Extra Credit Event: Artist Talk by Michol Hebron

FAIN 315 Internet Studio Presents:

Artist Micol Hebron 

Wednesday, September 23 at 9:15 am in Watt Hall B6.  

Micol Hebron is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice includes studio work, curating, writing, social media, crowd-sourcing, teaching, public-speaking, and both individual and collaborative projects. She has been engaged in individual and collaborative projects in Los Angeles since 1992. Hebron is an Associate Professor of Art at Chapman University; the founder/director of The Situation Room resource space for the creative community; the Gallery Tally Poster Project about gender equity in contemporary galleries; and the Digital Pasty/Gender Equity initiative for the internet. In the past she has been the Chief Curator at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art; the director of the UCLA Summer Art Institute; an editorial board member at X-Tra magazine; an independent curator; a conservator at LACMA, and the co-founder of Gallery B-12 in Hollywood in the 90s. She has served on advisory boards at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibtions, Birch Creek Ranch Residency (Utah), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and UCLA. She is the founder of the LA Art Girls, and the Co-Founder of Fontbron Academy. She employs strategies of consciousness-raising, collaboration, generosity, play, and participation to support and further feminist dialogues in art and life. Hebron has presented exhibitions, performances, and lectures at numerous international institutions. The best way to reach her is through social media.

http://micolhebron.com/

RICK GRIFFITH Saturday, August 29th, 2pm The California African American Museum (CAAM) in Expo Park

ROSKI TALKS

2015 fall lecture series presents

RICK GRIFFITH, designer

Saturday, August 29th, 2pm

Location: The California African American Museum (CAAM) in Expo Park 

 

RoskiTalks kicks off with Rick Griffith, design director of Denver-based studio and type laboratory  MATTER. "MATTER is a uniquely strange place, compelled by craft, steeped in history and deeply dedicated to letters and words...obsessed with projects in the public good and design with purpose."

Griffith's design approach draws from the D.C. punk scene and record stores of his childhood as well as formative design experiences with big agencies and creative artists in early 1990s New York. In addition to running a successful studio for 25 years, Griffith serves as Denver City and County Commissioner of Arts and Culture, modeling his studio's philosophy: "We have been taught to believe that generosity is an attitude and we continue to seek the opportunity to be educated and inspired by who we work with and what we encounter."

Griffith's lecture is presented by the USC Roski Special Projects Design Course. In spring 2015 students in the course curated and executed the large-scale installation works comprising Shared Otherness (May 29-September 6, 2015 at CAAM). The exhibition is grounded in community-based research exploring the immediate geography shared by USC and CAAM while contributing a collective voice to broader dialogues about otherness. There will be an artists' reception in the CAAM Courtyard from 12pm-2pm preceding Griffith's lecture. All are welcome to meet the USC Roski artists and tour the exhibition.

Shared Otherness includes work by: Ivan Blanco, Schessa Garbutt, Stephanie Guerra, Victoria Horng, Frederick Humphries II, Emma Katz, Tena Kelemen, Grace Mandl, Mayra Moran, Sarah Nakamura, Erin Nogle, Kristine Ortega, Megan Park, Suha Park, Jean Pongsai, Steven Rahbany, Tyler Schuppert, Joanna Sowell

Griffith's lecture and RoskiTalks are free and open to all: roski.usc.edu/calendar

FULL DETAILS HERE

Lawrence Azerrad

Lawrence Azerrad makes me want to enter the graphic design field in a heartbeat. He has been able to work with such huge musicians like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilco, and RAC and foundations like The Clinton Foundation. It would be such an honor to work with those clients and to see your design on the face of those titles. Azerrad's designs are very simple yet eye catching and modern -- traits that I hope to achieve in my own work.
Lawrence spoke about many things that I have never really though about. He talked about how making art about music is more abstract because essentially, he's making art about art, which he describes is like making art about someone else's soul. This was such an interesting outlook. He also stated that album covers are cultural markers, which I agree with 100 percent. Art is a stamp of the time period in which it was made in, and it's fascinating to me how a design can capture so much. Another topic he touched on was how once your artwork is done and brought out into the world, it's no longer yours. It becomes something that everyone can relate to in their own way, and everyone has a different interpretation of a piece of art that used to have one interpretation--the artist's.
This was an eye opening speech to listen to, and I hope to research Azerrad more thoroughly!

Simon Doonan

After seeing Simon Doonan speak, I fell in love with him. He is such a personable and charming individual who always thinks outside of the box. I remember he said that he tries to do things the untraditional way and he doesn't like to conform to society's perceptions. The reason why his windows were such a huge success is because of his originality and confidence in his own work. He seems to be fearless when creating concepts for his windows. As an Art/Creative Director, I think that quality is important because he's able to create things that are different, entertaining, and bold. I hope to have such an artistic eye and eccentric personality even at his age. It was humbling to hear and meet a legendary window dresser and creative ambassador.

Lawrence Azerrad

I had never heard of Lawrence Azerrad before hearing him speak a few weeks ago, but I am glad I went.  His work was interesting, as was his background in Los Angeles.  What really peaked my interest though was his work with different bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers in designing their album covers.  As a design student, album artwork and branding is something I am extremely into and something I would like to pursue in my future, so seeing someone who turned that into a career was both inspiring and showed what you can do with that line of work.  His work about regarding that retro jet plane was crazy too, I didn't know something along those lines ever existed.

Simon Doonan

A few weeks ago I attended the Simon Doonan lecture, and I am very glad I did.  It was an amazing experience to get to hear Doonan's thoughts on the fashion industry firsthand.  I really liked the way he described fashion as a modern day "spectator sport"; it really is when you think about it.  I had never seen it in this manner but now its the only way I see it.  Different brands are different teams and they hire different designers who are the real players, and of course the regular person wearing the clothing is also competing against their peers.  Competition is fierce in fashion, and it really is sports-like to see what different brands can produce.  Doohan was funny, down to earth, and of course dapper--his shirts are killer.

Art Walk

I ended up making it out to the brewery art walk which was amazing.  The space is massive and it was practically a maze of artist studios and living spaces.  I think that they have 2 of these open houses per year, so I will be sure to go to the other one as well.  The best part of it all though was that you got to see all the artist's work, and then ask them questions if you had any.  It was a very rare experience to be able to have access to the creator of every single piece there is to see at the place.

Brewery Art Walk

I just found out about an event called the Brewery Art Walk which takes place downtown on October 25-26.  The Brewery where this is has actually been converted into a massive art space which houses over 100 resident artists and their studios.  The art ranges in everything from sculpture, to photography, to fashion, and anything else imaginable.  Needless to say there will be plenty to see, and admission is free!
http://breweryartwalk.com

Roski Talks: Stefan Bucher

April 1, 2014

Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending a lecture given by Stefan Bucher.  Bucher is a writer, illustrator and graphic designer.  He is California based and is the creator of the design firm, 344.  Before Tuesday, I had never heard of Bucher.  I am always excited to learn about and explore the work of artists and designers, whether new to just me or to many.  Bucher took us on a journey through his own independent artwork and projects he had worked on for companies.  It was amazing to hear him explain the evolution of his ideas; I felt like I had an inside look into his mind and his thought processes.

He discussed his book, The Graphic Eye, first.  This was one of his first creations, and by the end of his lecture, you could truly understand how much his work had evolved from this first coffee table book.  He went on to discuss the creation of the Yeti Story, a project he initially developed as a window display for Saks 5th Ave. that developed into a story book and stuffed animal toy.  After this, Bucher was hired to put together the graphics and design the space in the Monte carlo for the Blue Man Group.  It was neat to hear how much Bucher enjoyed this task and how fun it was for him to design simple things such as the carpets, lights and gift shop; they all came together and looked magnificent!  

Finally, Bucher discussed his Monster series, probably what he is most well known for.  His monsters are creations from ink blots that all have such outstanding personalities.  I found his idea behind them fascinating, that he started with an ink blot so he didn't feel as if the monsters were created out of nothing.  I enjoyed Bucher's talk, mostly because of his extremely eccentric and outgoing personality.  He is a quirky guy, but an excellent public presenter.  He engaged with us as the audience.  

Bucher's website: http://www.344lovesyou.com 

Stephan Bucher Talk

I really enjoyed the talk tonight from Stephan Bucher! He talked for quite a while, but his witty sense of humor helped pass the time. As he went through the projects, I enjoyed seeing how so many of them (at least the ones that he showed) had a personal slant to them, particularly with the monster characters. It was also refreshing to see that he included projects with mostly personal value or connection, rather than ones for big name brands, or that made more money. On the money note, Bucher's "Greed Management" concept was awesome. I myself deal with those money vs. pleasure/responsibility dilemas, and it's refreshing to see someone who acknowledges a scale, or balance, rather than pushing an extreme. It takes self-assurance to admit faults, so it was cool to hear Bucher discuss his own ups and downs as a creator and business person. His few moments of self-congratulation were balanced out with an acceptance of difficult work and hours spent in potentially unfullfilling ways. I personally enjoyed these more philisophical nuggets from the talk, but the work was also interesting. It's awesome to see a project such as the time travel charity store that was quick, fun, and refreshing balanced out with a grueling corporate process such as the Blue Man Group, where he had to squeeze out creative moments from an otherwise dull process.

Roski Talks: Stefan Bucher

April 1, 2014 at 
7:00 PM

Gin. D. Wong Auditorium,
Harris Hall

Stefan G. Bucher is the man behind 344lovesyou.com and the online drawing and story-telling experiment dailymonster.com, which has spawned the wildly successful Monster Maker iPad app. 

He is the author of several books, including "100 Days of Monsters" and "344 Questions—The Creative Person’s Do-It-Yourself Guide to Insight, Survival, and Artistic Fulfillment." He has created designs for David Hockney, Judd Apatow, and The New York Times. He designed the titles for the motion pictures "The Fall," “Immortals” and “Mirror, Mirror” by director Tarsem. 

His time-lapse drawings appear on the Emmy-award winning TV show “The Electric Company." He recently designed the Blue Man Theater at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, and in December of 2013 Saks Fifth Avenue adapted his illustrated book “The Yeti Story” into animatronic holiday window displays for their flagship store on Fifth Avenue. 

ROSKI TALKS ARE PUBLIC LECTURES FEATURING CREATIVE LEADERS FROM ACROSS THE FIELDS OF ART, DESIGN, FASHION AND MARKETING. 

DIRECTIONS:Take the Expo Line to Expo Park/USC and follow the map. Meter parking available along Vermont and campus parking available for $10 cash/credit card at Gate 1 on Watt Way and Exposition Blvd.  

Deborah Sussman Guest Lecture

It is always interesting and humbling to hear an iconic figure speak to a group if individuals with like minded goals and interests. Even though we all know the many amazing accomplishments of Deborah Sussman, hearing her speak about them gave all of her accomplishments and experiences that we all read about online a personal touch and realistic effect. A few of the things that especially stood out to me from her lecture:

1. Take a train over airplane whenever possible. This is one of the biggest life lessons Sussman learned from Charles Eames. Not only is the design and functionality of the train much more interesting than that of an airplane but also the scenery and beauty one is exposed to while on a train is unparalleled.

2. Sussman, while working at the Eames house, learned to appreciate uncommon beauty in common items. For example, she described the mesmerizing beauty of the shadows of the willow tree branches on the plastic windows overlooking the meadow and ocean. The ability to look at common, everyday objects and see the uniqueness in them is a special gift. There is a great beauty in designing simple, yet practical pieces.

3. Use the material in the way it wants to be used. Do not try to force something out of a specific material but rather, use it in its natural form.

4. You are what you wear. I also greatly enjoyed Sussman's brief description of her work and life through her dozens of hats. From her work on the 1984 LA Olympics and Finland Olympics to her studies in France, she has a hat marking every major turning point in her life.

5. Collaborating with like minded people is one of the most important and valuable things for a designer. Being aware of your own limitations will only hinder you and working with others will help your creativity and potential. Sussman's largest collaboration project was working on the 1984 Olympics under a serious time an money constraint.

6. The most important thing is not winning but rather taking part.

7. It is important to look at the past and present in order to effectively contribute in the future.

Roski Talks: Michael Lejeune, February 4, 2014

Greetings to all!
My name is Ella and I am a freshman Fine Arts major.
On February 4, I attended my first Roski Talk in the Gin D. Wong Auditorium.  It was held at 7 pm and the featured guest of the night was Michael Lejeune, who is the Creative Director for Metro LA (formally known as Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority).  Lejeune was the first person to hold the title of creative director at Metro.  He came in with Metro needing help in appealing to the public and attracting citizens of L.A. to use public transit.  The first thing Lejeune talked about was how he noticed immediately that the name needed to be shortened.  He comically noted how nothing with the word 'authority' in its name would appeal to the public.  Lejeune continued to talk about how he dove headfirst into his job and became responsible for creating ad campaigns that were aesthetically pleasing, eye-catching and most importantly persuasive.  In addition, he and his team re-did the route maps, brochures and security signs.  Lejeune's presentation was far from mundane; his presentation felt like a journey through the creative life of Metro.  He not only presented images and explained the ideas behind certain campaigns, but also doled out supportive advice regarding careers in design.  He left with one small, yet powerful tip: always communicate who you are, and what your story is.   Always have your personality shine through and illuminate your work.
After hearing Michael Lejeune speak at Roski, I felt excited to take the Metro and explore LA!  He showed me that design and art can be meaningful in the most unexpected areas.
Here are some images of Metro's ad campaigns to give you a taste of Lejeune's bright ideas and hard work.  (the first of which hits close to home!)

American Rag Talk

Tonight I went to the talk from Mark Werts, founder of the American Rag stores. The majority of the talk was devoted to a slideshow walkthrough of the La Brea location here in Los Angeles. As one of his associates clicked through the slides, Mark commented on the various pieces in the location and tied them into his business philosophy and model. Personally, I felt that the end of the talk devolved a bit. He promised a discussion of current trends, but instead I got a mindless espousal of globalization and a short by pretty nonsensical statement on how the west is "in decline". Nevertheless, the vast majority was quite interesting and he made a couple points on retail that I had never really thought about. Firstly, he showed a couple items that they stock, but do not really sell, such as music CD's, and expensive hand-blown glasses. The idea is that these items aren't so much to generate revenue as they are to reinforce the store's image. Furthermore, he interestingly said, "I try to find what no-body wants". As he clicked through the slides, it seemed that each found piece in the decor was some cheap and inexpensive knockoff. Rather than attempting to fill the store with high-end bits, Werts used discarded, seemingly-worthless knick knacks to create a consistent but eclectic look.

Roski Talks: Mark Werts of American Rag

ROSKI TALKS: MARK WERTS Founder, American Rag CIE
Tuesday, February 11 @ 7pm
Wong Auditorium, Harris Hall, USC

The American Rag brand has been synonymous with contemporary styling for over 30 years, due to founder Mark Werts's iconoclastic vision of the retail experience. Each element of his forward thinking empire - merchandise, interior architecture, cafes, and dressing rooms - is imbued with a sense of hand-selected authenticity.
Werts has been celebrated as one of the most innovative and trendsetting retailers in the United States and is currently expanding with outposts in Japan, Eastern Europe and South- east Asia. He and his buying team have traveled the world in pursuit of exclusive merchandise to fill the American Rag stores.

Join us for an evening of visionary insights into the vital roles of art and design in the new global marketplace.

DIRECTIONS: Take the Expo Line to Expo Park/USC and follow the map. Meter parking available along Vermont and campus parking available for $10 cash/credit card at Gate 1 on Watt Way and Exposition Blvd.

This Weekend: LA Art Book Fair

Printed Matter's LA ART BOOK FAIR 2014
January 31- February 2, 2014
Opening: Thursday, January 30, 2014, 6–9 pm
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

Printed Matter presents the second annual LA Art Book Fair, from January 31 through February 2, 2014, at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. An opening will be held on the evening of Thursday, January 30.

Join us at the official LA Art Book Fair Opening Night After Party for music and drinks at the amazing 356 Mission/Ooga Booga space!

Free and open to the public, the LA Art Book Fair is a unique event for artists’ books, art catalogs, monographs, periodicals, and zines presented by over 250 international presses, booksellers, antiquarians, artists, and independent publishers.

Featured projects include a Queer Zines Exhibition curated by Philip Aarons and AA Bronson, The Classroom series of talks and lectures curated by David Senior, KCHUNG Radiowith live coverage of - and broadcast from - the fair, and a number of special project rooms. In addition, MOCAtv and the LA Art Book Fair team up to bring you a series of curated screenings, panels, and performances by some of our favorite artists and performers, and the CABC comes, for the first time, to the west coast for a one-day conference.

(XE)ROX & PAPER + SCISSORS is a super-sized subsection of the LA Art Book Fair, featuring zinesters from home and abroad, together with the popular Friendly Fire section curated by Printed Matter's Max Schumann, and Fabulousity, an exhibition of ephemera and photographs by Alexis Dibiasio surrounding 80s and 90s New York Club Kid Culture, on the occasion of the recent Fabulousity: A Night You'll Never Forget… Or Remember by Wild Life Press.

The LA ART BOOK FAIR is the companion fair to the NY ART BOOK FAIR, held every fall in New York. 27,000 artists, book buyers, collectors, dealers, curators, independent publishers, and other enthusiasts attended the NY ART BOOK FAIR in 2013.

FUNDRAISING EDITIONS:
Printed Matter is pleased to present four new editions to benefit the LA Art Book Fair, by artists: 
Laura Owens 
Jeremy Deller
Patrick Lee
Parra

Hours and Location
The LA ART BOOK FAIR is free and open to the public.

Opening: Thursday, January 30, 6–9 pm
Friday, January 31, 11 am-5 pm
Saturday, February 1, 11 am–6 pm
Sunday, February 2, 12 pm–6 pm

The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
152 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-6222
moca.org
(map)

For more information, call (212) 925-0325 or write laartbookfair@printedmatter.org 

MFA Lecture Series - EXTRA CREDIT (Merlin Carpenter)

Merlin Carpenter, No Re-Entry, 2011

Today, I attended a lecture by artist, Merlin Carpenter. During the lecture, Carpenter talked about three of his recent exhibitions. The first exhibition featured a door barricading a room. In order to enter the exhibit and see the paintings within, one had to pay 5000 euros, or they could stay in the greeting area and pay nothing to see playing cards with the paintings on them. Through this exhibit, Carpenter plays with the idea of commodity. As an artist, one produces commodities of no value, but with regard to the capitalism system, art becomes of value. Thus, paying 5000 euros becomes alright in the minds of the consumer to view and purchase commodities. Furthermore, Carpenter criticizes how money plays a crucial role in the art world. In addition, another exhibit carpenter talked about was titled Tate Cafe. In the exhibit, Carpenter sent up the space to look like a cafe, furnished with pricing menus, chairs and an no re-entry door. The no re-entry door symbolized how the space was an organized thought out area, but when the viewer left the space, they would return to a world of chaos. Furthermore, the door symbolized how the artist can manipulate the viewer, like the manipulations of a capitalist society. As such, through this exhibit, Carpenter shows how the artist is a free person, but works within the constraint of capitalist realism. Moreover, the last set of slides Carpenter displayed to the audience was of his project with around 30 faux Burberry pattern paintings. Carpenter brought these Burberry paintings throughout Eastern Europe with him. Bringing these paintings throughout Europe with him allowed him to juxtapose the symbolic nature of the pattern of Burberry in that it has resulted from a capitalist society with the wildly capitalist society of Eastern Europe. While the Burberry paintings are seen as lavish, when set next to an rundown environment of Eastern Europe, it looks even more lavish. In a sense, while capitalism works for Burberry, Carpenter suggests that it may not be beneficial for everyone, such as Eastern Europe.

Merlin Carpenter, Burberry Paintings, 2010

Although Carpenter's work lacked artistic aesthetic value to my personal taste, it was interesting to learn of his ideas. Carpenter highlighted to me the importance of viewing art through the constraints of capitalism. Capitalism is prevalent in society, and as an artist, one must not completely avoid the system. While artists desire to be removed from the ideals of capitalism, without working within the constraints of capitalism, artists will be left out of the competition for influence.

Brian Brooks Moving Company

I attended the Visions and Voices event featuring the Brian Brooks Moving Company. Though this was fundamentally a dance event, it was also related strongly to design. I'm going to talk about the visual elements, not the performance elements, of this event in order to relate the event to our Design Fundamentals class. 

Looking at the dances in a detached way in order to focus on their visual elements, I saw the dancers as forms and lines in motion. The dance thus became to me about the relationship of the forms with each other and the relationship of the forms with the space. The dancers, along with the lighting and the abstract scenic visual elements of the dance, alternately created tension and balance in their relationships with each other and with the overall composition, the space of the stage.

Because of the scenic visual elements in the dance, there was also always a play between foreground and background in the dance. Sometimes the dancers seemed like the positive space of the composition, and sometimes they seemed like the negative space, as in Descent, a dance in which the spotlight is not on the dancers. (see 2nd Descent picture) 

Descent (2011)

The dances were all very unexpected and had a balance of disjointedness and fluidity, of variety and harmony, that was ultimately satisfying. An image that illustrates what I mean came up in the dance Descent. In a section of this dance, the dancers did not get the spotlight. They were in darkness while the light was shone on pieces of cloth that the dancers were keeping in the air by using a board as a fan. The cloth in this dance floating in the air had a freedom and randomness to it, yet there was a pattern to its movements as the dancers kept it in the air and directed it across the stage. I feel like this image is a good metaphor for the entire dance, because there was always a feeling of randomness and freedom to the dances, yet they were obviously choreographed and had a pattern to them.

Descent (2011)

The dances were all avant-garde, expanding what dance is. For example, the focus was not purely dance, for there were always scenic visual elements that accompanied the dance. 

The visual design accompanying the dance were about making the invisible visible, according to Brian Brooks. Brooks used the visual design elements to emphasize the invisible forces that are always at work. For example, the lines in Run Don't Run emphasized the distance and energy between the dancers. The lines also amplified the choices of the choreography and the actions and reactions, the trajectory, of the movements of the dancers. 

Run Don't Run (2013) 

To me, the Brian Brooks Moving Company dances were about an aesthetic visual experience, not about narrative or representation  The dances therefore seemed like abstract visual art. However, unlike most famous visual art, which seems to be immortal, the dances are completely ephemeral and the memories of the experience are all that remain of them after they are over. 

Run Don't Run (2013)