In the formerly Jewish neighborhood of Boyle Heights, a man named David Kipen opens up his doors to the local community, now Latino, and lends it his personal stock of books ranging from mass-market noir paperbacks to Jorge Luis Borges. It’s a gesture which blends the neighborhood’s two pasts. Playfully named “Libros Schmibros,” the bookstore contains a wide range of Los Angeles literature that’s been carefully curated by the one-time writer, critic and translator Kipen. Hopefully, this shtick will catch on neighborhoods across Los Angeles, where independent bookstores are far and few.

Painted Over/Under
LACE – Los Angeles, CA
10/13/10

Kim Schoenstadt’s Painted Over/Under Parts 1-4 is a year-long project based on the mismatched color patterning created by the “graffiti maintenance” on freeway retaining walls and other open walls in the city. Parts 1-3 will incorporate guest curators, Les Figues Press, Jens Hoffman and Erin Cullerton who will invite writers, artists and architects to create drawings in shifts on the walls in LACE’s rear gallery.

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Deedee Cheriel: Abracadabra
Merry Karnowsky Gallery – Los Angeles, CA
10/9/10 to 11/6/10

In her satirical and playful work, animal and human hybrids engage with each other and their environment, a familiar yet surreal world in which bird-headed women riding fish seem perfectly natural. Cheriel’s works are meditations on the tedious dramas of her real-life Los Angeles social circle where boyfriend stealing friends, narcissistic hippies, do-gooders, and intellectuals are anthropomorphized into a surreal world of random theatre. Her paintings are the alchemy that transform pettiness into visual treasures.

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Magical Properties Tour
Select Venues – North America
10/14/10 to 11/20/10

Daedelus and The Gaslamp Killer will perform across the continent with the second Magical Properties Tour, now featuring fellow L.A. beat scene acts 12th Planet, Free the Robots, Samiyam and Teebs.

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A Night to Top All Nights at the Bowl!
The Hollywood Bowl – LA, CA
9/30/10

The Bowl welcomes the longed-for return of post-punk messiahs, Pavement, for an amazing show of rock royalty that also includes the iconic and experimental sounds of NY’s Sonic Youth and new young heirs to the lo-fi throne, No Age. →

Art Performance & Video Installations at the Hammer
The Hammer Museum – Santa Monica, CA
10/16/10

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Welcome to Big City Forum #20
10/2/10

A gathering of four curators that are impacting and changing the future of the practice at the institutional and non-traditional context. Featuring: Andrew Berardini, Shamim Momim, Pilar Tompkins Rivas and Franklin Sirmans.  The panel discussion between these illustrious art curators begins from 5 to 7 pm. →

ALTERNATIVE PRESS 25th Anniversary Art Exhibition
Sloan Fine Art – NY, NY
10/20/10

The Cleveland-based national youth culture magazine is celebrating its 25th anniversary with their second group art exhibition for 2010. The gallery collection will feature AP’s vast archives, photographs, milestones and memoirs as well as original works of art from iconic musicians and renowned visual artists including paintings, drawings, photography and sculpture.

Left: Marilyn Manson, “Baby’s on Fire,” 2010, watercolor on paper, 30″ x 22″
Right: Shirley Manson, “Peking Noodle (Ode to Louise Bourgeois),” 2010, knitted on canvas, 6″ x 6″ x 2″ →

Four Tet
Domino Records
(2010)

Once again, Kieran Hebden (aka: Four Tet) proves that London’s rising electronic artist is never short on creative ideas. He began in 1998, concocting a unique blend of electronica, hip-hop, folk and jazz. Since then he has completed seven albums, remixed a diverse cast of artists including Radiohead, Aphex Twin and Notwist. At first glance, his latest release, There is Love in You, can easily be dubbed “folktronica” (a term that became synonymous with the artist) however these tracks defy classification, transitioning effortlessly from smooth electronic beats into post-rock gems.

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Design in the Blood
Design Opinion

This week I had the great fortune to attend the CUSP Conference in Chicago. Following in the footsteps of the TED Talks the conference was about “the design of everything”, which is obviously a broad subject. Though I had no idea what to expect I am still in awe of how unexpected it turned out to be. →