Outside the Lines Too: A Coloring Book for Hip Kids (And Their Parents)

Last Saturday we stopped by MOCA to help celebrate the publication of new hip coloring book Outside the Lines Too.



Curated by Souris Hong, the coloring book features "original line drawings from more than 100 creative masterminds, including animators, cartoonists, fine artists, graphic artists, illustrators, musicians, outsider artists, photographers, and street artists. Perforated pages throughout make it easier to share and display your work. With most pages commissioned especially for this book, this collection features the work of Dalek, Timothy Tompkins, Ryan Humphrey, Richard Colman, Maria E. Piñeres, David Ellis, Jim Houser, Justina Blakeney, Kevin Lyons, Rainer Judd, Tim Biskup, and more."



The 256-page paperback retails for $18.

On Pacific Standard Time: MOCA Gets "Naked" With Weegee

Weegee -- real name Arthur Fellig -- first made his name in the 1930s and 1940s as a New York photojournalist covering the city's seedy underbelly. His book of photos, "Naked City," was released in 1945 and later became the inspiration for the motion picture "The Naked City." In 1947, he moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at Hollywood.

Instead of crime, Weegee began poking holes into the Hollywood fairy tale -- juxtaposing the glitz and glamour of the movie biz with the harder realities of life among regular folks in L.A. He also chronicled the fans who worshipped celebrity and used a special distortion lens to play around with how Hollywood stars looked. His 1953 book "Naked Hollywood," a sequel of sorts to "Naked City," collected those photos. A minor celebrity thanks to his successful photography work, Weegee also made small appearances in several films and worked as a photographer for Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."



As part of the Pacific Standard Time exposition, the Museum of Contemporary Art is showcasing what it says is the first exhibit dedicated to Weegee's Hollywood photos (including many never before seen). "Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles" continues at MOCA through the end of February.

We visited MOCA this weekend (yes, we took advantage of the free admission, as part of this weekend's Museum Free-for-All) and I could have spent hours combing through all of the Weegee pics. For fans of old L.A. like myself, it's a must. (One quibble, of course: There's some irony that photography was forbidden in an exhibit about photography.)

More pics:


Shot of Weegee and collaborator Mel Harris combing through hundreds of photos for "Naked Hollywood."


Weegee's suitcase


Elsewhere inside MOCA: Strings overhead spell out "PICKLE."


Also on display: "Kenneth Anger ICONS," which explores the experimental filmmaker's work and collection.


From one of the walls devoted to "Kenneth Anger ICONS."

Free Museum Day This Saturday

Several L.A.-area museums are taking part in Smithsonian Magazine's Museum Day this Saturday, Sept. 24.

The catch: You have to print out a museum pass at the website above -- and it's only good for you and a guest, one per household. (So if you're coming with the whole family, I guess you'll have to go through the extra step of typing in a fake address and then entering separately and pretend you don't know each other.)

Local museums participating include:

Autry National Center

California Science Center

Chinese American Museum

Fowler Museum at UCLA

Hammer Museum

Laguna Art Museum

Los Angeles Art Association

Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA)

Palos Verdes Art Center

Santa Monica Museum of Art

The GRAMMY Museum at L.A. LIVE

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Read more here.

One Last Hurrah for MOCA's "Art in the Streets" Exhibit

Yes, I'm a bit of a procrastinator, and yes, I sometimes call myself "Last Minute Mike" (in the third person? why, of course), because I -- how should I put it -- take my time on things. But there was a host of reasons why I never got around to seeing the popular Museum of Contemporary Art exhibit "Art in the Streets," housed at its Geffen Contemporary site in Little Tokyo.

So when I learned that Monday was the final day for "Art in the Streets," I sprang into action. If that wasn't reason enough, street artist Banksy had been sponsoring the exhibit on Mondays -- making it free. Good enough for me. I grabbed Blogger Kid and Blogger Toddler 2.0 and raced downtown -- getting there with an hour to spare (the museum shuts at 5).

Indeed, I literally waited until the final hour to check out "Art in the Streets." But I'm glad I did. (And I know an hour isn't nearly enough time to check out the exhibit. But trust me -- an hour is about the limit for a museum visit with two small kids in tow.)

The floor of the Geffen Contemporary was jam-packed, as I'm sure I wasn't the only one racing to see the exhibit for free before it shut down for good. But it was still doable, and there was plenty of visual stimulation for the kids as well.

Here's how MOCA described "Art in the Streets":

Art in the Streets is the first major U.S. museum survey of graffiti and street art. Curated by MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch and Associate Curators Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose, the exhibition will trace the development of graffiti and street art from the 1970s to the global movement it has become today, concentrating on key cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Sao Paulo, where a unique visual language or attitude has evolved. The exhibition will feature paintings, mixed media sculptures, and interactive installations by 50 of the most dynamic artists and will emphasize Los Angeles's role in the evolution of graffiti and street art, with special sections dedicated to seminal local movements such as cholo graffiti and Dogtown skateboard culture. A comprehensive timeline illustrated with artwork, photos, video, and ephemera will provide a historical context for the work.

Some pics from the final day of the exhibit:









Yogi gets flattened.



The birth of spray paint.







"Pushing the Limits."





Blondie.



Blondie's "Rapture" brings graffiti art to the mainstream.





"Crash."



"No Dude, It's Not Alright."







No, these aren't real people. Blogger Kid thought they were, though, and I let him believe it.





Crowd surrounds Banksy's corner



Banksy



Banksy "Laugh Now"



Banksy "I Hate Mondays"



Banksy "No Trespassing"



Shepard Fairey's "Obey Giant"

James Franco Attempts to Blow Your Mind at MOCA

So let's get this straight. James Franco will once again play "Franco the artist" on several episodes of "General Hospital."

And for one upcoming episode, Franco the actor will film a scene as Franco the artist at the Museum of Contemporary Art/Los Angeles.

But Franco the actor will be creating the art in front of a live audience. Which means that as Franco the artist is creating art, Franco the actor is creating a wholly different kind of art.

The "General Hospital" taping/live art exhibit was conceived by Franco as part of a performance work titled SOAP at MOCA: James Franco on General Hospital.

Here's how MOCA describes it:

In this special episode, Franco, James Franco’s character from General Hospital, will be having an exhibition at MOCA Pacific Design Center, during which time Jeffrey Deitch, the new director of MOCA, and the characters from Port Charles from General Hospital wil be making their West Coast debut.


The character’s exhibition will include full-scale models of the locations in which he encountered mobster Jason Morgan (Emmy winner Steve Burton). To the musical accompaniment of his artistic collaborator Kalup Dashinel, played by critically acclaimed video and performance artist Kalup Linzy, who will perform live during the taping, Franco will attempt to lure Jason and others into his art-trap. If all goes to plan, mastermind Franco will turn both Jason Morgan’s life and his own death into art, a performance to end all performances.

"Soap at MOCA is an attempt to both blur and define the lines between different disciplines, between life and art, between art and popular culture, and between representations of the self as both performative character and as non-performative self," Franco said.

And no. I'm not sure if Franco the fictional artist or Franco the real-life actor said that.

Wait a second. Unless Franco the artist is REAL, and Franco the actor is actually a fictional performance piece.

I JUST BLEW YOUR FRANCO-ING MIND.