art stone used in sculpture making.  The real attraction is the 20 open-air studios where artists create sculptures using materials that range from pebbles and shells to massive monoliths of Canadian marble.

One of the stops on Ventura’s bi-annual art walk, Art City Gallery is one of those places that must be experienced to fully appreciate its tactile nature. Here sculptors are actively manipulating and transforming rock, resulting in visual poetry.

Visit soon—the one-of-a-kind studio is open Wednesday through Sunday and during the Fall Ventura ArtWalk scheduled for October 16th and 17th.

Art City
197 Dubbers Street
Ventura, CA 93001
805-648-1690

Autry National Center's "How Women Made the West"

Forget the cowgirl, the demure Indian maiden, or the pioneer woman in a sunbonnet perched on a wagon buckboard. At the Autry National Center’s conceptual new exhibit “Home Lands How Women Made the West,” traditional stereotypes of women-out-west are replaced with a new narrative—one that puts women at the center as builders of home and community. “Seeing women in history makes history look different,” is the show’s opening statement and the Autry has done much to create an innovative and interactive exhibition that inserts real women into the American west’s saga.

Follow-up the exhibit with a visit to the bookstore and read my complete take on the exhibition at the Autry National Center in Griffith Park that runs through August 29.

Farmlab is downtown L.A.'s earthy, artistic think tank

Not a Cornfield was one of Los Angeles’ most creative, ambitious and perhaps largest public art installation.  From mid-2005 to March 2006, a blighted industrial vacant lot just north of Chinatown became 32 verdant acres of living sculpture within view of downtown’s skyscrapers.

Conceived by artist Laren Bon and funded by the Annenberg Foundation, the Not a Cornfield legacy continues to grow at Farmlab, now headquartered across from the northernmost end of the State Historic Park (the former Not a Cornfield site).

Farmlab is an artistic think tank and meeting space that visibly demonstrates a more holistic approach to urban living. Junked cars are planters blooming with native plants; 15’ high barrels collect rainwater; and wildflower seeds that were collected in the State Historic Park are distributed for free.  Each Friday, a free lunch hour public salon—lunch included—offers a range of thoughtful presentations by local artists, curators, historians and activists.

Read my full piece at the Los Feliz Ledger.

Lance Armstrong above Sunset Blvd. courtesy of Shepard Fairey

Runners during Sunday's (3/21) L.A. Marathon can look up (and back over their shoulders) for inspiration: Shepard Fairey's wall-sized portrait of cyclist and Live Strong's Lance Armstrong is above Sunset Blvd on Studio One's exterior at the corner of Elysian Valley and Sunset Blvds. BTW Fairey's gallery, Subliminal Projects, is selling the official 25th anniversary LA Marathon screen print by Studio One's Cleon Peterson.





Defiance/Courage/Action is the title I presume.

Beverly Hills' Gagosian Gallery Addition Brings Out the Stars

For Housingwatch.com: a glittery opening for Andreas Gursky --worth checking out his manipulated digital satellite images of oceans.  New space is impressive--bowtruss roof saved, skylights and a massive sliding door to the street.

Beverly Hills' Gagosian Gallery Addition Brings Out the Stars