#claregraham

Art by Clare Graham. Bottom right button-mirror photo by sorinphoto.com

MorYork Gallery on York in Highland Park will blow your socks off and then roll them up into flower origami, with thousands of other blown-off socks, mount them on a tabernacle, and make you understand your socks—and by extension, your life—in an entirely new way. MorYork is the studio and gallery of artist Clare Graham, in whose hands collections of buttons are reworked into chandeliers; colored pencils become folding screens; and tin-can tops are made into optic coverings for shelves and dining tables. He calls it obsessive compulsive order.

Since MorYork doesn’t have a sign, I’d walked by it many times, thinking it was just another concrete structure shedding paint. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The gallery is immersive, wondrous, and about the size of a roller-skating rink, which is what it was in the ‘50s. The space also hosts shows of unrepresented visual artists, as well as performances. These can be a great way to get inside the gallery, which is open only sporadically. There's an upcoming concert with Dorian Wood performing 10 David Bowie songs on February 26 and 27. Also, MorYork is sometimes open on the second Saturday of each month during the Northeast L.A. (NELA) Art Walks, or try calling to set up an appointment.

Ho Ho Ho… Ho there! It’s the Ho-lidays! Ho-w’d we get here? So fast? We hope the Season finds you well and full of cheer!

  Per our (quasi) Holiday tradition, we offer you a last-minute round up of some artsy gift ideas for the culturally hip and/or aspiring folks in your life, with a few plugs for a few pals, as alterative gift ideas to iTunes gift cards and Amazon Prime scarf sets.

  Tabletop Temptations:

  Our friend Larry Lytle, a talented photographer in his own right, shared his editorial insights in “American Grotesque,” a biopic on the somewhat forgotten, photographic macabre master William Mortensen (1897 – 1965). Vociferously loathed by his contemporaries such as Ansel Adams, yet emulated by today’s photo giants such as Cindy Sherman's and Joel-Peter Witkin, Mortensen sowed his photographic oats during the burgeoning Hollywood era with Cecil B. DeMille, which proved influential to his own theatrical and gothic repertoire of edgy “tableaux vivants” that meld a sepia-toned surrealism with a rated-PG predilection for the bewitching female form. Check out the LA Times book review here.

Heath Ceramic's Adam Silverman 

For a peek into the minds and studios of contemporary artists, Manhattan Beach photographer Kyle Alexander’s “Made in USA” delivers photographic essays into “how creative people get into their headspace.”

  Sarah Thornton, of the “Eight Days in the Art World” fame, has a new book out: Her “33 Artists in 3 Acts” offers up-close-and-personal, insider access through interweaving conversations “with the world’s most important living artists to humanize and demystify contemporary art.”

Rest your weary head and warm up on the couch. Get dry or quench your thirst. Or slide on some artist underpants:

  Another friend and talented artist, Lena Wolff, translated her signature aesthetic of geometric abstractions into great looking pillows and other snuggly bedroom accouterment, as well as fantastic ready-to-wear items for the fashionably adventurous.  Lookie here.

  As spotted in Dwell Magazine, Venice-based Giselle Hernandez also has a line of cozy artisan accents for the home, including pillows and throws for those oh so chilly So Cal nights, available through her website Someware.

  Anyone you know need an Ed Ruscha or Kehinde Wiley towel?  How about a Ryan McGinley Tee Shirt? Sure you do! Visit Works on Whatever (WOW) for “a collection of artist designed functional objects by Art Production Fund.” Exemplify the controversy of art versus commerce as you refresh yourself during a CrossFit class with your Raymond Pettibon water jar.

  And if you want to get close, and we means really close to Mr. Pettibon, don his boxers! And if you want to smell like an artist, slather on KIKI SMITH: Fragrance, 2010! Art Markit, is “an aggregate retail destination” with products “made by renowned and up-and-coming artists from around the world.”  (Proceeds are shared with the collaborating artists, curators and institutions, meaning SMMoA should get a cut of your Pettibon panties.) Art Markit has more options and mellower price points than WOW. And underpants.

  Does the art world sometimes make you mad? Well, you can work it out with a Nick Cave Sound Suit punching bag!  And who knew that Nick Cave had merch, which includes temporary tattoos and wrapping paper? Wrap up those Pettibon pants with Nick Cave! And then wail on the punching bag!

  So we guess that about wraps it up. Again, we hope the Holidays find you happy and healthy. Oh, and over the Holidays, make sure to check out Clare Graham’s solo show at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, up through January 4. It’s totally magical with walls of Teddy Bears, towering sculptures of buttons and puzzle pieces, a living room set constructed from pop-tops, and meticulous cabinets of curiosity! It’s also a perfect show to drag visiting relatives to, as it’s not that crazy conceptual stuff. Grandma would dig it. And if she complains, well, show her the tar pits across the street.

  We heart you, our friends.  All best to you and yours this Season and a glorious and joyful 2015!

  Love,