popellay

[popellay]

Remembering last year's 'Once Upon a Quiet Kingdom'

Remembering last year’s ‘Once Upon a Quiet Kingdom’

In the week leading up to Brandi Milne’s “Once Upon a Quiet Kingdom” show at Corey Helford, Brandi Milne’s work was everywhere. It was in Hi Fructose. It was in Juxtapoz. It was in LA Weekly. It streaked across social media, a Haley’s Comet of pop surrealism.

Latest issue of @juxtapozmag !!! Two full pages for @brandimilne opening including one of my photographs 💃💃 Thank you so much…

[popellay]

Sometimes this happens The Arena 1 Gallery is in what used to be a hangar at Santa Monica Airport. The 'Transiting' show Friday night was full of itself and boring as fuck.

[popellay]

For the weekend

I’m about to book it over to Arena 1 Gallery for their “Transiting” show. I’ve never been there; I don’t know what to expect, but everyone I like is also going and that’s reason enough to do anything.

Arena1 is pleased to announce Transiting, an exhibition organized by artists Lawrence Gipe, Kio Griffith and John David O’Brien which opens Friday, July 27 with an artists reception and runs through…

[popellay]

Gallery 1988 being Gallery 1988, again

Gallery 1988 being Gallery 1988, again

I am trying with Gallery 88, I really am.

Last year Luke Chueh told me that when he used to show there over a decade ago, there was a competitive atmosphere that made him distill his art into something distinct and evocative. And when I go there nowadays — it’s one of the few galleries with shows on Fridays instead of Saturdays — I go looking for a whiff of that.

OPENING TOMORROW! Join us…

[popellay]

This guy might be killing it

This guy might be killing it

So I met Rafael Serrano ages ago at Beyond the Lineswhen it was still in Bergamot Station. He was hammered, boisterously talking my ear off while I craned my neck looking for a chance to scamper off and flirt with the artist featered there that night, Dina Herrmann. I just couldn’t get away. Rafael had me cornered by the hors d’oeuvres and kept topping off my plastic cup of red wine. He just…

[popellay]

That familiar feeling at Gallery 1988

That familiar feeling at Gallery 1988

  Exhibit openings at most galleries I visit are a little bit elevated, a little boisterous. People arrive dressed to show off, and group into couples and cliques, staking out small sections of the gallery while they socialize and give me an opening to eavesdrop on their conversations.

Friday night at Gallery 1988, it wasn’t like that at all. I went there for the “Against the Grain” show…

[popellay]

In which I kept coming back to the Night Gallery's Paradise dragon

In which I kept coming back to the Night Gallery’s Paradise dragon

At Night Gallery’s Paradise exhibit, which opened Friday night, I was most drawn to this picture of a dragon. A striking, curly-haired blonde named Allie stood next to me to snap a photo of the painting. “I think we’re both doing the same thing,” she said.

New painting by Robert Nava in our upcoming group exhibition PARADISE, organized by Edgar Bryan and Adrianne Rubenstein 🐉 Opening July…

[popellay]

So...what did I miss?

So…what did I miss?

In January I missed a Fake Theme Parks show at Gallery 1988. [Fake Theme Parks – Gallery1988](https://nineteeneightyeight.com/collections/fake-theme-parks) Artists mapped out or whipped up scenes from theme parks in fictional TV shows and books.

  Cuddles & Rage: Itchy & Scratchyland

  The place is hit and miss, often low-key when I’m cruising for a chaotic art orgy, but this show looked…

[popellay]

Next up

Assemble the notes on Kat Bingley.

Write all I can on Stephania

Ask Sabrina what she discussed with Bumdog

Say hi to Bumdog

Recall studio visit with Amber and her new painting

Ask Clara about how she’s liking it downtown

[popellay]

Last night's art walk

Last night’s art walk

At the Ren Gallery, the gallery owner – Renee – and a photographer were gathered around a tall black guy with dreadlocks and really filthy toes. “Who is that guy,” I asked a concierge. He shrugged.

I met Louis XXX, the artist responsible for the whimsical, colorful notes that drew me to the Ren Gallery in the first place. Sabrina was wearing red lipstick and a black dress, and she started talking…

[popellay]

Temporary Post Used For Theme Detection (abb4910c-c1af-4086-a4b9-f59d84191d77 - 3bfe001a-32de-4114-a6b4-4005b770f6d7)

Temporary Post Used For Theme Detection (abb4910c-c1af-4086-a4b9-f59d84191d77 – 3bfe001a-32de-4114-a6b4-4005b770f6d7)

This is a temporary post that was not deleted. Please delete this manually. (d2956e13-b01e-4510-8b68-b75f47ac7484 – 3bfe001a-32de-4114-a6b4-4005b770f6d7)

[popellay]

Holly Elander & Christine Rasmussen's days & nights in LA neighborhoods

Holly Elander & Christine Rasmussen’s days & nights in LA neighborhoods

Legendary warrior princess Christine Rasmussen presented her ‘Fenomenal’ show last weekend at Launch LA, 170 S. La Brea, opposite a similar display from Holly Elander the same night, titled ‘Solitary Shadows.’   Holly Elander (L) & Christine Rasmussen (R). Photo via Launch LA    The two artists both explored scenes involving the influence of light and shadow on outside structures. Christine’s…

[popellay]

Jennifer Main, hanging out for Art Walk

Jennifer Main, hanging out for Art Walk

I love crowds of people roving up and down Spring Street in the evening for the art walk. Being in the middle of it makes me feel like part of something exciting, like a booster at a football game. In January, the art scene really delivered. That one was the most crowded one I’d been to. Jennifer Main: I Love You to Death At each corner of Spring and 5th Street, there are ladies with hot dog…

[popellay]

Where it's at this weekend

Where it’s at this weekend

Saturday nights, Pop Ellay runs this town. Me and Lindy hop around the city from gallery to gallery, leaving behind the pitiful wailing of art widows amidst smoldering ruins where once hung bold, vibrant paintings and stood noble statues. See, we hunt the art down, then we kill it and eat it. It’s the only way we can feel complete. We’ve sorta relaxed on that for the holiday season, but this…

[popellay]

This show was weak too

Typically, when the artist headlining a show has a nerdy pseudonym, like “Invader,” “Shepard Fairey,” “Buff Monster,” “D*Face,” or “Dalek,” he (when is it not a guy?) is a massively famous muralist with a surreal bent. You’ll see vivid juxtapositions with a blend of the transcendantly gorgeous and the brutally mundane, an optical illusion delivering a deliciously complex fusion of light and dark…

[popellay]

Look at Christine Rasmussen's new je ne sais quoi

Look at Christine Rasmussen’s new je ne sais quoi

Late last summer, Christine Rasmussen spent a few weeks in the north, at Chalk Hill’s artist residency. She came back just in time to set up for Keystone Art Space’s Open Studios event. I could tell there was a certain something different in her paintings since I last met up with her. This is Down, part of Rasmussen’s “She was just a dream” set.   “SHE WAS JUST A DREAM (2014-present), a series of…

[popellay]

Trying to catch Dina Herrmann at her Motion show

For the Motion show at Beyond the Lines, Dina Herrmann’s abstracts were on the wall along the back of the gallery. I stared at the three biggest and decided on a favorite. In the middle of the gallery, by the tale of hors d’oevres, was a man with a deep voice and a European accent I couldn’t place. His name was Rafael Serrano. I was trying to get out of the conversation (Serrano had this way of…