ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd.

ForYourArt produces and hosts activities at 6020 Wilshire Blvd. to promote engagement with art, Los Angeles, and the Miracle Mile as part of its broad mission to create content to frame and support the activities of artists, curators, and institutions. www.foryourart.com

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ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd.

In March 2012 ForYourArt moved into a storefront at 6020 Wilshire Blvd. The space is an open platform for exploring “art related to life” through short-term and spontaneous activities in our space across from LACMA. It functions as a conference room, program venue, and alternative space and is a collaborative effort between FYA and artists, writers, curators, collectives, publishers, and organizations in which to explore and encourage encounters with art in L.A.

Via a Call for Proposals we sought out activities, events, classes, performances, slide talks, short-term installations (0-7 days), pop-up sales, and anything else that reflects FYA’s interest in promoting artists and arts organizations.

You can view the entire archive of activities on the ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd. blog.

Read the press release for ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd.

Images: Window at ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd. (top) and opening celebration for “The Planter Show” at ForYourArt at 6020 Wilshire Blvd. (bottom)

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Thanks for the Mammaries

July 31–August 18, 2014 

Thanks for the Mammaries, was an exhibition created by Los Angeles-based artist Bettina Hubby. Hubby's unique exhibition of boob-themed art, included over 100 artists who came together to support Hubby in the face of her diagnosis with breast cancer. The opening reception included a live auction of artworks benefiting The Cancer Support Community Benjamin Center. Entertainment was provided by Janet Klein and Tom Marion.

What began on Facebook as a unique and smile-inducing way for Hubby to announce her own diagnosis and the double mastectomy (etc.) that soon followed, transformed into fruition in the form of a singular exhibition only four months later. Thanks for the Mammaries evidenced an art community at its kindest. She didn’t want pity, she wanted to laugh, and so Hubby asked for people to send her boobs, not sadness, and it worked. Every day people flowered her with images, videos and verbiage of a boob-variety unimaginable, and this helped her through, and inspired her to pay it forward. Then she sent out a call to artists to submit works for an actual exhibition and accepted all entries.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Klowden Mann presented an auction of the artworks, with a percentage of the sale of each piece going towards The Cancer Support Community Benjamin Center, a local Los Angeles charity that offers free support groups, counseling, and educational symposiums for those facing cancer, with specific support groups and educational outreach for breast cancer. During the run of the exhibition, there was also a panel with major figures in the field of breast cancer research, treatment, alternative and technological advances that offered their expertise and opinion on the state of cancer response as it stands today.

Artists included in this exhibition are as follows:

Suzanne Adelman & Keith Walsh, Adler & Edmark, Ashton Allen, Skip Arnold, Joshua Aster, Chad Attie, Virginia Broersma, Kristin Calabrese, Gary Cannone, Jamison Carter, Bernard Chadwick, Angel Chen, Alice Clements, David Cull, William Dailey, Jill Daves, Gerald Davis, David Deany, Michael Dee, Mara De Luca, Ruben Diaz & Rebecca Lofchie, Bob Dornberger, Shannon Durbin, David P. Earle, Rebecca Farr, Susan Feldman, Christine Frerichs, Dwora Fried, Barbara Gillespie, Paula Goldman, Emma Gray, Rachel Grynberg, Karin Gulbran, Joe Hardesty, Jacqueline Haut & Nicolo Messina, Micol Hebron, Toby Burke Hemingway, Bettina Hubby, Tyler Hubby, Tomi Hurtado Sher, Jessica Huston, Charles Irvin, Kristin Beinner James, Pamela Jorden, Savannah Kingsley Smith, Janet Klein & Robert Loveless, John Knuth, Alison Kudlow, Tessa Laird, Brianne Latthitham, Cathy Lightfoot, Kristi Lippire, David Lloyd, Karen Lofgren, LuLu LoLo, Omar Lopex, Marne Lucas, Randi Malkin Steinberger, Daphne Mangin, Luiga Martelloni, Alexis Mendez, Rebecca Niederlander, Chris Oliveria, John Orvis, Adrian Paules, Adria Pauli, Terri Phillips, Pat Pickett, Norah Plum, Linda Pollack, Olivia Primé, Stephanie Pryor, Steven Rimlinger, Rebecca Ripple, Jennifer Rochlin, Marcella Ruble, Ed Ruscha, Amy Russell, Ander Sanborn, Esteban Schimpf, Julia Schwartz, Danny Shain, Susan Silton, Mike Slack, Joe Sola, George Stoll, William Stone, Paula Tiberius, Dani Tull, Gabriela Tollman, Spike Dolomite Ward, Nicki Wicker, Alexandra Wiesenfeld, Saskia Wilson-Brown & Micah Hahn, Bobbi Woods, Austin Young.

More information can be found here. Read more about the project in LA Weekly, and about the exhibition in NY Magazine. 

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Launch Party for "Cipher #1"

June 12, 2014

Co-editors Glenn Kaino and Sue Bell Yank hosted the launch of Cipher #1, a “zine on Art, Systems of Commerce, and Shoes, at ForYourArt. Issue #1 of the publication featured artwork by Theaster Gates, Gabriel Kuri, and Aaron Sandnes; and essays by Neil Brenner, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Luis Jacob, and Nato Thompson. An experiment with art and commerce, the freely-distributed zine was funded by the profits from shoes designed by Rich Confinco. 

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(en)Gendered (in)Equity: The Gallery Tally Poster Project

March 29–April 25, 2014

ForYourArt presented an exhibition of Los Angeles-based artist Micol Hebron’s 

collaborative poster project (en)Gendered (in)Equity: The Gallery Tally Poster Project at 6020 Wilshire Blvd. from March 29–April 25, 2014. Timed to open during Women’s History Month, the exhibition featured over 300 posters, each created by a different artist, representing the gender ratios at top Los Angeles and New York galleries. 

(en)Gendered (in)Equity or “Gallery Tally” is a crowd-sourced, social engagement art project in which 360+ artists from around the world have joined the effort to collect and visualize statistical data regarding ratios of male and female artists in top contemporary art galleries. Artists were invited to make one poster for each gallery, in whatever style or medium they chose. All posters are 24” x 36”. 

While it is a common assumption that there is a male-biased imbalance in gender representation in the art world, the data for galleries–the actual numbers of artists–have not been visualized and publicized since the Guerrilla Girls’ efforts in the 1980s. The Gallery Tally follows a strategically collaborative working model that has been common among feminists and activists for decades. 

Having started in Los Angeles, the project is now in its second phase, focusing on galleries in New York. Subsequent visualizations will include Berlin, London, Chicago, Santa Fe, Portland, Pittsburg, and other cities. www.gallerytally.tumblr.com

There were multiple programs accompanying the exhibition, including; an opening reception on March 29th; Free Feminist Water! for CicLAvia on April 6th, where ForYourArt and Hebron set up a water station outside 6020 Wilshire Blvd. for bikers to refill their reusable water containers and pick up a sticker featuring one of the 300 posters in (en)Gendered (in)Equity; a data collection party on April 7th where the Gallery Tally project is expanded its research to include figures on art world representation of people of color and members of the LGBTQ community and to assess the gender gap in BFA and MFA students, university professors, arts administrators, and more; and lastly, a Poster Making Workshop on April 12th where guests were invited to make posters to be included in the project. 

Participating Artists Include: 

Edith Abeyta, Karen Adelman, K Alexy, Safi Alia Shabaik, Ashley Aliprandi, Stephanie Allespach, Caesar Alzate, Melissa Ann Lambert, Mary Anna Pomonis, Jonathan Apgar, Nicholas Arehart, Carmen Argote, Josh Aster, Felicia Baca, Shannon Badiee, Pamela Bailey Lewis, Malado Baldwin, Nancy Bea Miller, Jonas Becker, Jackie Bell, Jacqueline Bell Johnson, Lili Bernard, Andrea Bersaglieri, Monica Beyon, Debra Bianculli, Andrea Bowers, Kristen Bradford, Ashley Bravin, Shaktima Brien, Emily Bukowski, Charity Burnett, Patricia Burns, Xtine Burrough, Kristin Calabrese, Diane Calder, Carolyn Campbell, Michelle Carla Handel, Laura Carlson, Jennifer Celio, Krista Chael, Audrey Chan, Prof Charmaine, Carol Cheh, Sapira Cheuk, Craig Cleveland, Colomba Cruz Elton, Elizabeth Decker, Michael Dee, Corazon Del Sol, Sally Deskins, Cara Despain, Mark Dutcher, Lorien Eck, Ken Ehrlich, Diana-Sofia Estrada, McLean Fahnestock, Krista Feld, Samantha Fields, Megan Flanders, Robert Fontenot, Charmaine, Freesoul Phipps, April Friges, Megan Geckler, Yvette Gellis, Mira Gerard, Nimah Gobir, Alexandra Grant, Kio Griffith, Katie Grip, Anna Gun, McGunn Media, Maya Gurantz, Walt Hall, Kelsey Hart, Clarity Haynes, Micol Hebron, Siobhan Hebron, Tiernan Hebron, Katie Herzog, Robin Hextrum, Davettia Hill, Kate Hoffman, Marc Horowitz, Jenée Jernigan, Denise Johnson, Marjan K Vayghan, Bridget Kane, Annetta Kapon, Hannah Karsen, Niku Kashef, Dawn Kasper, Ellina Kevorkian, Kohl King, Lenka Konapasek, Kate Kretz, Andrea LaHue, Karin Lanzoni, Janne Larsen, Laura Larson, Adam Lee, Elizabeth Leister, Dan Levenson, Karin Lindberg Freda, Susan Lizotte, Sofia Londono, Mara Lonner, Coco Lopez, Kristy Lovich, Rebecca Lowry, Madeline Lucas, Liz Luisada, L Lynnxe, Lauri Lynnxe Murphy, Maureen Macomber, Elana Mann, Sarah Manuwal, Leigh McCarthy, Danielle McCullough, Maura McHugh, Matthew McMilon, Christina McPhee, Jason Metcalf, Barbara Milliorn, Lorraine Molina, Bettina Monique, Alex Moore, Oscar Moreno, Katie Murphy, Karyl Newman, Theo Niarchos, Rebecca Niederlander, Mira O'Brien, Julie Orser, Lisa Oxley, Melanie Pak, Claudia Parducci, Carolin Peters, Calvin Phelps, Leslie Pippen, Emily Plewe, Alexander Pohnert, Gala Porras Kim, Jessica Posner, Serena Potter, Lauren Potts, Ali Prosch, Dominic Quagliozzi, Allison Rask, Rebecca Rau, Linda Ravenswood, Ingrid Reeve, Cindy Rehm, Juliana Rico, Christy Roberts, Honey Rococo, Rachelle Rojany, Julie Russo, Liz Rywelski, Shalini Sanjay Patel, Ryley Schlacter, Margie Schnibbe, Evan Senn, Jennifer Seo, Kiki Seror, Roxi Sharif, Molly Shea, Kate Sikorski, A.I. Sine, Susanne Slavick, Rory Sloan, Sydney Snyder, Mariangeles Soto Diaz, Joni Spigler, Madeline Stone, Astri Swendsrud, Hinder Swill, Andrew Thompson, Kelly Thompson, Janice Tieken, Rebecca Trawick, Elizabeth Tremante, Dylan Trumbull, Jessica Tully, Jenzyca Velasquez, Katie Vida, Fernando Villena, Sydney Walters, Susan Weber, Cory Weeks, Annie Wharton, Jessica Wimbley, Goody-B Wiseman, Ginger Wolfe Suarez, Antonia Wright, Casey Wyman, Ladan Yalzadeh, Chie Yamayoshi, Alisa Yang, Meital Yaniv, Meital Yaniv, Austin Young, Ethan Young, and Carrie Yury. List in formation. 

Find out more about this project on Style.com, CicLAvia, and KCET. 

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Photo Op: art to pose with, by ForYourArt

July 19 - August 24, 2013

ForYourArt hosted Photo Op: art to pose with, an interactive exhibition reflecting FYA’s spirit of encouraging engagement and play, while offering photo opportunities. In one room, artworks were presented to either be picked up, put on, stood with, framed and (in all cases) pictured with.

The artists involved embraced the camera and make art geared towards it. Including works by Akina Cox, Michael Decker, Joel Kyack, Alex Miller, Lisa Sitko, amy von Harrington and organized by Alex Miller. All artworks in the show were incomplete until the audience collaborated.

Artists were asked them to either create or use an existing work that applies to the prompt: artwork to pose with in a photograph. This show was an experiment in two levels of participation: artist and audience. The audience was encouraged to tag photos: #photoopart; all photos tagged may be viewed at photoopart.tumblr.com.

Artists and artworks: Lisa Anne Auerbach and Joel Kyack, Plastic Glock, 2013 A replica of a 9mm Glock created originally for use in film.

Akina Cox, Magical hat, 2011, raffia An opportunity to hide from the camera in a hat sized to cover the entire artist. Michael Decker, Untitled, 2013, t-shirts A backdrop of stitched shirts with images on them.

Alex Miller, Hand Glove, 2013, ceramic and Mouth Piece, 2012, ceramic An opportunity to have oversized body parts.

Brian Roettinger and Zen Sekizawa, I Thought You Were Thinking the Whole Time,  2013, video on loop An uncommitted look.

Lisa Sitko, Trans... 2013, 2013, vinyl and acrylic paint A combination of the Google image searches for Charles Ray’s Fall ‘91 (an eight foot tall mannequin wearing the power suit of her time that is “activated” when someone stands next to her) and Patrick Nagel’s prints (images of a woman staring directly at you) into something familiar and yet new.  She becomes trans....

Amy Von Harrington, Dirty Designer Genetalia on Trampoline, 2018 An opportunity to put on and bounce with genetalia.

See more photos here.

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ForYourArt At CicLAvia: Iconic Wilshire Boulevard

June 30, 2013

ForYourArt presented temporary installations by Ben Jones and Ruben Ochoa to celebrate the fifth incarnation of CicLAvia, an event that temporarily removes cars from L.A. streets, for people to walk, skate, play and ride a bike.

Jones’s piece, Window ForYourArt 1, overtly referenced Georges-Pierre Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, a scene that represented a new kind of modern leisure in Europe. Ochoa’s Dancing POPOS were presented outside of the space on Wilshire Blvd. These “air dancers” (like one would find at a car wash) dressed as police officers were inspired by Chris Burden’s L.A.P.D. Uniform in LACMA’s collection.

Pedestrians and cyclists stopped along the way to take pictures with the Dancing POPOs, FYA's window, and volunteers holding signs created for the day. Participants were encouraged to tag pictures #ForYourArt and #CicLAvia allowing FYA to share the best snapshots from the event.

Special thanks to Jamy Li, and Hania Rouhani, Maritza Lerman Yoes.

Read the ForYourArt At CicLAvia press release here.

Ben Jones, Window ForYourArt 1

Ruben Ochoa, Dancing POPOs

See more photos here.

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John Baldessari: Crowds

May 18, 2013

“ForYourArt is special and unique because it is a neutral space.” -John Baldessari

ForYourArt hosted a presentation of Mixografia‘s latest collaboration with John Baldessari along with previous collaborative works, including A B C Art (Low Relief): A/Ant, Etc. (Keyboard), 2009. Over the past 18 years Baldessari has utilized the Mixografia printing technique to play with notions of texture, color and subject, first in his 2-dimentional deployment of a common table lamp and, later, emphasizing volume through paper relief and 3-dimensional sculpture.

This show's featured series, Crowds with Shape of Reason Missing: Examples 1-6, 2012, examines the idea of removing the predominant subject of an image and replacing it with a nondescript white form. For this project, Baldessari chose vintage movie stills that seem at once recognizable and yet unfamiliar and in altering them created images that now raise more questions than they answer.

Read the John Baldessari: Crowds press release here.

The show was featured in The Guide on Los Angeles Magazine's website.

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UC Irvine presents MFA 2013 Thesis Exhibition

June 26 - July 10, 2013

ForYourArt hosted UCI MFA 2013 presented by the Department of Art at UC Irvine. The graduates created a compilation of their solo thesis exhibitions, presenting nine portholes into contemporary interdisciplinary practice. The work exhibited included political and poetic abstractions, theatrical video installations, critical monuments, and documentation of performance. An opening reception was held for the artists on June 29.

Work by Lindsay August-Salazar, Andy J. Brown, Todd Bura, Nicole Capps, Yaron Michael Hakim, Kuan Hwa, Alexandra Pacheco Garcia, Cassie Riger, and Martabel Wasserman.

See more photos here.

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18th Street Arts Center Presents Interior Forest Fundraiser

June 20-22, 2013

ForYourArt hosted a fundraiser for artist Alexandra Grant’s Interior Forest project. Tree drawings by over 100 artists were included in the preview exhibition and priced at $250. Jewelry and accessories by grantLOVE and BZIPPY were sold at a pop-up shop within the exhibition space.

A live auction led by Daniel French of Las Cafeteras included sculptures by Lita Albuquerque, Channing Hansen, Tina Linville & Annelie McKenzie, and Bari Ziperstein as well as a signed copy of Philippines by Hélène Cixous.

The culminating party featured tree-themed treats by Peddler’s Creamery, chocolate leaves by Frances Garretson, and refreshments from Linden Wit and Piny IPA.

The fundraiser continues with tree drawings for sale on the Forêt Intérieure/Interior Forest website.

Host committee: Janine Arbelaez, Adelaide Barbier, Nancy Berman, Leonardo Bravo, Juan Devis, Charlotte Eyerman, Jessica Fleischmann, Eugénie Frémiot, Miguel Hernandez, Marla Koosed, Bettina Korek, Isabelle Le Normand, Robert Nashak, Yann Perreau, Alma Ruiz, Roberto Sheinberg, Pilar Tompkins Rivas, and Jan Williamson

Contributing artists: Luciana Abait, Scoli Acosta, Carmen Argote, Shagha Ariannia, Deborah Aschheim, Joshua Aster, Karen Atkinson, Katie Bachler, Elena Bajo, Raul Paulino Baltazar, Juliette Bellocq, Leon Benn, Mattia Biagi, Andrea Bowers, Anita Bunn, Kristin Calabrese, Carolyn Castaño, Audrey Chan, York Chang, Angel Chen, Ross Chisholm, Helen Chung, Dorit Cypis, Wanda Decca, Sam Durant, Julia Dzwonkoski & Kye Potter, David Earle, Jonmarc Edwards, Patricia Fernandez, Cayetano Ferrer, Samantha Fields, Frances Garretson, Christiane Georgi, Chiara Giovando, Alexandra Grant, Audra Graziano, Mark Steven Greenfield, Sherin Guirguis, Nathalie Harvey, Deborah Hede, David Hendren, Roger Herman, Katie Herzog, Violet Hopkins, Jeanette Horn, Bettina Hubby, Salomón Huerta, Aska Irie, Ichiro Irie, Charles Irvin, Vishal Jugdeo, Siri Kaur, Francisco Larios, Jim Lee, Nery Gabriel Lemus, Mark Licari, Galia Linn, Kristi Lippire, Mara Lonner, Richard Louderback, Ben Love, Elana Mann, Anna Mayer, Yassi Mazandi, Rebeca Mendez, Maggie Miller, John Mills, Dave Muller, Warren Neidich, Karyl Newman, Larissa Nickel, Christine Nguyen, John David O’Brien, Alison O’Daniel, Mary Eileen O’Donnell, Christina Ondrus, Cathy Opie, Stas Orlavski, Nate Page, Laura Pardini, Renee Petropoulos, Mary Anna Pomonis, Lauralee Pope, Gala Porras Kim, Max Presneill, Cindy Rehm, Steve Roden, Jeanne Roderick, Yvette Roman, Dan Rothenberg, Trinidad Ruiz, Robert Russell, Aaron Sandnes, Amy Sarkisian, Kim Schoen, Kim Schoenstadt, Pauline Shaw, Becca Shewmake, Catherine Shores, Marie Thibeault, David Tomb, Elizabeth Tremante, Shirley Tse, Patssi Valdez, Florian Viel, Leora Wien, Sarah Williams, Peter Wu, Florian Viel, Pae White, Meital Yaniv, Jody Zellen, Alexis Zoto and many more.

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Otis Presents A Mess and a Pleasure

April 27 - May 11, 2013

A Mess and a Pleasure: Practicing in Public, Exhibition and Events

Otis College of Art & Design and ForYourArt presented Practicing in Public, an exhibition held for Otis MFA Public Practice graduates including Raul Paulino Baltazar, Alexandra Cantle, Teresa Flores, Silvia Juliana Mantilla Ortiz, Tamarind Rossetti, Susan Slade, Rory Sloan and Xiaotong Zhuang. The Graduate Public Practice program is lead by Suzanne Lacy. Read Sue Bell Yank's essay written on the occasion here.

The works in Practicing in Public explored the relationship between spaces of communities and spaces of art in a wide range of media and topics. The graduate students worked toward envisioning an art practice that reaches outside of the gallery to comment upon, or engage with, new public(s) for art. The closing reception welcomed special guests Sammy Hoi and Lucy Lippard.

Events presented in conjunction with the exhibition included a myth-making workshop, a dream group, a workshop on envisioning new uses for alleys, a conversation and art critique by and with Chinese international students, and a Highway 99 pit stop video screening. In addition, Los Angeles-based photographer Susan Slade Sanchez offered complimentary portraits for LGBTQ couples.

A reception was also held for Collective Situations: Readings in Contemporary Latin American Art 1995-2010, a discussion part of Social Practice in Questions…, the culmination of Bill Kelley Jr.'s residency at 18th Street Art Center with invited guest speakers María Fernanda Cartagena, Caleb Duarte, Grant Kester, Suzanne Lacy, and Stephen Wright.

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Around the Clock: DONUTS & CLOCKS with Dawn Kasper By ForYourArt

April 20-21, 2013

In conjunction with the 24-hour screening of Christian Marclay’s The Clock at LACMA, ForYourArt presented a 24-hour durational performance installation with Los Angeles based artist Dawn Kasper. The event also featured artist-made donuts, karaoke, and an open call exhibition of 100 clocks for the entire 24-hour period.

Handmade donuts were provided by Eden's Herbals Saturday from 12-4pm and Sunday from 9am-12pm with Bob's Donuts served all day. Activities throughout the 24 hours included drawing and coloring, a musical performance by LA Fog, and YouYube video viewing. The event was broadcast and streamed live by KCHUNG, listen here.

“Kasper reminds audiences that art should never be safe and, to be truly transformative, it must endeavor to take real risks.” Read this entire profile on Kasper from Interview Magazine here.

View the postcard designed for the event here.

Learn about the first Around the Clock: 24 Hour Donut City and Around the Clock: 24 Hour Donut City II.

See more event photos here.

View all of the artist-made clocks:

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ForYourArt For Ceci n'est pas - DIALOGUES: Art/Architecture, Paris/Los Angeles Exhibition

April 2, 2013

Organized by Francois Perrin, this exhibition portion of DIALOGUES Art/Architecture Paris/Los Angeles focused on media key to both art and architectural practices, as well as videos, books, catalogues and posters that allow the public to become familiar with the careers of the thirty participants. The exhibition also included audio selections from panel discussions at the MAK Center that comprised the first phase of the project. ForYourArt hosted the opening reception for DIALOGUES.

Throughout the exhibition, special events included a presentation of the publication and a panel discussion of Dialogues: Art and Architecture Between Paris and Los Angeles was held which included Barbara Bestor, Claude Collins-Stracensky, Vincent Lamouroux, Dorothee Perret, Marie Pejus and moderated by Mimi Zeiger. The program was part of Ceci n'est pas...Art between France and Los Angeles, a five-month long art and cultural exchange.

DIALOGUES contributors include: Doug Aitken, Berdaguer/Pejus, Barbara Bestor, Claude Collins-Stracensky, Dahlqvist/Hommert, Escher/Gunewardena, Didier Faustino, Yona Friedman, Cyprien Gaillard, Fritz Haeg, Piero Golia, Ibai Hernandorena, Marie Jager, Alice Konitz, Vincent Lamouroux, Won Ju Lim, Tom Marble,  Claude Parent, Francois Perrin, Ivette Soler, Linda Taalman, Oscar Tuazon, Xavier Veilhan, Eric Wesley, Pae White and Peter Zellner.

Image: Vincent Lamouroux

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LACE and Phaidon Present Art and Queer Culture Book Launch

March 29, 2013

Presented by LACE, Phaidon, and ForYourArt, this book launch celebrated Catherine Lord and Richard Meyer’s new work Art and Queer Culture. Spanning 125 years, Art and Queer Culture is the first major historical survey to consider the ways in which the codes and cultures of homosexuality have provided a creative resource for visual artists. The book includes scrapbooks, amateur artworks, cartoons, bar murals, anonymous photographs, activist posters along with paintings, sculptures, art photographs and video installations.

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Artis Presents Dana Yahalomi of Public Movement

March 27, 2013

Artis presented a lecture by Dana Yahalomi, leader of artist group Public Movement, a performative research body that investigates and stages political actions in public spaces. Public Movement studies and creates public choreographies, forms of social order, and overt and covert rituals. Their actions include synchronized procedures of movement, new folk dances, spectacles, marches, and inventing and reenacting moments in the lives of individuals, communities, social institutions, peoples, states, and of humanity.

In her lecture, Yahalomi presented key strategies developed by the movement alongside examples of previous actions. The lecture focused on the group's recent actions in New York, Tel Aviv, and Heidelberg, Germany. It concluded with a discussion on the 2012 project SALONS: Birthright Palestine?, co-commissioned by the New Museum and Artis, which used the phenomenon of Birthright Israel trips to raise questions about nationality and heritage, as well as about the politics of tourism and branding. In this project, different publics presented and debated related questions and issues that would inform, affirm and/or oppose the proposal to initiate a Birthright Palestine program.

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In the Good Name of the Company

February 23, 2013

 ForYourArt

presented an exhibition of works produced by or with the Colby Poster Printing Company, curated by Jan Tumlir, with Christopher Michlig and Brian Roettinger. 

In the Good Name of the Company

 presented works by Kathryn Andrews, Scott Benzel, Peter Coffin, Sam Durant, Eve Fowler, Emilie Halpern, Imprenta, Simon Johnston, Christopher Michlig, Brian Roettinger, Allen Ruppersberg, Ed Ruscha, and many more alongside a representative selection of posters from Colby’s own archive.

Typically employed to promote neighborhood events such as street fairs, small-scale musical concerts and the like, they would find a new clientele when Ed Ruscha contracted a rival company in 1962 to produce the announcement for the exhibition New Paintings of Common Objects at the Pasadena Art Museum. Since then, the Colby Poster Printing Company has gone on to serve as an important resource to a broad range of LA-based artists, from Allen Ruppersberg (who transcribed Allen Ginsberg’s Howl onto Colby posters in 2003) to Eve Fowler (who did much the same with Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons in 2012).

Colby has provided artists with a means to escape the confines of the studio or the white cube. Instead, through the poster medium, artists could engage the life of the street. As such, their posters became a form of public art perfectly suited to the LA context with its inherent transience and disposability. In one way or another, the artists featured in this exhibition have used the poster as a means to shape our experience of the street and the city. 

March 22 Black Light Night was a special event for the closing of In the Good Name of the Company. For the evening, the exhibition was lit only by black lights and featured a listening party for Scott Benzel's accompanying sound piece, String Quartet No. 2., a four-channel sound installation. 

The quartet is based on field recordings of street sounds found around Los Angeles–the sounds of car alarms, helicopters, the Metro Rail, pedestrian crossings, and traffic–and structured loosely after Morton Feldman's String Quartet Number 2.  It debuted at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis in 2011. In the Good Name of the Company was its Los Angeles debut. 

About the Colby Poster Printing Company

The Los Angeles based Colby Poster Printing Company has long been a friend to local artists. Their fluorescent posters have been disseminated on every available high-traffic-adjacent surface in the city. Their extensive collection of over 150 wood and metal typefaces, usually bold and generally san serif, are by now an integral part of the visual aesthetic of Los Angeles. Throughout the years, posters promoting everything from west coast punk and heavy metal concerts in the 1980s to swap meets, street fairs, gun and bridal shows, local political campaigns, and too many artist projects to mention have been printed on Colby’s restless Heidelberg letterset press. A family owned and operated union print shop since 1948, the Colby Poster Printing Company closed its doors forever on December 31, 2012.

Read Jan Tumler's essay to find out more about the Colby Poster Printing Company.

Read Remembering Colby Poster Printing Company on Los Angeles I'm Yours.

Read KCET's article Colby Printing: Rainbow Posters on Every Corner.

Read the LA Currents article Armchair Critic: More Than Words in LA.

See more photos of the exhibition and opening here and additional selected posters here.

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ForYourArt For The Banana Love Collection by Lisa

February 8-10, 2013, ongoing

The objects we use, consume, hold and surround ourselves with.

The histories we use, consume, hold and surround ourselves with.

The icons we use, consume, hold and surround ourselves with.

And for a limited time

The Banana Love Collection we can use, consume, hold and surround ourselves with.

Just in time for the holiday of love, artist

Lisa Sitko

created a limited edition collection for the ForYourArt activity space.

The Banana Love Collection by Lisa

 is an ongoing collaboration between ForYourArt and Lisa Sitko which plays with the fertility symbol of the banana in relation to everyday objects – in a fruitful way. A social media

engagement campaign

was created to promote the collection.

The opening for the collection featured a full line of banana-themed products installed in the space and available for trying on; including a fanny pack, bag, hammock, pipe, dildo and body pillow, as well as real banana alongside a chocolate fountain for dipping.   View the catalogue and purchase items online

here

.

See more photos here.

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Courtesy Presents Ma Prochaine Vie

January 22, 2013

Ma Prochaine Vie

Courtesy, the new roaming art gallery conceived by Paris-based curator Isabelle Le Normand, unveiled its 10-day inaugural show in Los Angeles with events at three locations throughout the city. The show, Ma Prochaine Vie, featured over forty artists including Scoli Acosta, Michel Blazy, Zoe Crosher, and Jennifer West.

Ma Prochaine Vie reflected the sprawling nature of Los Angeles with three distinct locations. Artworks were featured at the gallery Here is Elsewhere, the home of collector and artist Danny First, and at ForYourArt's 6020 Wilshire Blvd. space.