downtown los angeles

Posts Tagged ‘downtown los angeles’

downtown los angeles, fashion, martinMARTIN, men's apparel, women's apparel

martinMARTIN…

In fashion on June 2, 2011 at 6:00 am

…brings upscale retail to urban los angeles street.

not only was i able to score that amazing frame on los angeles street, i also came across the new home of martinMARTIN clothiers. quiet and lux, these items are impeccably well made with beautiful attention to detail and fabrication. waxed woven coats and delicately gathered dresses make up some of the pieces in the avant garde collection. gorgeous leather boots are hand crafted with italian leathers and nothing is done without imagination and skillful editing. boasting apparel for women and men, the space itself is bright, clean and airy lending itself perfectly to showcasing the stock.

co-owner/designer diane moss martin was very firm in her faith in downtown los angeles as a rising star and proved it by locating their store on the less hip los angeles street. by contrast, spring street boasts a glut of coffee shops, cafes and bars with a smattering of galleries and thrift boutiques. being a dtla resident who is already weary of the hipster overload of spring street, i was delighted in finding yet another jewel off the beaten path. considering that los angeles street still has the beautiful storefronts of the specialty clothing stores of the 40′s, i thought the decision showed the kind of autonomous thinking that will be beneficial in putting los angeles street on the map.

image courtesy of martinMARTIN

martinMARTIN

713 South Los Angeles Street

Los Angeles, CA 90014-2105 (213) 624-6244 ‎

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art, art in the street, barry mcgee, downtown los angeles, dtla, graffiti, jeffrey deitch, moca, museum, rammellzee, stephen powers, street art, street market, todd james

moca: art in the streets recap (part 2)…

In art & design, culture and lifestyle on April 27, 2011 at 6:00 am

…today i’ll be taking you into the street market installation, an urban block recreated through the eyes of artists barry mcgee, todd james and stephen powers. initially conceived in 2000 as a jeffrey deitch project, street market is a collage of seedy convenience stores, liquor marts, storefront churches and hodge podge semi vacant shops representing prime targets for hits. i felt it looked better in all it’s glory in it’s original home as obviously because of space issues, the installation had to be cut down to fit the geffen:

nothing wasted: the shops provided opportunities for mini exhibits within the exhibit as artists showcased their sketches and process

loving the dimensional ‘signage’:

realistic looking taggers:

street market provided me with way too many photos to choose from but if you’d like to see the native setting, you can click here for a link to the archived images from the original deitch installation.

also featured was a memorial tribute to the late proclaimed gothic futurist, rammellzee. like quite a few artists, it was a posthumous display which encompasses an entire room. lit with black light, it was the perfect way to showcase the future-tribe effect of his work. i was blown away by the figures and sculptures featured in his portion of the exhibit and was glad to catch a glimpse of the world through his eyes. you could wind back the clock and see traces of childhood’s transformers. it was difficult to take photos in this environment so you’ll have to excuse the grain in some of the images:

the following isn’t the work of rammellzee, but the artist has definitely been touched by it. this room was a favorite, small, intimate and jam packed with pop iconography and consumer relics. make sure you click on the images as sometimes i’ve linked others beneath:

collage was used extensively throughout the exhibit and what i loved best was the re-purposing of lo-tech items within the works. without a doubt music is to street art like picnic baskets are to yogi bear and i was stoked to see old boom-box’s, a much cherished childhood item, being incorporated and elevated to new status! i carted mine with me all summer:

there were a few instruments placed in front of the work to encourage viewer participation but no one wanted to join in for an impromptu jazz session:

whew! so i’m going to end it here for now and yes, there will be a third and, i’m determined, final installment. be sure to come back because the final post will feature cars, fashion and vintage paint. peace and blessings….

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art, art in the streets, downtown los angeles, dtla, graffiti, invader, moca, mode 2, museum of contemporary art, obey, shepard fairey, street art

moca: art in the streets recap (part one)…

In art & design, culture and lifestyle on April 26, 2011 at 6:00 am

…last week April 17th ‘art in the streets’ opened at moca and predictably, there was scarce room for seeing the works let alone taking photos. last saturday was more than successful and i have to admit, writing a single post about this exhibition with so much to cover has proven to be an impossibility. so i’m breaking the recap down into multiple posts so as to provide you with as much coverage as possible.

this is the first major museum gathering representing a cross section of global street art dating from it’s early inception in the 70′s to the unarguable force that it is today. categorizing and curating the exhibit would have been a formidable undertaking but was done by grouping the work into sections dedicated to history, regions, cultures and evolution. no medium is left unexplored from photography, paintings, sculptures, installations and digital media.

in the spirit of street art, the exhibit isn’t limited to the confines of the gallery but also appeared as it should, on the the facade itself and an additional touch was the live painting of a metro bus in front:

french artist, invader who has since been detained and released by the lapd, in a sly act of subversion, included himself in the exhibit with one of his iconic tiled aliens subtly placed over loading dock doors and another piece hidden in plain view within the exhibit not to mention hits at various other locations around downtown. i’ve linked the invaders map for all of you angelenos who would want to collect them all:

well, the outside gets the juices flowing but once inside, it was like a three ring circus for the senses! it was hard to know where to look and that was not for the lack of good curating but because of the sheer volume! the length in front of the doors was lined with an interactive piece on which were mounted hinged wood panels. flip the panels to view the skeletons beneath the flesh, kind of like macabre wooden picture blocks. it’s drawing for the sheer love of it and beautifully done:

featured front and center was a car hand painted by keith haring. i can remember watching him paint his mural at the art center college of design in 1989. an inspiring figure in the world of street art and one of the first to make it into the museums, a revitalizing of haring’s work was long overdue:

what was surprising was the level of intricacy and the thoughtfulness in which multiple mediums were employed. i deeply love how glitter was utilized in this piece:

a great example of an intricate piece, the artist has definitely taken his influences from mandalas elevating this work to a place of spiritual meditation:

this installation has the feeling of alien hieroglyphs and the stark contrasting colors remind me of blue and white porcelain ware or jewish mezuzahs found in doorways:

almost in defiance of the chromatic minimalism of the above piece, around the corner your eyes are treated to the blazing neon colors of these screen printed posters.

of course, you can’t have street art without shepard fairey as he can definitely be crowned as the most commercial of street artists. the effect of having everything neatly framed and behind glass was a little disappointing as this would have been a great opportunity for fairey to go large and maximize on the beautiful details of the work. taking it out of it’s usual context of commercialism would force the viewer to contend with the message:

one of my favorite pieces is by european based mode 2. the sheer beauty and enormity of his urban figures exude so much energy and took me back through so many memories of my youth: the house parties, barbecues and hanging with my friends with a forty in hand. yes, me! i can see the influence of ernie barnes iconic painting, sugar shack. it made me sad to think that like those moments, this piece too would be temporary:

of course it should come as no surprise that there were quite a few political pieces since street art has it’s roots in revolt.

a cheeky play on surveillance technology aimed at stamping out street art. the complete decimation of the tree in the name of preserving public spaces and private property is chilling:

i think this is a good note to leave on as there is so much more to come. please check back tomorrow as i throw up another post recapping all there was to see at the moca exhibit. i’ve taken many other photos and details of the works including mode 2, and will post a link to my flickr gallery should anyone care to do a deep dive. peace!

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a current affair, apparel, clothing, color, cooper building, downtown los angeles, dtla, fashion, h&m, jewelry, liberty of london, los angeles, marketplace, pop up, pop up shop, prada, trend, vintage

a current affair…

In art & design, fashion on April 5, 2011 at 9:00 am

…helped me add more vintage, boho styling to my palette. i’m a boho girl at heart which i almost hate to say because it usually conjures up a very narrow idea of what that term entails. for instance, the clean, prep with the funky twist tone of the prada spring ’11 line is a favorite of mine and stripes of all kind coupled with bold prints are definitely woven throughout my wardrobe for the early season. for me, boho is in the prints themselves and how they’ve been applied, add the right styling and it takes it right over the edge:

prada on the cheap: b&w tee, zara; jaguar ring, noir; hot pink patent clutch, hobo international; damask bangle, juicy couture; combo pencil skirt, milly; multi stripe tee, h&m; neon pink skirt, free people; button down shirt, vintage; high waist shorts, h&m;

left: prada earrings, right: vintage personal collection

saturday’s spring edition of a current affair was a complete boon! held on the 11th floor of the cooper building, it kicked off at six with delicious cocktails hosted by pama + izze, a live dj laying down vibes for the shoppers and a vintage exhibit curated by david zyla. some of the creme de la creme of vintage retailers and private dealers were on-hand to showcase carefully curated collections that spanned from the early 1900′s through the 80′s. beautifully maintained finds by geoffrey beene, lanvin, chanel, commes de garçon, yves saint laurent, etc. sat side by side with lesser known names in both fashion, jewelry and other accessories. the admission was $10 but gilt city hooked it’s subscribers up with a $5 fee to the event.

i shopped with print and styling in mind for projects i’m working on this spring and summer and this little collection of color and print began to coalesce around a couple of pieces i purchased:

straw fedora, jcrew; creme floral blouse, joie; sheer floral kimono cardigan, vintage; floral scarf, vintage liberty of london; rhinestone swallow bracelet, miss ellie; czech glass button ring, vintage; brass geometric earrings, vintage; nautical themed necklace, kate spade

the blue kimono cardigan was a lucky find at $58 considering nicole richie’s winter kate collection features vintage inspired kimono’s for $200+. another treasured item was the liberty of london silk scarf. more people than ever are familiar with the name since last year’s collaboration with target put them in american households at an affordable price. the reality is, these scarves tend to start at £95 ($150) and go upwards from there and the proprietary prints are exquisite and highly sought after:

2009 liberty of london silk shirt: personal collection

while not exactly vintage in the traditional sense, alkemie jewelry makes their mark by being an environmentally and socially responsible enterprise that uses 100% reclaimed metals in their jewelry line. their eclectic range of jewelry is driven by a passion for natural curios featuring nautical shells, bees, flora and fauna, textures, etc. the piece that stood out and made it’s way into my collection is the spiky conch ring that was featured in women’s wear daily:

the beauty of this entire event was the fact that all of the items had been pre-screened and cleaned beforehand. it can be a hassle digging through grubby thrift stores chock full of clothing that is questionable in it’s cleanliness and woeful in it’s range. although one would argue that vintage boutiques increase the mark up on the item to a considerable degree, it’s still worth it to designers when time and travel are tight. there are exceptions with estate sales and forays to flea markets but when you just want to cut to the chase, pop up markets like these are valuable and worth signing on to their mailing lists.