We love to review, see, explore great art and events in LA – and all around the U.S.
Where do we find out about some of the exceptional arts offerings each weekend? One great source is Shoebox PR – and now yours can be, too, with a new, well-curated weekly listing:
http://shoeboxpr.com/2015/11/13/art-happenings-socal/
At the Odyssey Theater in West Los Angeles through the end of this month is a terrific staging of the Clifford Odets’ classic, Awake & Sing. A three act play about three generations of a Jewish family in New York during the Depression, the story is about repression and overcoming it, about poverty and the attempt to rise above it, about the rich getting richer and the divide between rich and poor getting wider.
In broad terms, these subjects are all exceedingly relevant today. In personal terms as well, some things never change. If a pregnant girl is not immediately married off today, if old men no longer listen to Enrico Caruso for inspiration, there is still a desire for adventure, for freedom; there are still taboo relationships disapproved of among families; there are still mothers who cling to their grown children – we have a term for that now, helicopter parents. There are still the conflicts that beset a family over money or the lack there of, there are still the conflicts that represent dreams of a better life and the necessity for someone to buck up and shoulder the burden of keeping the family unit together.
But Odets asks, all of this at what cost? At what cost the quest for freedom? At what cost the persistence in keeping the family unit intact when maybe, just maybe, it would be better to let it fragment? At what cost to society when the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and there is no way out but revolution?
This all sounds terribly weighty, and certainly the content is fraught with intensity. But what is the most pleasurable about this production, and the gift of Odets love for language and character through dialog, is the acting.
A showcase for every actor on stage, the emotional range that leads to a third act climax guaranteed to have you swiping at your eyes – this play depends upon stellar casting, and achieves it.
The matinee performance we saw had an alternate in the key role of domineering mama Bessie Berger; but Melissa Weber Bales more than aced the part. Every actor seethed with vitality, from Richard Fancy as un-self-examined rich Uncle Morty to Robert Lesser as sad father Myron Berger, Melissa Paladino riveting as Hennie who resents her arranged marriage to nebbish Sam Feinschreiber ( a touching Gary Patent), David Agranov as tough war vet turned petty criminal Moe Axelrod, James Morosini as Ralph, Hennie’s slightly wet-behind-the-years brother ( a difficult role in a part that seems dated in his unrequited love for an “orphan girl”), and a powerful Alan Miller as the pivotal grandfather, Jacob.
Director Elina De Santos gets emotions to a boil and lets them bubble over artfully; Odets fast and layered dialog does not disappoint. The Odyssey’s intimate seating plunges the audience directly into the well-designed Berger’s period living and dining area.
For a fine drama, something in and of itself to be thankful for this Thanksgiving; for a timeless approach to personal and political choices – Awake &Sing! Or awake and snag some tickets.
The Odyssey Theater is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda; check website at www.odysseytheatre.com for ticket availability.
Ever wonder what went into that greasy burger from the drive-thru window? Well, it probably isn’t art.
But it could be – and is – an art FORM.
Los Angeles street artist Bleep posted this Facebook update about his Project Expired Mac, and let us at DiversionsLA in on the origins of this project and what’s coming next.
(What’s not coming next? Eating fast food anytime soon, a habit we can somewhat sanctimoniously but honestly attest we gave up long ago anyway. )
Bleep writes: “as of yesterday the final stage of #projectexpiredmac#pem “in which i encased a #mcdonalds hamburger in an acrylic case as a non-biodegradable sculpture subject to the elements on the side of a building for the last 6 months” is at hand. for the month of November I will be hosting a #rotathon taking different fast food meals from #wendys #burgerking #carlsjr #jackinthebox#innout and encasing them in acrylic boxes with air holes drilled for the passage of the elements.”
Feeling hungry?
DiversionsLA: So you’re making fast food into art! Describe the origins of this project?
Bleep: The origins are kind of ambiguous I guess. I remember when I was younger, going to work with my mother when she couldn’t get a babysitter. I remember a McDonald’s hamburger stapled to the bulletin board in the breakroom as a sort of holiday prank. When I asked about it, my mother explained to me that McDonald’s burgers did not rot… and so that stuck with me and wormed it’s way into the work.
DiversionsLA: Bleep began taping burgers around the DTLA Arts District, documenting the process with photographer HollowDoubt at the beginning of 2015. His current project arose from that project.
We asked Bleep to describe the way the food items are contained and who designed the boxes/picked locations.
Bleep: The food items are contained in clear acrylic boxes with air holes to expose the burgers. We affixed the box to the side of building. (Co-conspirator/artist) Plastic Jesus pretty much built and advised the project. I can’t even begin to say how grateful I am for the help. The location? That cannot be dispelled.
DiversionsLA: How long will you leave them mounted?
Bleep: The first project is basically on-going until it sells – time is the medium for the piece. The art will increase in price as time goes on. We are at 7 ½ months in on the first McDonald’s burger.
DiversionsLA: So, in short, rot adds value. That could possibly be viewed as a commentary about Wall Street, or politics.
Bleep: The new project known as #rotathon will be up for a month. The rotathon2015 includes five competing fast food chains.
DiversionsLA: While we’re not sure they appreciate the free advertising – but, no publicity is bad, right? – in the interest of art we’ll list them here:
Jack in the Box
Carl’s Jr.
In and Out
Burger King
Wendy’s
Bleep: They’re all rotting simultaneously. I think it’ll be interesting to see how far the rabbit hole is on this.
DiversionsLA: We do, too. How often are you documenting?
Bleep: I’ve documented it off and on in intervals of two weeks to a month apart. My photographer hollowdoubt is photographing the rotathon exhibit, and those are the images you see in this article.
DiversionsLA: What do you view as the ultimate outcome of the project?
Bleep: I love to hear what people have to say about it. I really have no expectation other than to inform and inspire. I know a lot of people are becoming health conscious these days, so awareness is a key aim with this project.
DiversionsLA: But beyond the altruistic – will you sell the pieces as individual objects?
Bleep: I will be selling the McDonald’s burger at Scope Miami Basel this year for $20k as a non-biodegradable sculpture subject to the elements.
DiversionsLA: Nothing rotten about that.
Now go out and NOT eat a burger.
Andre Miripolsky has always thought big. His cutting edge paintings, sculptures, mobiles, graphics, film sets, and costumes all mean big color, big design, big ideas. The Paris-born, CalArts-educated artist describes himself as “Maestro of his Kingdom of Color.”
So it’s a natural progression that Miripolsky’s most recent art project is a kingdom unto itself: the vibrant mural “Pomonacopia,” which stretches over four sides of the School of Arts and Enterprise in downtown Pomona, Calif. Designed to illuminate Pomona’s commitment to public art, the vast and joyous piece serves as the heart of the art scene for the community.
Miripolsky’s stunning mural is hardly his first large-scale piece. In 2013, whimsical sharks titled “Sharks in the City,” looked down from a CBS outdoor billboard, and in 2012, his cityscape mural, “Rising Realty Partners” graced Pershing Square. He’s even taken on elephants – “Punkaphant” was created for the Elephant Parade, an organization supporting the endangered Asian elephant with outside art on parade around the globe, including a recent stop in Dana Point. He’s no stranger to crowd-pleasing, crowd-drawing images either. From costumes for Elton John and album package and visual design for Bette Midler to serving on the boards of LA area art organizations including the L.A. Art Alliance, the Downtown Artwalk, and the Hollywood Arts Council, Miripolsky brings his love of color, shape, and form to everything he touches. If Midas turned things into kaleidoscopic stained glass instead of boring old gold, then he would get along just fine with Miripolsky.
It’s that stained glass, pop, rainbow-spinning abstract richness that the artist has now used on his biggest project yet.
“I consider this a world-class public art installation,” Miripolsky says, and it is – smack in the heart of Pomona, Calif., a city previously not synonymous with art. But that may have changed along with the transformation of a white stucco building into a vast 10,500-square-foot canvas of shapes and symbols that are so deeply combined and intricately designed that they take on a strange depth, pulling the eye into them as if the images were 3-D.
Miripolsky notes that his brilliantly colored images were inspired by the area’s agriculture. Oranges and grapes once reigned here rather than industry, and the name Pomona itself represents the Roman goddess of fruit.
The artist chose dots and circular shapes to represent fruit and the area’s fecund and fertile crops; arrows are also prevalent. Miripolsky calls them “iconic symbols for positive direction.”
They point in many directions here, including to the school building’s main entrance. The idea: directing students toward art education, according to Miripolsky.
The eye is also directed up, down, and around the building, led by brightly colored stripes that represent the highways leading into Pomona. Visually traverse these roads and find titular cornucopias, the symbols of abundance. To Miripolsky, such abundance is at the core of his mural, which serves up the fruit of his artistic labors rather than literal fruit.
Pomonacopia exudes the joy and vividness of its creator, and marks a major success for the city’s Public Art Fee Fund which is assisting with the mural’s cost.
Miripolsky’s mural is not just about the abundance of sunshine and agriculture in the region. It’s also designed to express the essence of the school and the community Arts Colony.
This riveting piece of art was created entirely by Miripolsky and his mural team: Bisco Smith of Venice, Paul Juno of North Hollywood and Christian Ornelas of Pomona.
Together, their project has become a living, breathing history, with sight-seers and community members alike enjoying watching the process of art being shaped in a real-time environment. Passer-bys stop for photo ops, and community members are embracing the art itself and the process of creation in their midst.
The School of Arts and Enterprise (The SAE) and the Friends of the SAE have committed themselves to establishing the largest public art project unveiled in the Pomona Arts Colony in years with Pomonacopia.
Working and living at the Brewery Arts Colony just east of DTLA, Miripolsky is no strange to the idea of taking an urban area once artistically dormant and helping it blossom into a focal point for culture and innovation.
Located at 375 South Main Street, the work celebrates the community’s history, and makes a worthy road trip from Los Angeles or Palm Springs. This vast mural is frankly the beginning of something even bigger: SAE’s commitment to shaping downtown Pomona into a culture center. Thanks to Miripolsky, the community is on its way.
