Monday, March 16, 2009

art in LA: Cerasoli Gallery, LeBasse Gallery & Dan Auerbach

On Saturday night, Scott and I ventured out into the night to see art, more art, and--lastly--Dan Auerbach. Who isn't really 'art' per say. But counts for the purposes of me calling this entry 'art in LA.'

First we traipsed over to the Cerasoli Gallery run by husband and wife lovelies, Freddi and Evan Cerasoli. The Cerasoli Gallery, of course, used to be Lab 101...before it joined forces with Project Gallery to form the Cerasoli:LeBasse Gallery with Beau...who now runs the LeBasse Gallery. Confusing, yes, but stay with me.

The Cerasolis were, and are, showing acid-inspired works by Tofer Chin and fantastic, elaborate works of a clear genius, David O'Brien. O'Brien has got an architectural background, having worked with the impressive likes of Frank Gehry, writes backwards, is probably smarter than both you and I combined, and includes symbolic references in his work like his 'potato people.' We like potatoes. We like David O'Brien.


Next up, we headed to the LeBasse Gallery for a private preview of the gallery's first group show.

Amongst my fave pieces were Brian Donnelly's Grizzly Transplant...


Is it a bear? Is it a hot chick? Are you terrified? Are you turned on? Figuring out if you are going to pee, or alternatively cum, in your pants is really the fun of this one.

And Alicia Ross' Sampler 2...

Which made me wonder a. why Ms. Ross couldn't think of a better name for this piece than 'Sampler' and b. why more people aren't cross-stiching. It's clearly a more provocative hobby form than most folks realize.

Last, we retreated to the El Rey, where a sold-out room of potbellied, bearded men celebrated in the rock goodness of one Mister Dan Auerbach (of the Black Keys). I learned here that there are limits to how loud even your favorite music should go and that there are more beer-guzzling Midwesterners in Los Angeles than I had realized. Go figure.

And here, a wee-short clip from my favorite Dan Auerbach song, When the Night Comes, performed on Saturday and filmed on a camera clearly much superior to my own.



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