Thrift Store Movies XMAS

Just a heads up on one upcoming curatorial project:

The Coalition for Cinematic Conservation and Preservation – Southern California Chapter and the Echo Park Film Center are proud to present
A Thrift Store Movie Xmas
Inoculate yourself for the holiday season with a burst of vernacular surrealism from the CCCP-SCC. Drawing from found films, thrift store discoveries, ephemeral oddities, and oddball cult classics, the CCCP-SCC has assembled a spectacular mosaic of cartoons, television specials, musical numbers, and feature film excerpts that explore the weird side of Yuletide. Highlights include “Santa Claus” a dubbed Mexican kiddie film from 1960 in which Santa battles the Devil, the infamous “lost” Star Wars Holiday special, local glam evangelist Miss Velma, cable access musical performances, and Christmas adventures from Benji, the Mirthworms, HeMan & SheRa, and Garfield, and much more. As always, special refreshments and amazing door prizes will abound. Join the festivities!

Saturday December 15th at 8 PM at the Echo Park Film Center
1200 N. Alvarado Street (@ Sunset Blvd)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Somehow It All Makes Sense

I have a lot of catching up to do here, and stuff to promote. Recent writing, Thrift Store Movies Xmas, the upcoming 3rd LA Weekly Annual Biennial. I should start with my review of Lari Pittman's recent show at Regen Projects Dos.

The first time I saw the work of Lari Pittman was at the multiple-careers-making “Helter Skelter” show at MOCA in 1992, and I didn’t care for it. This was the era of his menacing sexualized owls, meticulously built-up psychedelic reliefs of dripping white candles, and circus-font repetitions of the number 69. In spite of their obvious craftsmanship and manifest fluency with a wide swath of the history of visual culture, the paintings’ sense of contained (if provocative) energies — not to mention the unironic deployment of such a conventional medium as acrylic and enamel on rectangular mahogany panels — made them seem out of step with such eruptive gestures as Paul McCarthy’s tree-fucking robot and Nancy Rubins’ roof-high mushroom-cloud tangle of trailers and hot-water heaters. Pittman’s work seemed a quirky vestige of the previous decade’s Reaganomic love affair with “New Image” painting, not the shape of things to come. Continued Here.

Dogstar Dogstar (Laikalaikalaika)

In a full-page full-color story the Sunday New York Times outed my spouse M.A. Peers as the artist responsible for the space dog paintings at the Museum of Jurassic Technology. You can access the story online here or check the comments. M.A.'s first show of new work in a few years is scheduled for May at the Rosamund Felsen Gallery. Top photo by Tull, bottom by Bastian.

Bike Pathologies Tonight

In a CCCP-SCC peripheral curation, treasurer Erik Knutzen has put together a stellar program of vintage educational films for tonight!

Head on down to the Echo Park Film Center on Sunday November 4th for an evening of vintage bicycle safety films from the 50s, 60s and 70s in this special benefit screening for the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. Watch as little Jane and Johnny take to the streets for the first time to learn the rules of the road. But bring your motoring friends as well, since we’ll also serve up a selection of classic driver’s safety films. We’ll round out the evening with a few bicycle related shorts and oddities from the world of educational films.

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) is a membership based advocacy organization working to improve the bicycling environment and quality of life in Los Angeles County through advocacy and education. The LACBC envisions a Los Angeles County that is a great place for everyday, year-round cycling with bicycles accepted as an integral part of our transportation system, culture, and communities.

Admission is $10 with all proceeds going to support the LACBC.

Sunday November 4th
Two screenings: 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm
The Echo Park Film Center is located at 1200 North Alvarado Street @ Sunset Blvd.