Go See: “Engaged Observers, Documentary Photography Since the Sixties” at The Getty

“La Batea Colony, Zacatecas, Mexico” by Larry Towell

The Getty Center (1200 Getty Center Drive in Los Angeles, CA) presents Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography Since the Sixties. The show runs through November 14 and includes work from:

Philip Jones Griffiths
Leonard Freed
Eugene and Aileen M. Smith
Susan Meiselas
Mary Ellen Mark
Lauren Greenfield
Larry Towell
Sebastião Salgado
James Nachtwey

From the gallery:

In the decades following World War II, an independently minded and critically engaged form of photography began to gather momentum. Its practitioners have combined their skills as artists and reporters, creating extended photographic essays that delve deeply into topics of social concern and present distinct personal visions of the world.

Engaged Observers looks in depth at projects by a selection of the most vital photographers who have contributed to the development of this approach. Passionately committed to their subjects, they have authored evocative bodies of work that are often published extensively as books and transcend the realm of traditional photojournalism.

Listen To / Go See: Yellow Fever

Austin, TX band Yellow Fever play minimal art pop a la Young Marble Giants, Stereolab, and 80s Rough Trade. Formed in the summer of 2006, they have released three EPs as well as a 7 inch on Hugpatch records, as well as a singles collection via the Vivian Girls’ Wild World label imprint. Band members Jennifer Moore and Adam Jones coordinate as an engaged bass/vocal/drum/keyboard duo by default, though they have been periodically accompanied by additional musicians. Their most recent release is the self-released Bermuda Triangle CD EP.

Listen to / download Yellow Fever’s “Bermuda Triangle” single here

The band is currently on tour and recently ran into a bit of a snag (July 9, 2010):

While attempting to catch their flight to play a show at South Street Seaport last week, YellowFever’s Jennifer Moore was detained by airport security in Houston. Jennifer, who works at a restaurant and cooks meals on tour rather than eating out, apparently forgot one kitchen knife in her carry-on bag. Instead of confiscating the knife, Houston authorities promptly arrested her and took her to jail as a suspected terrorist.

The band had the following to say about the incident:

“After enjoying the fine facilities at the Harris County Jail, bologna sandwiches, cute orange outfits, new friends, and *very* public restrooms, we are pleased to announce that we will be continuing our tour tonight in New York! We intended to kick off our tour by flying to NY to play the Seaport show, and returning to Texas to drive our hippy camp-wagon through the glorious South over the 4th of July weekend, but were rudely interrupted by the TSA who decided to cart me off to jail for forgetting a kitchen knife in my backpack and accidentally carrying it through airport security. Anyway, after our brief meeting with The Man in court Tuesday morning we drove straight to New York.” – Jennifer Moore, YellowFever

If you’d like to see the ecstatic musical performance of a newly freed woman, they will be playing at the following venues:

07/16 – Columbus, OH – The Summit
07/17 – Carbondale, IL – Handsome Fest
07/18 – Lawrence, KS – Jackpot
07/19 – Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
07/20 – Madison, WI – Project Lodge
07/21 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
07/22 – St Louis, MO – Antartica
07/23 – Nashville, TN – Little Hamilton
07/25 – Hot Springs, AR – The Exchange +
07/26 – Norman, OK – The Opolis
07/27 – Denton, TX – TBA
07/29 – San Antonio, TX – Korova Basement
07/30 – Laredo, TX – Old No. 2
07/31 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
08/01 – El Paso, TX – Hideaway Lounge
08/02 – Phoenix, AZ – Trunk Space
08/03 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
08/04 – Los Angeles, CA – The Smell ^
08/05 – Los Angeles, CA – Day Off – Going to Disneyland!
08/06 – Sacramento, CA – The Hub
08/07 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent !
08/08 – Klamath Falls, OR – Contemporary Arts Kitchen
08/09 – Portland, OR – East End
08/10 – Olympia, WA – Northern
08/12 – Vancouver, BC – Honey
08/13 – Seattle, WA – Cairo
08/14 – Provo, UT – The Compound
08/15 – Denver, CO – Rhinoceropolis
08/16 – Albuquerque, NM – Wunderkind
08/17 – Lubbock, TX – Bash Riprocks

+ = w/ Halloween Swim Team
^ = w/ Ty Segall, Royal Baths
! = w/ Thee Oh Sees

Artist Shout Out: Dave Cooper

“Mangle, panel B” oil on canvas

“Fallen, panel C” oil on canvas

Artist statement for solo show Mangle at Jonathan Levine Gallery:

In Mangle,  Dave Cooper presents a new series of graphite drawings on polypropylene paper and oil paintings on canvas, featuring his subject matter of choice—fleshy females. Cooper’s unique aesthetic is informed by his obsession with creating billowy, gelatinous landscapes and stylized women with un-idealized physical appearances. The shapes of these nude or scantily clad figures are often exaggeratedly lumpy, with large heads, bulging eyes, shiny red cheeks and toothy grins. They interact with one another in ways that appear disturbingly violent, suggestively sensual, or both, implying bizarre narratives of perverse scenarios and intense human drama.

Through the challenging, disturbing quality of his imagery, Cooper continues to explore themes of libido, hedonism, body image, fantasy, and ambiguity with refined skill and technique. His process consists of building thin layers of sheer color and fine glaze to create smooth texture and translucent opulence to the round contours of his full-figured subjects and their surrounding environments. By applying details traditionally regarded as undesirable physical characteristics such as veiny skin, ruddy complexion and cellulite to every plump, dimpled fold of flab, Cooper’s paintings expose the artist’s admiration and fascination with the natural curves of the feminine form in zaftig proportions, beyond conventional health or beauty standards.

Mangle runs until July 24, 2010.

“Wrestling” oil on canvas

“Eye/Boob Suck” oil on canvas

Artist Bio:

Dave Cooper was born in 1967 in a small fishing village in Nova Scotia, Canada. He is currently based in Ottawa, with his wife and two children. Cooper is a self-taught artist, inspired by artistic mentors in his youth. He enjoyed a successful career in the American underground comic scene of the late 1990’s as the author/illustrator of award-winning graphic novels and as a designer, producer, and creator in the field of animation. In 2003, the artist decided to focus his energies on oil painting and refining his fine art. In the years since, his artwork has been exhibited at galleries in New York, Los Angeles and Paris. He has released two books featuring his oil paintings and a third is on the way, with introductions written by Hollywood celebrity collectors including comedic actor David Cross, as well as filmmakers David Cronenberg and Oscar-nominated writer/director of Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro.

See more of Cooper’s work here

posted by: Harold Johns III

Watch: The Making of Mike Stilkey’s “Reminiscent”

Thanks to the Pasadena Library, Mike Stilkey incorporated 5,000 books into his latest installation Reminiscent at the new Hurley Space Gallery.

posted by: Harold Johns III

Art Roundup: June 4, 2010 to June 10, 2010

Here is the first in what will hopefully be a weekly roundup of the best art shows and art related events in and around the Lawrence/Kansas City area.

FRIDAY JUNE 4
• First Fridays in the Kansas City Crossroads Arts District
18th Street between Baltimore and Broadway to the West / Grand and Holmes to the East (map)
Check out www.kccrossroads.org for a listing of many upcoming shows and read about a few below.

by Ryan Mosley

• Ryan Mosley Painting Séance
Grand Arts (1818 Grand Boulevard in Kansas City, MO)
Friday, June 4, 6pm
London painter Ryan Mosley shows off his loose and colorful work that was produced in the Grand Arts studios.

Zach Eubank at work in his studio

• Zac Eubank Labors of Geniusness
Slap-n-Tickle Gallery (504 W 18th Street in Kansas City, MO)
Friday, June 4, 6-11pm
Large paintings of funky lovely ladies.

• Color Magazine’s One Way or Another
Escapist (405 Southwest Blvd Suite 100 in Kansas City, MO)
Friday, June 4, 6-11pm
See the full Rathaus article for this show

SATURDAY JUNE 5
• Art in the Yard
Breezedale Neighborhood (51 Winona Avenue in Lawrence, KS)
Saturday, June 5, 9-5pm
2D art, ceramics, jewelry, textiles, robots, and more on display.
From the organizers: A small group of artists are banding together to revive the Art in the Yard event that was a hit a couple years back after Art in the Park was canceled. Well, this year the Park festival went off without a hitch, but this group of artists would like to invite the community to celebrate the arts in the Yard once more and also hang out and enjoy a wonderful neighborhood.

• Rock Camp Concert
Eagles Lodge Ballroom (1803 W 6th Street in Lawrence, KS)
Saturday, June 5, 6-10pm
From the organizers: Rock Camp gives teenagers their first experience playing with a band. This is their recital, a Rock Concert! 5 student bands followed by “The Magentalmen” (formally sharkhat). Free Show! Eagles will be open for food and drink!

by John Stamos

• John Stamos Personal/Professional Works
The Invisible Hand Gallery (801 1/2 Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, KS)
Saturday, June 5, 7-10pm
Stamos shows off his stunning, funny, wacky, and engrossing work from his professional illustration portfolio along with his personal work at the recently new Invisible Hand Gallery.

SUNDAY JUNE 6
• Mark S. Luce Endurance + Memory
The Bourgeois Pig (6 East 9th Street in Lawrence, KS)
Sunday, June 6 at 7pm
From the organizers: Luce, who grew up in Central Kansas, has traveled the state during the last 18 months photographing small towns and abandoned buildings. At the outset of the project, the operating concept was rural decay. But in actively searching the state for things that had fallen apart, “I realized the resilience of the structures that were being photographed,” he said. While the pictures answer the question of what happens when people leave, the fiction provides a complementary context to consider rural life in Kansas.

TUESDAY JUNE 8
• Skateboard Art
Lawrence Public Library (707 Vermont Street in Lawrence, KS)
Tuesday, June 8, 1:30pm
From the organizers: Meet a skateboard artist and design your own deck. (Sign up at White Chocolate or the Teen Zone.) Open to 7-12 graders, free, snacks provided.

posted by: Scott Stewart