"Cal Punk & Performance"

I was very fortunate to catch this incredible exhibition at Annie Warton Los Angeles just before it came down.
Annie is such a sweet woman. She let me stay late on the exhibition's final day and even offered me a glass of wine, which I gladly accepted.

This exhibition really resonated with me. Particularly when I came across this:

I guess you could say I was initially introduced to the San Francisco rock scene by the lead singer of The Lucky Stiffs. I had met Greg at a bar called Zeitgeist on my 21st birthday. He was there with a friend & I suppose you could say I caught his attention.
He introduced himself politely and when I told him it was my birthday, he proceeded to belt out a punky rendition of a Happy Birthday right there in front of everyone. It was adorable. I was love-struck...
And so began the first of MANY rock n' roll adventures in San Francisco.

Entitled "Cal Punk & Performance" the exhibition featured select works from "targetvideo77" a rich archive of rare punk rock performance footage by Joe Rees.  

The show was truly wonderfully curated. It was clean but raw at the same time. Very true to the punk sensibility.

Here are some shots from the exhibition:

Artspiration Du Jour.

In addition to housing over 130 showrooms for some of the most luxurious lines in interior design, the Pacific Design Center also features a vast array of exquisitely curated art galleries.
This one caught my eye this morning. Due to the fact that these shots were taken before the gallery had opened its doors that morning, these are all external shots.

"The Chromatic Convergence Project" by Mary Younakof.

                                          

RETNA

As someone who has worked at several art galleries, I understand the importance of giving credit where credit is due. The stunning background image of my blog is a mural by renowned street artist Retna.

I took this photo of Retna at an art opening being held at New Image Art in the Fall of 2011. I was fortunate to intern at the gallery in the summer of 2010 & was given a life-altering immersion into the LA art scene by Gallery Director and friend Marsea Goldberg. The vitality of the art and design world in Los Angeles is what brought me back to the city...

For being a man whose visual imprint has undeniably reshaped the urban landscape of this city, Retna is by far one of the most charming and down to earth artists you'll ever meet.

I took this picture while cruising down some side-steet in Hollywood. I can't remember exactly where it was taken, but Retna's work is EVERYWHERE! Who can keep up? His talent never ceases to amaze me...

I encourage everyone to explore Retna's impressive archive of art work. Here's one of my favorites:

                                                           (Sonia)