“The Noise in the Basement” at WWA Gallery

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“The Noise in the Basement” at WWA Gallery

Exhibit titles can be rather frustrating beasts for me. They tend to be oblique, esoteric things that rarely have any relevance to the art they’re intended to encapsulate. It may sound like a nitpicky, pet peevey gripe, but I’m prone to melodramatic bouts of anxiety over art as a general rule. However, when I find myself awake…

Everywhere at Once: “INTERVIEWS” at Curio by AFN

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Everywhere at Once: “INTERVIEWS” at Curio by AFN

There’s something not quite right about Daniel Rolnik. Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy, everybody does, but I suspect something strange afoot there. Aside from his popular blog, he writes for a number of sites and publications that include Beautiful/Decay, Fecal Face, and  LA Weekly, not to mention his work here at CARTWHEEL.  He has…

Palette Cleanser: Fall Group Exhibition at C.A.V.E. Gallery

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Palette Cleanser: Fall Group Exhibition at C.A.V.E. Gallery

Has the Los Angeles summer art season exhausted you? Have the crushing throngs of fashionista scenesters tested your patience? Has it all left a slightly bitter taste of pretension in your mouth? As usual, C.A.V.E Gallery has just the antidote with their palette cleansing annual “Fall Group Exhibition.” The show features over a dozen artists, and pretty much exemplifies…

Borderlines: “Narcolandia” at Coagula Curatorial

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Borderlines: “Narcolandia” at Coagula Curatorial

What is it about an outlaw? There are few limits to our collective tendency to mythologize them. We blow them all out of proportion. We romanticize the hell out of them. In order to secure outlaws in the firmament of lore, we even ascribe certain moral codes to their legends. We distort the often mundane…

High Voltage: “Rock Is Dead” at Hyaena Gallery

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High Voltage: “Rock Is Dead” at Hyaena Gallery

First things first, if you’re the type of gallery-goer who likes to engage in polemics regarding Reagan’s influence on the Neo-Expressionists, all the while sipping a ten dollar glass of  chardonnay, well  Hyaena Gallery probably isn’t the place for you. However, if you’ve ever stayed up late drinking PBR, drawing monsters and zombies while “Reign…

What are Words for? Rero at Fabien Castanier Gallery

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What are Words for? Rero at Fabien Castanier Gallery

  French street artist Rero will tell you that his work is about illusion. I don’t doubt his sincerity when he says that, but I think it’s more about confrontation.  When you walk into “Image Not Available”, Rero’s solo show at Fabien Castanier Gallery, the first piece you encounter is a block of plaster with…

Punk Rock Saves: We Got P0WER! At Track 16

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Punk Rock Saves: We Got P0WER! At Track 16

Some of you will never understand this, but punk rock saves lives. It certainly saved mine. There is salvation to be found in shared despair. You’ll have to excuse my navel-gazing for a moment, but when I was fifteen, things were pretty bleak. I’ll spare you the details but I was a really messed-up kid,…

Uncommon Threads: Rimada, Barker, and Noborikawa at C.A.V.E. Gallery

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Uncommon Threads: Rimada, Barker, and Noborikawa at C.A.V.E. Gallery

You have to applaud a gallery that eschews lofty, esoteric themes in favor of merely exhibiting artists they believe in.  Saturday night, C.A.V.E Gallery in Venice opened their latest show without some contemplative title, or any unifying motif. It is simply a display of three talented artists, Gustavo Rimada, Randy Noborikawa, and Craig “Skibs” Barker,…

Things to Do with Your Hands: Crafted, Port of L.A.

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Things to Do with Your Hands: Crafted, Port of L.A.

San Pedro has always been a city with character. I lived there for a couple of years in the early nineties, and despite all the grime, drug addled zombies, and sporadic gang violence, the place was not without a great deal of charm. It was a city rife with poets, artists, buskers and salty longshoremen…

Hiding In Plain Sight: “Freestyle” at Fabien Castanier Gallery

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Hiding In Plain Sight: “Freestyle” at Fabien Castanier Gallery

Friends mean well, most of the time, and I’m not the easiest person to talk to, so I understand that they’re just trying to connect with me on some level. Yet I have come to approach their art recommendations with a certain amount of trepidation. Do you know this artist so and so? You should…

The New Traditionalists: Nicola Verlato and Vonn Sumner at Merry Karnowsky Gallery

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The New Traditionalists: Nicola Verlato and Vonn Sumner at Merry Karnowsky Gallery

I would like to put to death the use of the term “low brow.”  If only I had that kind of power. It’s a phrase not only overused but one, much like “No Wave,” which has no real meaning and, more often than not, does a disservice to that which it is meant to describe.…