Art Against Empire

A new exhibition from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics

March 10 - April 18, 2010

Opening reception Thursday 11 March 2010, 8-10PM

LACE is proud to present Art Against Empire—Graphic Responses to U.S. Intervention Since World War II, curated by Carol A. Wells from the archives of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG). Featuring works by Josh MacPhee, Corita Kent, Jay Belloli, Cedomic Kostovic, Stephen Kroninger, and more.

Art Against Empire uses the power of posters to document 60 years of opposition to U.S. interventions into the domestic affairs of sovereign nations. Political, economic and military interventions, many of them covert, have repeatedly resulted in unacceptable deaths and misery for millions. These posters show hopes and dreams, and the pain of dreams destroyed.

Art Against Empire showcases over 100 political posters in the LACE galleries, spanning two dozen sovereign nations including Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Guatemala, Haiti, Cuba, Iran, and South Africa. It attempts to inform, challenge and inspire by confronting the viewer with images of past struggles that remain powerfully relevant today. It both raises questions about past interventions and fosters debate about present ones. The exhibition will also provide insight into why the amount of devastation caused by the recent earthquake in Haiti can be linked to its long history of French colonialism and U.S. imperialism.

The United States is the focus of this exhibition. As citizens, we are ultimately responsible for the actions that are taken by our government in our name. Censorship and repression, so prevalent in wartime, invariably attempt to eliminate dissent, thereby violating the principles on which this democracy was founded. These posters document the efforts of people who refuse to remain silent and who use the power of art to inspire action.

RELATED EVENTS - Sunday Series, 1PM

Sunday 21 March 2010, 1PM - The Coca-Cola Case, screening and presentation
Directors German Gutierrez and Carmen Garcia present a searing indictment of the Coca-Cola empire and its alleged kidnapping, torture and murder of union leaders trying to improve working conditions in Colombia, Guatemala and Turkey. Learn about the film here. 
The screening will be followed by a presentation by Barbara Hadsell, lead attorney in the case against Chevron in Nigeria and Patrick Bonner from Colombia Peace Project.

Sunday 28 March 2010, 1PM - Gaza & Egypt 2009 & Arlington West
Los Angeles delegates from the Gaza Freedom March 2009, Dara Wells-Hajjar and Shae Popovich will relay experiences of their recent trip to Gaza and Cairo. They will share stories, photos and art from this extremely dangerous but powerful trip. They will also discuss how we can continue the work to change global public opinion around Gaza and the occupied territories.

The afternoon will also include a screening of Arlington West and a presentation by the film makers, Sally Marr and Peter Dudar.
“I hope, for the sake of peace, that young people all over the country will see ARLINGTON WEST and come face to face with the consequences of war.” --Howard Zinn

Sunday 11 April 2010, 1PM - Film screenings: Panama Deception: Exposing the Cover Up!; Cover Up: Behind the Iran Contra Affair; Destination Nicaragua

Thursday 15 April 15 2010, 7PM - Artists for a New South Africa, screening and presentation
More information coming soon.

ABOUT CSPG
The Center for the Study of Political Graphicsis an educational and research archive that collects, preserves and exhibits graphics of social change. With more than 70,000 political posters, CSPG has the largest collection of post World War II human rights and protest posters in the U.S. Through traveling exhibitions, workshops and publications, CSPG is reclaiming the power of art to educate. For more, visit www.politicalgraphics.org.

LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)

6522 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
t: 323.957.1777 I f: 323.957.9025
e: info@welcometolace.org

Bookmaking!

I decided to try the book binding where you stitch the pages together; making the holes isn't hard if you use a hammer and a push pin. I'm planning to use my journal as a dream log. I used to write down all of my dreams in high school and I'm excited to start again. :)

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  See, Seer, Seen
  Fantastic, Funky, Fun, DIY Events!
  Tuesday March 3, 6 - 9 PM
  Watt Hall Courtyard
  Free hot dogs by Let's Be Frank!
  
  
  
  Harris 112
  Joseph Ross - Free Tarot Card Readings
  Sculpture Prototypes - "3D Roski Planes"
  Courtyard, Watt Hall
  Design - "Art Mash"
  Photo - "Polaroid Photo Studio"
  Intermedia - Video Screening and Slideshow
  Watt Hall
  Watt - 118 Painting/Drawing - "Off the Wall"
  Helen Lindhurst Fine Arts Gallery - "16 Painters"
   and DJ Koata Zon Von Witzenburg
  Watt 107 - Ceramics - Miniature Modeling Tour
  Watt 108 - Sculpture - Moldmaking - Casting Call and Student Works
  
  
  *** FREE RAFFLE ***
  
  

Extra Credit

David Garibaldi

David Garibali performed at the Bovard Auditorium on Monday, March 1st 2010. Garibaldi is a young, new, hip artist with his own show: Rythem and Hue. In this show he combines his love for art and music and creates giant masterpieces in eight minutes or less. If you dont believe me, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Uy5T4x-p4 to see for yourself. These painting are 6 foot portraits of pop icons all done to music and what seems to be in a blink of an eye. At the Bovard Auditorium I had the pleasure to see Garibaldi paint Lady Gaga, Obama, Michel Jackson, and lastly Einstien. What made Einstien so amazing and the reason why I posted the picture was because not only did he do this is 8 minuests but he also did the entire portrait upside down.

Garibaldi is a huge inspiration of mine, and this is the second show of his that I have seen. I can really appreciate the work he does because i do the same type of performance art myself. My one big show was at the Talent show I painted the Joker UPSIDE DOWN as well, in 6 minuets to music and won first place! (my picture shown)

He has a very inspiring show and talks about his hard times growing up in LA and only having illegal Graffiti to express himself. He tells the audience that all you need is passion for your dreams to come true. To prove this, he has started a fund raiser for non profit organizations and has raised over $500,000. It is his goal to reach a million by the time he is thirty. It was an amazing show and I really recommend watching Garibaldi's work but nothing can truly inspire you more than a live performance.

Check Out Steven Heller's new video

Olympic Pictograms Through the Ages

Designer Steven Heller traces the evolution of the tiny symbols for each Olympic sport since their appearance in 1936.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/24/sports/olympics/pictograms-interactive.html?ref=design

Mark Bradford and Rick Lowe: Critical Conversations

extra credit --

This event lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes, but was quite interesting for the most part. Rick Lowe spoke first and gave a powerpoint presentation on various community projects he had contributed to over the years including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit. Mark Bradford also gave a powerpoint on his work and focused on a particular project called Prospect 1 that he had contributed to by building an arc in the lower ward 9 of New Orleans. Both speakers focused primarily on the actual going into the community and experiences they had rather than the artwork they displayed there, and both speakers had different approaches of taking their profession to the public sphere. Lowe's focus was a practical one, personalizing the project to the area and the people's needs, noting one of his most successful projects as the one in Houston in which he helped transform rows of small shotgun houses into beautiful living conditions for single mothers. Bradford's artwork in the community differed by his outlook. He was very sensitive to the idea that he was entering a place that was not his own and wanted to be careful that he wasn't viewed as stepping down off his high horse to serve the poor with his artwork. He made a point to get to know all the people near his building site on a personal level, knocking on doors and doing what he could through his art connections to raise money for whatever they needed. The most interesting part was the discussion at the end in which both artists sat at the front of the room and talked about their work and its place in the community. One thing I noticed was how everyone used a high level of academic discourse to ask their questions and to discuss art, but Bradford pointedly tried to avoid that and spoke more simply. His succinct and straightforward remarks made his points and overall message clearer than anyone in the room. Though the two artists have very distinct styles, they both shared beautiful artwork, and helped me view public art in a new light.

beautiful losers

Totally forgot to post this sooner... here's my extra credit:

The event started late because it was raining that day so Aaron Rose was running a little behind so I didn't get to see the end of the movie. The 40 minutes or so that I stayed for were fun to watch but my only problem with it was that it really glorified the 'rockstar' artist life. They are self titled losers but I don't know that I would call them that really-- they are different from the main stream culture, for sure, but by no means are they losers, and the movie makes them out to be super cool... I guess it's all in how they felt. They also seemed to me to be stuck in high school mode- a lot of the stuff they said related to their experiences back in the day. Part of it is that they kept their child-like sensibility that definitely adds to their work. Part of it annoyed me though. I can't quite put a finger on why. Anyways, I thought it was a good film and a lot of those guys are really funny. It was interesting to put a face to the artists and hear what they were about and stuff. Mike Mills was the silliest, I thought, even though he was wearing a suit in a lot of the interviews.
-deb

Journal Making!

Front


Back

I really enjoyed the journal making workshop! I made this journal for my older sister, Ivana because she's a journalist and loves to write so I knew she could put it to good use:)
Cheers
Diana

Beautiful Losers

On Wednesday February 24, 2010, I attended the exhibition of the documentary Beautiful Losers and heard Aaron Rose speak of his experiences creating the film. Personally, I thought Beautiful Losers was one of the best documentaries I have seen all year even though Rose claims him and his fellow artists had minimal experience in film making. The documentary consisted of artists such as Margaret Kilgallen, Harmony Korine, Geoff McFetridge, Barry McGee, Mike Mills and Stephen Powers II. All these artists depicted their unique and one of a kind styles which varied from acrylic paint to spray paint, and skateboard artwork to political cartoons. My two favorite artists were Stephen powers and Barry McGee because I found their graffiti artwork as an outstanding novelty. I also really enjoyed how down to Earth, vivid and witty the documentary was and yet it also managed to send a powerful message to its viewers and audience on how artwork is an important aspect of society and culture and that every artist should take pride in who they are. Aaron Rose said " what I was trying to do with this documentary was make people want to make cool stuff" and "encourage their friends to keep working on their art." Another interesting fact about the documentary was that the title was not planned ahead of time, rather, Aaron Rose had to think of a title at last minute so he looked at titles of books on his shelf and saw a novel titled "Beautiful Losers" and said "that's it!" Currently, Rose is working on a new film project on the life of Sister Corita, whom Rose claimed some believed Andy Warhol stole her style during their friendship. I am definitely planning on looking into his new film when it is out. Overall, I was glad that I attended this speaker event because walking away from the documentary Beautiful Losers, I feel I have built much more appreciation for valuable artwork.

Bookmaking/Journals

Here's mine!

The front:


Back:


And inside:


Hope you all enjoyed your weekends.