Your Social Life

So there's not much on the art front this weekend but the benefit auction for LAXart, Lauri Firstenberg's non-profit exhibition space in Culver City (click on the above link for all the info you need) . If you can afford it, by all means go, since LA is cruelly bereft of enough of these kinds of initiative/spaces. LAXart has been consistently showing great exhibitions by LA (and non-LA) artists and should be allowed to continue without financial hindrances.


It's all very well, you're going to tell me, but one benefit auction doesn't fill the entire weekend. What else could you do?
Well, forget Culver City and Chinatown and have a look at the Bruce Conner show at Michael Kohn, and absolutely go see the drawing show at Steve Turner. It is very, very good. Turner's website isn't updated, for those of you who don't know the gallery it is directly across the street from LACMA West. A little detour by Regen Projects to go see Glenn Ligon (I haven't seen the show yet) wouldn't hurt.
That's for your Saturday.

Sunday, after a detour at your local Farmers Market to load on all those healthy veggies, you can start with reading Julie Lequin brand new blog, and then go visit the Francis Alÿs show at the Hammer. I haven't seen the Murakami show at the Geffen yet and somehow I'm totally dragging my feet: just a look at this doesn't make me want to go.

And now it is Sunday evening, most good restaurants are closed, what can you do? I'd recommend a nice round of drinks with your pals to fortify yourself when Monday's WGA strike starts. Brace yourself for something thats supposed to affect about 200,000 workers in The Other Cultural Industry, and by ricochet all of us. If you're gainfully employed and make money, invite your writer friends for dinner and donate them some comfortable shoes and adequate clothing for their picketing shifts. Good luck to our slaves cousins in The Other Cultural Industry. We wish you many happy residuals.

Art people, please note this doesn't affect already produced PBS Art 21 series, and my friend Sal Reda nicely reminds us that in 2 weeks from now, on Sunday, November 18, the series focuses on 2 great artists who came out of Baal's mouth LA's graduate schools: the absolute genius Catherine Sullivan, who now lives mostly in Chicago (Catherine, we miss you lots) and the great, great Mark Bradford (in every sense of the term, since Mark hovers above us with 6'11" of pure talent)!


Picture above: Catherine Sullivan
The Chittendens, 2005
© The artist
Courtesy Catherine Bastide, Brussels and Metro Pictures, New York, via the Tate Modern website.