Columnists
Meet the minds who make Artbound great. Our columnists span the 11 counties of Southern and Central California. They are authors, writers, artists, curators, rebels, dreamers, musicians, academics, poets and more. The common thread? Love of art and the words to make it come to life.
The story of Prometheus' stubborn, irrational resistance to tyranny and his allegiance with the weak and unfortunate reach across time.
Public Matters encourages productive outcomes from the meeting of two sets of otherwise contrary institutional logics: that of the market and of the social movement.
Los Angeles was once a community of exiled artists and intellectuals. Best-selling author Lion Feuchtwanger served as a cultural link between continents and altered L.A.'s cultural landscape.
LACMA9 Art + Film Lab recounts the projects' five-week residence in Perris Hill Park, and the stories of community that unfolded.
Independent Shakespeare Co.'s multi-faceted Master Carpenter Todd Pate conjures up a different path for Macbeth and for himself.
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Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio will perform "One Hundred Mules Walking the Los Angeles Aqueduct," a commemorative artist action to connect Los Angeles to its water supply.
Rafa Esparza's performance art is deeply intimate and political; it merges with his audience to form a community response to violence against people of color.
An excerpt from Evelyn McDonnell's new book "Queens of Noise," a biography on the band The Runaways.
When a man dies hanging from a tree, is that tree an accessory to the act or a witness? The multiple second lives of the frontier "hang tree" reveal something unsettling about the Golden State.
Independent Shakespeare Co. presents a behind the scenes look into the presentation of the amoral Witches.
Los Angeles has solidified its place as an incubator for arts and culture, but how can it maintain its creative fuel into the future?
Lone Pine film historian Christopher Langley discusses working with Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio on the project AgH20.
LACMA's mobile educational initiative, the LACMA9 Art + Film Lab, reports on their first city run in Redlands.
Artistic Director Melissa Chalsma divulges the inspiration and unintended effects of an interactive art piece created for Macbeth: The Nightmare Floor.
Lilybeth Hernandez has worn avocado costumes in parades and participated in "veggie fashion shows," all to promote public health and fight food deserts across East L.A.
Actor Luis Galindo discusses the challenges of playing the title role of Macbeth in this summer's Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival.
Neighborhood change is incremental until it isn't. In a city as diffuse as Los Angeles, it can be hard to spot, unless you know the signposts to look for.
Designer Michael Schmidt, who has designed elaborate tour costumes for Lady Gaga and Rhianna, debuted the world's first fully articulated 3D printed dress.
Fabian Debora paints like many latter-day Chicano artists, employing visual irony to address wider themes only tangentially related to traditional barrio concerns.
MOCAtv and curator Bryan Ray Turcotte present "The Art of Punk" about the stories of inspiration and creation of such iconic punk symbols and sleeves from the Punk Scene.
Frederick Fisher takes a practical approach to architecture, a restraint that belies his early years working alongside Frank Gehry's expanding architectural vocabulary and flourishing fame.
The California Museum of Photography's exhibition, "Geographies of Detention: From Guantánamo to the Golden Gulag," merges art and activism, exposing the realities of U.S. prison systems through visual form.
Long Beach Opera mounts works even avid opera fans probably haven't seen, and often in locations no one else would peg as an opera venue.
Raymond Chandler's brand of California noir is so down and so dark that it's positively inspiring and elevating.
As the cultural map of music making continues shifting in East L.A., Chicano Batman has become the sound of local Latino music in the 21st century.
Longtime radio host Sergio Mielniczenko talks about his 35 years on air and the future of Brazilian music.
Due to its unconventional construction, new scientific methods are being used to repair and stabilize the Watts Towers.
Koos Café of Santa Ana was an all-ages unconventional music/art space, and all around safe-haven for Orange County youth.
A recap of all of the performances from Songs in the Key of Los Angeles, bringing to life long-archived sheet music within the L.A. Public Library.
The cast of the avant-garde production "Prometheus Bound" at the Getty Villa perform on a five ton, 23-foot tall revolving circular steel structure.
Valley Days offers employment and training programs serving entertainment industry professionals in need of financial, career, and emotional guidance.
Filmmakers Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari are creating haunting portraits of California residents in a series of web videos called "California Is a Place."
Disco music was a space of reconciliation for many black homosexuals who experienced the Christian church as a site of violence and alienation.
The writer meditates on Alexandra Grant's "Fôret Interieure/Interior Forest" and introduces an original work of fiction around the central theme of the exhibition, the "perfect other."
Southern Californians live in the epicenter of much of what's happening in video games today and Eddo Stern is one of the leading forces shaping gaming's future.
the wulf. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting experimental music and arts in L.A.'s Arts District.
It is a little-known fact that some of the silver and chemicals to produce the films that made Hollywood the global center of the movie industry were extracted from the Owens Valley.
The work of writer/artist Jibade-Khalil Huffman addresses the age-old human condition within our modern social structure.
Public Matters performs extended, life as art "residencies" in and with communities; they disrupt the participant-observer paradigm by becoming participant-stakeholders.
Visual artist, Jaime "Germs" Zacarias takes inspiration from religious iconography, lucha libre, and the city of Los Angeles to create his signature tentacle-filled works.
The selection of ten members of the L.A. Phil's Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) for the Discover Dudamel Orchestra proves that that the social activism side of YOLA -- the part that says music has the power to transform lives -- is working.
The performance art of Ron Athey is rooted in the pageantry of charismatic preachers like The Foursquare Church's Aimee Semple. He performs "Incorruptible Flesh: Messianic Remains" on July 10th at Human Resources in L.A.
Four Trisha Brown site-specific performances, including "Man Walking" and "Roof Piece," were performed around Los Angeles this past weekend.
Can you bring a work to an audience instead of an audience to the work? Using a 1961 Oasis trailer, Heidi Duckler is taking advantage of the sprawling seismic mobile climate of L.A. to connect private and public space through performance.
Proyecto MercadoFRESCO is trying to shift the cultural perception of the corner store from public health blight to community resource.
The "Liminal Camera," housed in a traveling shipping container, is both a one-of-a-kind camera and serves as its own photo processing center and storage facility.
Brian Bress dismantles the distinctions between drawing, painting, video, and object through his fusion of language, image, the non-sequitur, and the meaningful.
Peter Zellner's homes appeal to a younger generation of homeowners -- the same hip Tijuaneros who are driving the city's resurgent food and art scene.
Lauren Bon's "Liminal Camera," comprised of a repurposed shipping container mounted on the back of a truck, captures the dessicated Owens Lake in large-scale photographs.
New York artist Michael Smith inserts his two recurring characters -- Mike and Baby Ikki -- into particular scenarios, either real or constructed, in ways that can be seen as responses to broader issues in contemporary society.
After participating in the Incendiary Traces visit to the 29 Palms Marine Base, writer David Buuck contributes an excerpt from a novel about role players in a military training scenario.
Thank You for Coming is a restaurant that is also an artist residency space that encompasses the worlds of sustainable farming, cooperative living, community-based activism, fine art, and design.
The Los Angeles Unified School District Art and Archive Collection houses precious works of art and artifacts that were gifted over the span of 150 years.
The towns in the eastern side of the Coachella Valley have long utilized romanticized portrayals of the Middle East to shape views of their own desert backyard.
Arts for LA presents a nonpartisan candidate survey which seeks to initiate public dialogue about the role arts and culture play in building communities.
How does modern war mark the California landscape? A single day's photographic record produced on the Southern California coast offers one compelling answer.
David Taylor set out to photograph each of the 276 obelisks installed by the International Boundary Commission following the Mexican/American War.
Synthpop band, Fol Chen, performs experiments that involve inviting non-band members and non-musicians into their music-making process.
Noticed by major art publications, Tiny Creatures changed the possibilities of what an art space could be in Echo Park.
The Watts Village Theater Company, the only arts organization that regularly produces live theater in Watts, speaks to the greater L.A. and U.S. community through themes shaped by the Watts experience.
Incendiary Traces led a recent draw-in at the 29 Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center where participants used drawing as a tool for connecting the SoCal landscape to foreign battle zones.
Artist Adam Silverman discusses the inspiration behind his creation of new pots and sculptures that are currently on view at the Edward Cella Gallery through December 29.
Photographer Kevin McCollister captures the beauty of L.A.'s lonelier, hidden contours.
Melrose Avenue has served as a center for local graffiti artists, including MEAR ONE, AXIS, DYTCH, and LYNK, since the 1980s.
Artist Wangechi Mutu's recent work is inspired by Kenyan folk tales and her reflection on the exile and alienation brought about by her unresolved visa status.
A selection of polaroids by Andy Warhol are on display at The Luckman Gallery. The exhibition emphasizes the labor involved in the production of the artist's work.
The Glendale Narrows, the three mile soft bottom stretch of the L.A. River, is subject to conflicting agendas from river advocates, private enterprise, and government agencies.
For more than half a century, the Colby Poster Printing Company located in the Pico-Union neighborhood has been churning out the posters seen across Southern California.
Spaces In-Between is a community led project intended to advance broader participation in public discourse.
"Crossfader Playlist" features a sampler of the blog posts, essays, and digital riffs of Tijuana writer Rafa Saavedra. The third installment of an excerpt from Josh Kun and Fiamma Montezemolo's upcoming anthology, Tijuana Dreaming: Art and Life at the Global Border.
Despite OCMA's credentials, many have been hesitant to hear the region's voice in the modern and contemporary art conversation. The museum wants to change that with its 50th anniversary capstone showcase.
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"We Are Talking Pyramids", a public art project, gave young artists the opportunity to work with leaders in many contemporary art fields, opening up their worlds to art forms they had never before encountered.
Art historian Jason Weems examines three mid-century constructions understood as staples of the California landscape: Disneyland, Lakewood, and the aerospace industry.
In the face of budget cuts to arts education in the LAUSD, Abe Flores of Arts for L.A. argues that advocacy for arts education is advocacy for a complete 21st century education.
Ted Meyer's "Scarred for Life" series takes mono-prints directly off the skin of models who were scarred by an illness or injury.
Ruth Wallach examines hand-drawn sketches of mid-20th century Modern architecture in Southern California, an art form preserved in the archives of the Helen Topping Architecture and Fine Arts Library at USC.
SOC(i)AL: Art + People investigates the precarity of workers in our current economy, the relationship of the university to activism, manifestations of art in politics, and the future of Occupy.
Artists Michelle Dizon and Gina Osterloh both create works based on their Filipino heritage. Artbound explores the nexus of their art, in this poetic rumination on identity, environment, and water.
The Re/Collecting Project aims to share the cultural history of the Filipino community emanating from different perspectives and nontraditional formats.
Georgia Jeffries tells the story behind a family heirloom: a handsome weapon that was once in the possession of Tiburcio Vasquez, an infamous California bandito.
KUSC Interactive creates digital platforms, stories, and experiences for web, mobile, and other forms of interactive media.
Artists Chiara Giovando and Alexandra Grant discuss collaboration, temporary works, and the economics and ethics of participatory art projects.
To trace the trajectory of Southern California art, Artbound is creating a collective timeline comprised of the decisive events that shaped artists' creative development. Today we talk to Los Angeles artist David Weidman.
Artist Steve Rowell assembles a video piece documenting Johnston Island's past. Located 800 miles west of Hawaii, the site was transformed after numerous high altitude nuclear test launches during the 1960s and 70s.
Los Angeles is currently home to a rare constellation of origami projects; one could say that we are experiencing an "origami moment."
A brief history of rockabilly in Los Angeles, a full-fledged regional phenomenon with thousands of aficionados ranging from casual observers to diehard fanatics -- and many are Latinos.
Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre's mobile "Duck Truck" brings site-specific performances to various locations in Los Angeles.
To trace the trajectory of Southern California art, Artbound is creating a collective timeline comprised of the decisive events that shaped artists' creative development. Today, we talk to Los Angeles artist Cristian "SMEAR" Gheorghiu.
The Craft and Folk Art Museum has been covered in 15,000 handmade "granny squares" by Yarn Bombing Los Angeles and square-makers from the U.S. and abroad.
For his upcoming performance, Artist Carmen Papalia, who is legally blind, will spend nearly an hour navigating the streets of downtown Santa Ana by the sounds of a marching band alone.
To trace the trajectory of Southern California art, Artbound is creating a collective timeline comprised of the decisive events that shaped artists' creative development. Today we talk to Los Angeles artist Sandow Birk.
The Mt. Wilson observatory will host an experimental art show with photographs, two-dimensional art, and performances and concerts all exploring the relation between man and the universe.
Susanna Newbury examines the history of the U.S./Mexico border and its geopolitical importance to the United States.
Regine Basha examines the role of dissonance in Iraqi Jewish folk songs and its validation of her otherness in a culture where she is often misunderstood.
Tanya Aguiñiga explores "performance crafting," bringing the intimate activity of plein air weaving into the public, thus activating spaces and encouraging contemplation of people's interaction with natural and urban environments.
Noah Purifoy spent the final years of his life in Joshua Tree creating the monumental "Outdoor Desert Art Museum of Assemblage Sculpture" made from tons of discarded materials.
S.A. Griffin's got a bomb...but it's not filled with what you would expect. Take a tour with "The Poetry Bomb" as his 'disruption' bursts in Venice.
L.A. based artist Jessica Rath speaks about what the fruit has to teach us about current food debates, diversity, and our relationship to nature and art.
This week, we take Weekender to Santa Barbara County.
18th Street Arts Center Artist in Residence Leander Djønne's work reflects his interest in the socio-economic power struggles that occur in industrial cities.
Van Nuys Boulevard's Mural Mile is a growing collection of drive-by artwork that add color and life to the neighborhood, created by an informal crew of artists under 30 years-old.
We talk to Mark Allen of Machine Project for the first iteration of our new column "Incubators," which seeks to illuminate the interconnected ecosystem of artistic production often obscured by the high visibility of commercial galleries and large museums.
Tijuana has quietly become an epicenter of avant-garde music in Mexico, with some of the world's most influential music makers eyeing what's happening there.
Since its inception in 1947, the Ojai Music Festival took its place among the pantheon of international festivals for its artistic firsts performed by musical mavericks.
The first Pacific Rim Triennial at the Orange County Museum of Art continues a push to position the O.C. as a significant player in the international art community.
San Luis Obispo shelters a small enclave of artists and architects who have collaborated on designing their homes for artistic expression and production.
The Huntington Library's extra-illustrated books are treasure troves of art, their pages filled with original watercolors, prints, and illustrations from as early as the 18th century.
Echo Park native Dorian Wood, a prolific avant-garde musician and visual artist, believes in offering a truly immersive experience when he performs for an audience.
In his new novel, Rob Roberge continues to mine all that is beautiful and painful in his life as a writer.
In downtown San Diego, a series of recycled and modified steel containers create a temporary structure where art and public culture is presented, produced and embodied. Military drones become muses for local artists.
Balanchine Festival 2013, hosted by the Los Angeles Ballet, celebrates the work of George Balanchine, one of the greatest choreographic masters of all time.
Author Tim Z. Hernandez is revisiting the story of an infamous 1948 plane crash of a plane full of Mexican farm workers en route to Mexico from the Oakland, CA.
What part of human existence should we preserve for future generations? San Diego multimedia artist Michael Trigilio captures the folly of sending messages to the future.
In Palm Springs, the financing of preservation projects is still borne primarily by private investors - individuals wise enough to see how an investment in integrity can also turn a profit.
The Hollywood Fringe is an annual, open-access, community-derived event celebrating freedom of expression and collaboration in the performing arts.
Artbound ventured into the bones of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum for a behind-the-scenes look at the museum in progress.
SOCAL SOCIAL: Art + People is a free, public series of roundtable discussions and weekend events that explores socially engaged art in Southern California from East to West.
LACMA's new educational initiative, the LACMA9 Art + Film Lab, is a traveling interactive installation/event and community space that will visit nine SoCal communities over a 16 month period.
San Francisco photojournalist Candacy Taylor followed her interest in the social dynamics of traditional female work roles to Twentynine Palms and never looked back. Salons and diners are her subjects of choice.
Incendiary Traces reflects on the project to date -- its origins, its varied forms, and its developing focus through these investigations.
Elementary schools in "the Southeast" area of San Diego have implemented innovative arts integration programs that have begun to energize schools in neighborhoods that were once left behind.
The dozen owners of wacky Volkswagen bugs that are part of the sprawling VW Classic in Irvine this weekend probably wouldn't be there if not for Adolf Hitler. The world's most beloved car was shaped in no small fashion by one of the world's most atrocious human beings ever.
David Evans Frantz, curator of exhibitions and projects at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, discusses the value of a queer archive for contemporary artists and community.
The Korean American rapper Dumbfoundead, arguably K-Town's most visible and accomplished MC, speaks about his early days and offers his own guide to Koreatown.
Artists and musicians are reinvigorating Tijuana's historic tourist district by opening small independent, largely self-funded art galleries and spaces.
Frances Anderton examines the role of guns in American culture since Samuel Colt pioneered the assembly line production of firearms in the early 19th century.
Santa Barbara celebrates the restoration of the large rainbow-colored sculpture dedicated to the artists of the town.
"Forêt Intérieure/Interior Forest" is a project by L.A.-based artist Alexandra Grant encompassing a series of public drawing sessions, reading groups, artist collaborations and an installation at 18th Street Arts Center.
Dime Stories filled a need for an open-mike venue in Temecula, a place where writers could get their words heard by an audience.
Photographer and Santa Barbara native Morgan Maassen's career in the surf editorial world is on a meteoric rise.
The 2013 MexiCali Biennial is an exhibition exploring the social and cultural makeup of immigrant communities in East L.A. and Mexicali.
In recent years, San Diego has seen an efflorescence of private homes re-imagined as galleries, music venues, and experimental project spaces.
Arthur Harold Beal spent more than fifty years transforming his homestead into a wild, whimsical folk art environment unlike anything seen on the Central Coast before.
Artists Mark Farina and Matthew Horne converted a radio telescope to absorb the sun's rays, transforming the waves into audible sounds, high-pitched blips to Yoko-esque wails to white noise like the ocean. It's sun music for desert lands.
In her paintings and photographs, artist Diane Best illustrates timeless desert panoramic landscapes of the Mojave.
"Area 51: A Sound Installation" by Venzha Christ is a new site-specific, sound installation at UCR ARTSblock's Culver Center of the Arts.
Midcentury-modern architecture is back in fashion, but what draws the 20- and 30-somethings? Danny Heller, who paints Palm Springs chic in almost photorealistic fashion, explains the attraction.
At Coachella, L.A. artists continue to dominate the festival's art arena.
Bill Kelley Jr., the curator in residence at 18th Street Arts Center, discusses the future of art institutions in Los Angeles.
Collector Ed Sweeney collaborated with the Getty to assemble a monumental "piece-book" that represents the works of regional graffiti artists.
Artist Cristian "Smear" Gheorghiu shares several moments in the history of Southern California that have shaped his development as an artist.
The cast of the avant-garde production "Prometheus Bound" at the Getty Villa perform on a five ton,
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Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio will perform "One Hundred Mules Walking the Los Angeles Aqueduct
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This September, classical guitar enthusiasts will gather in San Luis Obispo to celebrate the sound o
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Artbound's newsletter showcases a hand-picked selection of our latest articles and documentaries featuring diverse arts and culture stories ranging from hidden histories and fine artists to street art and guerrilla theater.
The California Museum of Photography's exhibition, "Geographies of Detention: From Guantánamo to the
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Architecture/ Design
California becomes an international export by redefining the concept of city and home.
Community Arts
Through workshops, education and placed based projects, art is the connective tissue of a community.
Cultural Politics
Funding bubbles, cultural deserts and the politics of access to the arts in the 21st century.
Film & Media Arts
At the shadow of the entertainment industry, video artists and underground filmmakers take a stand.
Literature
Noir, sunshine and dystopia create a multi-ethnic narrative that is read, watched and admired around the globe.
Multi-Disciplinary
Multi-hyphenate works that combine disciplines, remix dogmas, and reinvent the wheel.
Music
A dialogue between cultures, the music of our state serves up the California dream like no other artform.
Visual Arts
Breaking away from the European and New York vanguard, California reinvents the art world.
