A Christmas Reminder from the Flash Fudd Oracle

It... is... later... than... you... think...

Who's the Blowfish?

Jenn Berger, Merry Christmas Dougie Jones and Hootie Who, 2018, colored pencil on paper, 11 X 17"

Coming to a Ranch Near You Soon...

Compulsory Pseudo Germanic (1992?)

AKA The Joke That Kills. 

A poke at Polke! I was more pokey back in the day.

Flash Fudd: Black Box in "Defining Detritus" opening Sept 8

​

Announcing the second of two new major interconnected FLASH FUDD art pieces debuting in separate LA group shows this month. I know I said three before, but the third show got garbled.*

Flash Fudd: Black Box (2018) is a prototype for a non-linear collage graphic narrative publication, presented in wall-mounted configuration as a work in progress, compiling approximately 80 of the book's 128 33 X 7 inch pages, each composed of acrylic, mixed media and collage on paper -- the trimmings from Daniel Hawkins' Desert Lighthouse investment certificate etching, with a prototype "binding" in the form of a handcrafted wooden case by Erik Knutzen and finished with aerosol rubber paint.

FF:BB is included in Defining Detritus an exhibition curated by China Adams, who asked collage artists to create ultra-regional work using paper detritus they find in their homes, studios, and the Los Angeles neighborhoods where they live.

Opening night reception Saturday Sept 8 from 6-9pm. Show runs through October 6 at Arena 1 Gallery, 3026 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90405 310-397-7456

Gallery hours: Wed-Sat 12-6pm

Participating artists: Sandy de Lissovoy, Renée Fox, Jane Handel, Jacci Den Hartog, Doug Harvey, Seonna Hong, Jason Ellenburg Jones, Bernard Leibov (Boxo), John Luckett, Lilah Lutes, Nuttaphol Ma, Constance Mallinson, Marisa Mandler, David McDonald, Angela Stage, Don Suggs, Young Y. Summers, Jake Townsend, Ozzy Trujillo, Joan Weinzettle, Ewa Wojciak, Joan Wulf, HK Zamani, and Alexis Zoto


*The first piece is a sculptural assemblage with soundtrack called Dark Fudd Oracle, included in Dialectic of Being & Becoming: Realization of Fullness at Highways Performance Space @ 18th St. Arts Center, 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404 through October 21, 2018 Keep an eye peeled, I may find an alternate venue for the third piece, Fudd Full Circle.

1st of 3 New FLASH FUDD Artworks...

Announcing the first of three new major interconnected FLASH FUDD art pieces debuting in separate LA group shows over the next two months:

Dark Fudd Oracle 2018, 52" diameter, 12" deep; found sculptural signage, rubberized aerosol automotive undercoating, malfunctioning flatscreen TV, acetate inkjet print, soundtrack.

is included in
Dialectic of Being & Becoming: Realization of Fullness
Curated by Khang Bao Nguyen
Highways Performance Space @ 18th St. Arts Center, 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404
OPENING RECEPTION: August 18, Saturday, 5:30 - 8:00 pm
PERFORMANCE by MANNLICHER CARCANO 6:00 - 6:30

This exhibition and performance event investigate two perspectives on the realization of fullness: 1) maintaining a temporal self in order to Become consummate in the future, and 2) deconstructing the perceived self so as to realize the fullness of Being in the primordial now.

SHOW RUN: August 10 - October 21, 2018

Regular Hours:
Mon-Thurs, 2 - 7 pm;
Fri, 2 - 8:30 pm;
Sat, 6 - 8:30 pm

*PLEASE NOTE: This work will probably be permanently dismantled after this showing, so if you're interested in experiencing it, please try to make it out!

Slide archives #1 - Jeffrey Vallance portal

I've recently got my slide scanner up and running (for a forthcoming Moldy Slide project) and have been doing some rough & ready archiving of my own and others' olde documentation.Here's Jeffrey Vallance's little-known 1988 series of gold frames around cut-away rectangles of wall, exposing the backrooms and interstitial spaces of the old LACE gallery this one's called "Elevator Shaft" and according to JV you could actually see the elevator moving up and down through the frame! I think I have a couple more of these in the mounds, so I'll add them if I come across them...

Zen and the Art of Make-Believe: A Date with Mister Rogers

I figured since that documentary's all the rage (and my Post Office has sold out of his stamp TWICE) this was a good time to revive this Skipping Formalities column from 1998


So when I did a google search to see if I'd put it on my website yet, I found out it's been cited in two grown-up books about Mr. Rogers in the last couple of years. Cool! Can I have tenure now?


"As I was becoming a connoisseur of the subtleties of the goings-on in this filigreed anarchist utopia, I began paying more attention to the bracketing segments of each episode; the parts where Mr. Rogers actually appears, setting up the thematic pins for the puppets to knock down, then clearing them away afterwards. I noticed the non-linearity of his thoughts- “A dream of being with your mom on the beach can give you a warm feeling inside BUT a dream of a monster is just a thought in your head, and not real” A reassuringly logical sounding sentence, but with a strange subtext: you can choose your reality from what you can imagine. I found myself wishing I had been exposed to this kind of programming in my infancy: ‘You are special. There’s only one person in the world exactly like you. People can love you just the way you are.’ It surely beats the tape loops most of us inherit..."

from "Zen and the Art of Make-Believe: A Date with Mister Rogers" Art issues. 52

Continue reading on dougharvey.la

Under the Radar: Temporary Services

"I first heard about Temporary Services when—under the aegis of the Outpost for Contemporary Art—they occupied a vacant lot at the corner of Sunset and Alvarado in 2005, building a proto-selfie-museum from shopping carts, perfectly good headboards and other curbside scavengings; holding potlucks, DJ sets, urban foraging workshops, film-screenings, and giveaways of their zines. At that point their publishing output must have been around 60-something titles, and their most recent items left a big impression: Framing the Artists—an extensive, incisive and deadpan compendium of depictions of artists and art in movies and TV; Public Phenomena: Informal Modifications of Shared Spaces—the second in an ongoing series compiling documentation of homemade basketball hoops, parking space savers, roadside memorials and other vernacular art and engineering projects; and a poster iteration of what is possibly still their most famous anthropological study, Prisoners’ Inventions, a simultaneous celebration of human ingenuity and indictment of the prison-industrial complex. (All of these are out of print but available as free PDF downloads at temporaryservices.org).


And this is just the tip of the iceberg..."


Continue reading at Artillerymag.com

Something's Afoot at Bob Baker Marionette Theatre...

‎Bob Baker Marionette Theater‎ presents F for Un: An Evening of Experimental Art and Music

Pre-show reception: Come have drinks and enjoy artworks from 7:00 - 8:00pm! Performances begin at 8:00pm! 

As part of our Bob Baker Marionette Theater 'Schoolhouse Rocks' Program, we are excited to announce that F will be performing their first live set of 2018 as "F for Un" at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Echo Park Los Angeles on Saturday June 9th at 7 PM. 

 The night will open with a performance by Bob Baker's Marionettes followed by F’s improvisational noise performance. This all ages event will feature marionettes, colorful projections, and special surprises. Also at the theater will be a one-night-only exhibition and reception featuring artworks by the members of F. If you've never been to the Bob Baker’s Marionette Theater to see the amazing things they do, this is an incredible chance to see this historical Los Angeles landmark! 

 F is a Los Angeles art-rock supergroup whose motto is "Simplicity Through Noise" and who have developed a practice rooted in improvisational ensemble playing using electric guitars (played with rubber mallets and other extended as well as traditional techniques), percussion, and vintage synthesizers, in various combinations. F are Marnie Weber, Doug Harvey, Daniel Hawkins, and Kane Lafia. 

**************************************************************** 

 MARNIE WEBER’s multidisciplinary practice encompasses performance, film, video, sculpture, collage, music and costuming. Weber’s early years were grounded in performance art, before moving into filmmaking and later large-scale installations, all the while continuing a practice of collage, creating limited edition records as an art form, and performing and recording music. www.marnieweber.com 

 DOUG HARVEY is an artist, writer and critic, independent curator, experimental musician, and educator who lives and works in Los Angeles. His activities may be monitored online at www.dougharvey.blogspot.com and www.dougharvey.la. 

 DANIEL HAWKINS is a Los Angeles based multi-media artist and experimental musician. Most recently he has built a full-size functioning lighthouse in the Mojave Desert. For more information visit www.danielhawkins.info and www.desertlighthouse.org 

 KANE LAFIA is a musician, multidisciplinary artist, mobile venue operator, and an occasional organizer of happenings based in Los Angeles. He is taking a break from internet presence right now.

*************************************************************** 

Since 1963, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater has been part of the Angelino Community; since then, imagination and fantasy continue to thrive in Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Landmark #958. With over 200 performances a year, utilizing over 2000 handcrafted puppets, the organization caters to birthday parties, school groups, weddings, and community functions of all sorts. Today, their mission is to provide unique theatrical experiences; to educate, celebrate and rejuvenate puppetry and the allied arts. 

**************************************************************** Pre-show reception: Come have drinks and enjoy artworks from 7:00 - 8:00pm! Performances begin at 8:00pm! See you there, with puppets and paintbrushes in our hearts!

See you there, with puppets and paintbrushes in our hearts!

Return of the Moldy Slides

Event is free, but please RSVP at
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/doug-harvey-return-of-the-moldy-slides-tickets-45819255627 
(Campus parking is $2)

The Photographic Arts Council Los Angeles presents 

"Doug Harvey - Return of the Moldy Slides"

Tuesday May 15, 8 PM - 10 PM
Los Angeles Valley College, Art 103
5800 Fulton Ave, Valley Glen, Los Angeles 91401

After a five-year hiatus, Doug Harvey returns to his archive of found moldy slides to curate his first new presentation since Rhizomatic Transmissions, which screened at The Museum of Jurassic Technology, Hammer Museum, UCLA, Echo Park Film Center, and various other Los Angeles and West Coast venues.

 Compiled from a collection of several thousand 35 mm photographic transparencies found in the detritus excavated from a local hoarder's house during an apparent intervention, the slides had been subjected to flooding and grown various types and degrees of fungal layers, altering the pictorial content of the emulsion -- sometimes slightly, sometimes transforming the image into a total abstraction.

Harvey describes the resulting (washed and stabilized) artifacts as " a stochastically linked collaboration between the original vacation photographer, crazy hoarder dude, the mold, and me – plus the found and improvised soundtrack elements, and finally the audience.”

Los Angeles critic Shana Nys Dambrot describes the found moldy slides as "flat-out gorgeous... and just as fascinating on a conceptual/semantic level, introducing issues of authorship, truth, transcendence, intention, control, chaos, narrative, meaning, and analog physicality into a larger conversation about photography in the digital era."

Return of the Moldy Slides will consist of a new selection of the actual original slides using vintage Kodak carousel projectors, and will be accompanied by a live performance of improvised music by The Friendliness Happening.

Bad Kids in Ballona Creek

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballona_Creek

Checking Out Bob Baker Marionette Theatre

F went into check out the space and repertoire at the BBMT -- stay tuned for a major announcement!

Egyptian Goose, Hansen Dam

There were a pair of them, with a gimpy solo Canada Goose! We had never seen one before, so I looked them up - the wikipedia article (and several other online sources) say they've been seen in Florida, but are not known to breeed in the US, but anecdotal reports show goslings in Orange County! 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_goose

http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/birds/anseriformes/Alopochen%20aegyptiacus/index.htm

Desert Lighthouse Maintenance Trip

Tweakers tried to break in and steal the Desert Lighthouse's precious inner workings, so I joined Daniel Hawkins as muscle/documentarian. I can't say what exactly went down, but decapitation is work, man! Thankfully the desert is full of holes.

Ballpark Incident

Art's Validity Interrogated! Help Needed!

With what I assume to be unintentionally ironic timing, given the presence of the College Art Association's annual conference in L.A. at this very moment (and the "BLACK MATTERS at West" exhibit currently on view in the FA gallery), West LA College has decided that it's time to perform a "viability study" on its once-stellar Fine Art program -- which could result in the elimination of studio art classes for the school's student population -- which consists primarily of economically disadvantaged African-Americans and Latinos.

The remaining FA faculty have been invited to present data on the viability of art education in general, specific to the creative economy of Southern California, and specific to community colleges and their clientele. Any links to relevant research would be greatly appreciated. Comments below, or dghrvy at gmail.

Chertkow in Context

An Advanced Painting reference material assignment from MA Peers' UCLA class completed by Jimmy Chertkow, then subjected to several years of dampness and mold. Notice how Time no longer applies. UPDATE: The actual assignment was to curate a show based on your work.

Weird Connections #374

System of Subterranean Fires from Mundus Subterraneus (1678 edn.) vol. 1, p. 194

Just want to make note of this before I forget - so last Monday, during the first class of my Intro Art History Survey class, I was explaining how Art History is mostly made up, and often within a generation or two the speculative interpretations of respected experts become ridiculous embarrassments, and I gave the first example that came to mind -- Athanasius Kircher's wildly inaccurate attempt at translating Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Robert Smithson After Athanasius Kircher, 1971, 12% x 15%", ink.

All well and good, moving right along, but when I attempted to get online during the break to access my roster and give out some secret codes for students who wanted to add the class, West's server was having one of its too-regular cognitive collapses, and refused to let me surf. So I was looking for options, and my wifi detector gave me the following options: wlacstudent; wlacfaculty, wlac_us (the art computer lab, which saved my ass); and... athanasiuskircher. 

Ed Asner and Billy Dee Williams examining System of Subterranean 

Fires diorama (M.A. Peers) at the Museum of Jurassic Technology, 2001

I was a little spooked by this, a little paranoid, a little everything, and I actually asked the class towards the end - "Um... do any of you have a device named Athanasius Kircher?" They all laughed, but no one fessed up. I remain mystified. The end.

A Finding Aid to the Jancar Gallery Records, 1972-2015

I am tickled that the 2 pieces of ephemera that show up (so far) are the invite to the Supernatural show in which I was flattered to be included, and Lee Lynch's punk map for "Perform Chinatown: CHAOS RAINS" (aka REIGNS), above.

https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/jancar-gallery-records-17458

Royal Primaries