Gordy Grundy

Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, LACE, held their annual auction and fundraiser to a stellar crowd on the mean streets of Hollywood. The hoi polloi of LA artists and collectors rubbed elbows and maybe poked a few eyes in competition for the many fine art works. Brilliantly, executive director Carol Stakenas...

The seven-year-old boy in me couldn't wait to get to the museum to see Chris Burden's Metropolis II. The expectation was high. A million racing cars in a dystopian fantasy of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed. I want my money back. The ride gave my inner adult no thrills.

This season, Culver City may wear the tiara of the international art world, but if you want romance, golden lanterns and a nibble on your earlobe, I'd rather be in Chinatown.

As in every art community, there are cycles of change. The tectonic plates below Chinatown, those had been...

During the '60s in Southern California, two major events were occurring: The Military-Industrial complex was innovating aerospace and telecommunication technologies and a small but potent fine art movement was blooming in the city of Los Angeles. In her new book, Rebels in Paradise, author Hunter Drohojowska-Philp details the significant events...

Market Your Business Like a Hollywood Movie is a series of articles that apply film studio marketing and promotional techniques to your small business.

The Press Mailer, Part One

Every business owner knows of the importance of a 'leave behind.' It is that business card, brochure or gift that...

I have never made an opinion of Michael Govan, Director of LACMA until now. He has an impressive resume, but it's all on the East Coast and therefore unimpressionable. He's white bread. He is fairly good-looking and he can speak. This being LACMA, I expected nothing great of Govan and...

Respected film editor and documentary filmmaker Tyler Hubby is believed to be the last photographer to capture a portrait of international artist Mike Kelley on an assignment for Artillery magazine. The recent passing of the artist, musician and LA art hero has given a simple photo shoot a grave and...

In early 2012, the Andy Warhol Foundation will dissolve their Art Authentication Board. To fill the vacuum, Ca$h for your Warhol has announced a free authentication service. The board at the Warhol Foundation was a legal liability, frequently accused of favoritism and conspiracy.

This year has been a busy...

How do you define a successful life in the arts? Is it selling a painting for six figures? Do the heavens part when you make the cover of Artforum? Does achievement come with an invitation to show at a biennale? Or is success defined by the quality, dedication and passion...

If art is a reflection of the world around us, then America is at loggerheads. Artists Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet have given us their State of the Union with two smart and amusing paintings. "A Conservative Map of the World" and "A Liberal Map of the World" were exhibited...

Art writer and curator Frances Colpitt stated that the Getty show Pacific Standard Time "will insert California art into the canon of Modern Art." There are hundreds of thousands of artists, gallerists, writers, collectors and birds of a feather who have contributed to this golden moment. Many hands have...

James Hayward has distinguished himself as a painter, perceptive and tactile. Anyone who has spoken with him, as I have, learns that the Southern California artist is also a raconteur of great skill, humor and insight. His pal, painter Ed Moses, calls them "his war stories." Anyone who knows Jimmy...

LA based artist Wayne White has been entertaining the world with his wry wit for decades. With extensive work in a variety of visual mediums, the creator adds another. He has hit the boards of the Coronet Theater with his one man show "Wayne White: You're Supposed to Act All...

I needed blood.
For an artwork, I needed blood to soak into a linen handkerchief. Some suggested cow's blood or pig's blood or whatever you can find in the carneceria down the street. I wanted human blood in case there was a difference in coagulation or color.

It's a newly old joke in fashion. For the last several seasons at MAGIC, Surf Expo and the trade shows, the gag is that if one snuck into the convention hall at midnight and switched all of the booth signs, no one would notice...

Throughout modern times, there has been a confluence of factors that distill a creative fervor, a time and place that becomes greater than itself. The artistic effluence ripples for generations to come. Paris in the Twenties. Greenwich Village in the Fifties. Venice Beach in the Seventies. Chelsea in the Eighties....

I can't imagine why anyone would want to become an artist. The hours are long, the benefits are few and the pay is lousy. Even worse, it's a lonely place; most folks cannot fathom our what nor why of it. "Success" in the arts cannot be quantified nor is the...

The Peter Norton Family Christmas Art Project is the epitome of cool. Beyond the beauty, the process and its production benefits many people in very interesting ways. Their family holiday project sets a beautiful example, one that should inspire like-minded endeavors.

Every year since 1988, the Norton Family sends...

In the art world, the laughs are far and few between. An intellectual-academic howling with a bellyful is as rare as a redneck reciting a haiku. There is no invitation to giggle in a silent white cube with a security guard and a suspicious eye.

Humor in the art...