James Scarborough

Featured at Art Dubai 2012, Spectral Imprints, the 4th edition of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize, was conceived and implemented to encourage critical discourse. As shown below, it does so, nicely. It's the only competition that focuses on often-underrepresented contemporary artists from the Middle East, North Africa, and...

This is the first of a series of pieces on the week long Art Dubai, the Middle East's largest art fair. Because the Fair is like an enormous souk (multivalent, complex if not exotic, and full of all manner of curiosities and intrigues), it requires a series of visits to...

The backstory of Jim Keville's "Fetish Feel" at L2kontemporary: In the beginning (Think of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel fingers of Adam and God) was not the Word but the touch. And the touch was tactile; it communicated a feeling, a message, a DNA. And the feeling, the message, the DNA was...

This essay was written in conjunction with the exhibition, "What To Do?" at Contemporary Art Centre of SA, Adelaide, Australia

"All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone."
~Blaise Pascal

Nasim Nasr sets her video installation "What To Do?" in what could...

It's Valentine's Day, as sacred to sappy romantics as Halloween is to Wiccans. Hand in hand, cheek to, um, cheek, every permutation of He/She pairings. (He/She; She/She, like something posh; He/He, like a chuckle) congeal and thrive into a lyrical We. Say it together -- Oui! Or else, Oh say...

If nothing else, Valentine's Day confers permission for knights errant to dream impossible dreams of and embark on heroic quests on behalf of their ladies. And if Hallmark and 1-800-FLOWERS aren't your cup of tea, then Musical Theatre West's fantastic production of Man of La Mancha, directed by Nick Degruccio,...

The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of Jessica Portillo and Muoy You with the research, writing, and editing of this essay.

Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius writes it's not the thing itself that passively defines us but our active reaction to the thing. In Cambodian artist Khin You's case,...

Showing what happens (lucky you) when you get caught between the moon and New York City, Twyla Tharp's Come Fly Away, her terpsichorean celebration of the music of Frank Sinatra (27 songs, with the classic arrangements), swept, timelessly hip, into Segerstrom Hall. From the first number, "Stardust," to the last,...

"Buggy" is the collective noun for clowns, so it makes perfect sense that Cirque du Soleil's arachnid extravaganza, "Ovo," at the Santa Monica Pier, is peopled (insected?) with a dazzling array of bugs.

They're all there, each lovely, each talented, each unique in its own way, just like us:...

"Cruising the Archive: Queer Art and Culture in Los Angeles, 1945-1980," a three-venue exhibition of art and archival material co-curated by David Frantz and Mia Locks culled from the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, attests to both the pioneering efforts and achievements of the artists and activists of Los...

Most young women dream of sugar plum fairies and knights in shining armor. Not Baby Doll (Lulu Brud) in Tennessee Williams' eponymous play, directed by Joel Daavid for the Elephant Theatre Company on the occasion of the playwright's 100th birthday.

Asleep in her crib -- yes, her crib: it's the...

The following is part of an on-going conceptual project by the author.

What's black and white and red all over? The marquee outside the International City Bungalow Gallery where Cassie T. Ration recently unveiled her much anticipated piece, "Stay Free© or Die: The Menstrual Hut Project."

The piece's inspiration and...

Roger Bean's marvelous "Winter Wonderettes" at Musical Theatre West plays but nine times and it's so funny, so touching, and, especially now, so season-appropriate, that for nine reasons it must be seen.

This rollicking, joyous production picks up from where MTW's prior production...

With their latest production, It's a Wonderful Christmas Carol, written and directed by Ken Parks, with music by Parks and Rick Illes, it's easy to see why The All American Music Theater and Music Hall was recently honored by Trip Advisor as number one...

This essay was written in conjunction with "Undertow," an exhibition of Alexander's new work at 101/exhibit gallery. The show opens December 1 and runs until February 8, 2012. The gallery is located at 101 NE 40th Street, Miami. For more information call (305) 573-2101 or visit www.101exhibit.com.

There...

Kimberly Brooks's "Thread" at Taylor De Cordoba is neither about fashion nor the women who bring it to life but about how fashion lives but for the moment it's worn. It's about the expectations that clothes elicit, and once those expectations are met, memories of the occasion create attempts to...

Two current Long Beach productions present live theatre at its best. Each production amounts to a world premiere, the actors perform in our space, and we get to eat and be enchanted. The productions' sense of audience, actor, and audience cum actor interaction is keen; it causes the Fourth Wall...

Not a few poets attest to love's ability to uplift and heal. The rest narrate its far more interesting downside. That downside is brilliantly expounded in Kristina Poe's "Love Sick," directed by David Fofi in partnership with New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company, and given its world premiere at The...

When you see a production at The All American Melodrama Theater & Music Hall, you go for the particular show (In this case, it's Space Trek: A Sci Fi Comedy, written and directed by Ken Parks) but you remember the atmosphere. Shoreline Village itself is a little slice of make-believe...

If there were a malady known as Terminal Cuteness, then that would be the diagnosis for The Wedding Singer, written by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy, with music by Matthew Sklar, directed by Larry Raben and given its professional regional premiere at Musical Theatre West.

Hopscotching decades from the...