Category: Art/Culture
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Mural Buffings Confirm Fears of Runaway Development in DTLA’s Arts District
Early on in my career I was given a small piece of advice that dictated how I presented myself professionally: “Dress for the job you want.” In the intersecting space between gentrification and street art, developers have applied that age old career advice to the neighborhoods they invest in. When it comes to street art,…
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Art + Practice Re-Visits “Bad” Painting
“Not Bad Meaning Bad, but Bad Meaning Good.”-Peter Piper, Run DMC In 1978 the New Museum opened “Bad” Painting, an exhibition featuring artists that eschewed conventional artistic practices to create work that challenged precepts of high culture and countered Minimalist/Conceptualist art. “It is figurative work that defies, either deliberately or by virtue of disinterest, the classic…
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Unmentionables: Zoë Buckman at Papillion
Peering through a gallery window at lingerie hanging from the ceiling made me feel like a voyeur. Catching a glimpse of Papillion while closed was probably the best way to experience their latest exhibit by Zoë Buckman called Every Curve. In this body of work the artist explores the polarities between feminism and hip hop and the cultural dynamics of both existing within…
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Christian Louboutin and His Stylish Take on “the Gaze”
If you walk up to any makeup counter or shoe salesperson wanting to create the perfect nude lip or find a classic nude pump you will likely get one shade. What if that nude looks nothing like your skin tone? Why is the universally accepted nude distilled to a single ivory hue? If you’ve never even thought of…
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Artist a Day Challenge 2016-28: Shinique Smith
When I started Culture Shock Art in 2010, my goal was to explore street art and graffiti in Los Angeles, after I stumbled upon street artist JR’s work completely by accident. The process of discovery through investigating the origins of one of his murals led me to his 2010 TED talk after which I purchased one of his lithographs. That…
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Artist a Day Challenge 2016-27: Ebony Patterson
Last year I took a class with the Sotheby’s Institute of Arts where a fellow student shared the work of Ebony Patterson, and I have not forgotten their work since. One particular piece stands out to me as one that honors the past while challenging the viewer to see the present. In Patterson’s 2014 performance…
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Artist a Day Challenge 2016-26: Carrie Mae Weems
Last year I highlighted Carrie Mae Weems and I love her work so much that she deserves another mention. Weems was recently announced as the 2016 National Artist nominee by the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Aspen. “Founded in 1966, Anderson Ranch Arts Center is a premier destination in America for art making and critical dialogue,…
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Artist a Day Challenge 2016-22: Norman Lewis
Norman Lewis was one of the first pioneers of Abstract Expressionism, but his legacy as an artist among his AbEx contemporaries is relatively unknown. His work was an incredible blend of figurative and abstract painting and I am glad to see that it has finally found its way into institutional programming. “Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis” is…
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Artist a Day Challenge 2016-20-21: Kadir Nelson & His Tribute to the Schomburg Center
The latest cover of the New Yorker features the work of artist/illustrator Kadir Nelson who pays homage to the artists, writers, performers and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance. This piece also celebrates the Schomburg Research Center in Harlem. The Schomburg is a branch of the New York Public Library that is dedicated to the documentation, preservation…
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 