textdrivebys.com » los angeles

moca: art in the streets

xenia — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 06:33:35 +0000

if you are in tune with the street art scene (hell, even the general art scene) you’ve probably read reviews or seen photos of this show already so i’m going to spare you all of my photos and details and tell you that YOU NEED TO SEE THIS SHOW! there should be no excuses if you live in southern california especially since BANKSY footed the bill and all MONDAYS at moca are FREE until the end of this show. if that’s not enough, swing by on thursdays from 5-8pm courtesy of wells fargo.

i guarantee you there is so much to take in and you might find yourself visiting moca more than once. i really fell in love with the os gemeos and the streets section. art in the streets closes up officially on august 8th. art in the streets was scheduled to open next year in NY but brooklyn museum has since backed out. chris & i take the kids to a lot of art shows, galleries and museums so to see a street art show on this level was amazing to them. damien (12 year old) could not get enough and wanted his picture taken with just about everything (& he’s the shy one!)

check out this “streets” video courtesy of moca

Street, 2011 from MOCA on Vimeo.

here are some of my photos of the os gemeos and neckface exhibits.

The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
152 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Hours vary – CLOSED Tuesdays & Wednesdays
General Admission $10, Kids under 12 FREE.
MONDAYS ALL DAY ARE FREE – THURSDAYS 5-8PM ARE FREE.

banksy is here for the oscars

xenia — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:30:33 +0000

the internet has been buzzing all week with news about banksy hitting LA. today the mickey & minnie billboard was taken down and rumor is that the charlie brown piece was stolen. i knew there was a reason banksy was using those characters so i did a little research to confirm what i already suspected and my theory is it’s because the oscars are on ABC which is a disney company. disney = mickey & minnie. so charlie brown wasn’t created by disney but ABC signed a deal to air peanuts cartoons. could banksy be giving the oscars the finger? sure seems like it…

or maybe he just doesn’t like disney? remember the disneyland prank… yea. wonder what he’ll do if he actually does win an oscar!!! or do they actually show that award being given during the broadcast?

we braved santa monica for you, hello kitty.

xenia — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:53:55 +0000

i’m not really a big fan of santa monica. it’s geographic location sucks for us, it’s out of the way and there’s always traffic to and from. it’s also one of the weirdest communities in southern california. i’m not saying it’s a bad neighborhood… it’s just that highest per capita neighborhoods in california are always almost surrounded by the worst per capita neighborhoods. you picking up what i’m putting down? yea.

after spending the afternoon christmas shopping in hollywood and checking out greg “craola” simkins show at gallery 1988 (check back for that post) we ventured over to the barker hangar at the santa monica airport. as we were turning onto airline drive, food trucks @manilamachine and @ludotruck were leaving (insert slow motion nooooooo and picture my hands extended out) it wasn’t hard to find but there were only 2 lanes getting in and out of the area. parking signs were a mess. we pulled into a lot and they wanted $10, uh no thanks. we drove around, came back and actually found parking about a block away next to an airplane structure. the line was super long, at least 300 people deep and we overheard the security guard tell someone there was a 90 minute wait. surprising enough, it was an over estimation and we were in within 30 minutes. it was still a very freezing 30 minute wait. it was only made better when some staff members made their way through the line and gave out cute hello kitty plastic rings and yogurtland pencils.

when you enter it’s like a sanrio dream come true only to turn into a nightmare by the 2 hour lines for EVERYTHING. the line to the store was INSANE. i took a pass on that. we headed towards the japan la art show and most of the pieces were dreamy but i was a bit disappointed by the familiar names in art. *YAWN* i noticed some artists moved from the cutesy sanrio theme but most of the art was still force fed, can we get some different artists in group shows. please? maybe martin ontiveros and bwana spoons would’ve objected to doing hello kitty but i would’ve rather seen other takes on the cat. moving on, the line to buy tickets for the attractions and games was growing and i really had no desire to wait. i think the miniature golf area could’ve been done away with and given more space to other fun stuff. just saying. i really liked the thought put into having heaters and awesome bathrooms in trailers. portapotties are so out. designer trailers with dressing room-like toilets are in. seriously.

my favorite pieces were by buff monster and brandi milne.

rebel 8 return of the lost angels 7/24

xenia — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:08:55 +0000

another FREEBIE in LA if you aren’t at san diego comic con this weekend!

my husband & i attended last year’s rebel 8 event with famous stars & straps at the fast life and it was pretty sick. don’t sleep!

renegade craft fair FREE this weekend 7/24-7/25

xenia — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:00:01 +0000

craft, art, design and DIY spectacular will feature over 250 of today’s finest indie-craft talents from all over the nation, free workshops, entertainment + other features!

the greatest show on earth.

xenia — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:54:44 +0000

get your tickets.

The opportunity to register for tickets begins at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, July 3, 2009 and ends at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Saturday, July 4, 2009.

took me about 5 minutes..

in true southern cali fashion

xenia — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:03:57 +0000

we didn’t hide colored eggs for the kids. we got them up, dressed and headed out to LA. our first stop was at Yoshinoya on the corner of melrose & vermont. mmm yummy easter lunch! after that we cruised on melrose to see what stores were open, nothing really caught our eye so we headed up to sunset to hit Meltdown. they changed the layout since we last visited months ago and i prefer it so much more. it’s much roomier and you can see the displays better. the kids had fun playing on the rodys. C & i picked up the hi-fructose box set. it’s a beauty. the 5 prints alone are worth the cost ($39.95) – i’m planning on doing a review in the next couple weeks. 2 things were depressing: looks like the secret base display cabinet is gone?! and that i didn’t have crazy money to blow.

but what we really went to LA for is SCOOPS. turns out they were closed which we kinda expected. it’s ok, they deserve a holiday lol not wanting to go back home we went to check out the idiot box show at gallery 1988. it was a really good show. all the pieces were fantastic!!!

click on rudy to see the rest of the idiot box set!

black friday ‘o8

xenia — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:40:20 +0000

i haven’t done black friday in years. mostly because it used to be my mama and me and well, she’s in texas still lol hurry your ass home already woman!

when C got home from work, we ventured out to LA because i wanted to check out SURU‘s sale. they opened at noon and we got there at around 1220pm. there were 2 huge bins of $5 t-shirts and all other apparel was 50% OFF. toys & books were 20% OFF. i was trying to take pictures of AXIS‘s first solo show: welcome to my nightmare but the shop started to get crowded. not quite sure who the male employee was but he was AWESOME. he took me to the back, out the back door and showed me AXIS pieces on the back of the store walls. he was real good people, i’d even go as far as to say one of the best i’ve ever come across in any shop in the hollyhood area. a few minutes later i see joe hahn (linkin park member and owner of SURU) talking with some shopper. i didn’t fangirl out but i was dying to ask about his personal art collection, more specifically his usugrow wall. so anyways, BIG BIG UPS to SURU, that’s how you do it. and AXIS, EXCELLENT show. don’t miss it people.

SURU / 7662 MELROSE AVENUE / LOS ANGELES