Allison Schulnik

Enter a world where the grotesque meets the natural, thick layers mask shape, and the despair overwhelms the seemingly joyful faces presented as sculptures, drawings, and paintings so thick they take on a 3 dimensional life of their own. Allison Schulnik, an LA artist with a BFA in Experimental Animation from CalArts who works in EVERY DIMENSION... EVEN THE TWILIGHT ZONE PERHAPS?!?!

Her work explored the forlorn, abandoned, those who wish to be loved and when rejected present themselves as fierce, beaten, or dejected. Although she studied animation, her paintings, drawings, and sculpture add to her portfolio along with her films. It's a tightrope of disgusting and delicate that pulls the viewer to experience with eyes open and stomach clenched. Check out the interview by FecalFace here, and check back for several show openings in the coming months.





All images copyright Allison Schulnik.

L.A.- Watch Out for PAINTALLICA!

Country Club Los Angeles is hosting PAINTALLICA, an installation group whose antics and artistic inspiration are definitely a not-to-miss event. It's happening Thursday, August 13th from 7-9 PM, featuring the stellar talents of Dan Attoe, Jaime Boling, Bill Donovan, Jesse Albrecht, CeCe Cole, Jeff Decker, Shelby Davis, Gordon Barnes, Posie Currin, David Dunlap, Jay Schmidt, Dominic Bisignano, Jeremy Tinder and Chris Miller. Jamie and CeCe were former adjuct faculty at VCU, and I was lucky enough to study under the tutelage of Jaime for a few semesters. Be sure to check out ALL of these talented artists' work, and other artists in the Country Club library (Ryan McGinness, a personal favorite of mine, is among them). If you are in the Los Angeles area during this event, I can't stress enough your need to experience PAINTALLICA.

Photo credit to CCLA.

MY GOD... I'M DELICIOUS!

I have a Twitter account. Believe me, I was a HUGE skeptic when it first came out, and when even now when I sit down and try to grasp the actual concept it still seems ridiculous. That being said, I follow Rainn Wilson's Twitter (Dwight from the Office) and his posts are always silly antics of online taunting with a few worthwhile links thrown in. His new background is courtesy of Mike Mitchell, an artist I'd never heard of- he hails from Los Angeles (where else) and a is self-proclaimed cat enthusiast. His work largely deals with animals, comic book characters, mixed in with a dash of silly, a splash of ridiculous, and some adorable grotesquerie. Take a peek at a few of his pieces (all used directly from his site)







These are just a couple of my favorites (wow, I like bunny art and a zombie ice cream- how totally unlike me!!!) Mike is also a brother in blogging! Check out his blog and shop for even more stuff from this darkly original artist. Shirts, prints, the works! He seems like a fun guy. Mike, if you ever see this, come on down to San Diego and we'll discuss important topics, like crime fighting slugs and spontaneously combusting kittens.

photos

When I don't have any new items to post, new events coming up, or just something new and exciting, I'll start posting a photo montage! I have a lot of pictures that I just kind of have... so they might not all fit together or make sense... but here goes!


















Just a couple of shots from the last month or so... I haven't edited anything in Photoshop, but I kind of miss doing that on a regular basis. I need to get back into the habit. Anyway, here's the scoop.

1) Balboa Park Cactus Garden- I just thought the perfect round cactus shape with the weird blues of the unidentifiable plants were really cool. I love nature!
2) Prickly!
3) Skull decal in LA... I'm sure I'd get sick of all the snarky street art if I lived there, but for now I just think it's cool.
4) Balboa Park again... I just thought it was cool the way the sun split the tree. No major artistic insight there.
5)San Diego zoo- flamingos are sweet, and I like how crisp this turned out just as the sun was starting to sink.
6) Ashton likes to take ugly pictures of me when it looks like I have legs like a goat that bend backwards.
7) Wall in LA. There's old stuff there?!?!
8) Leprosy leaves in Balboa Park. Not really. But maybe.
9) I've based entire portfolios around the concept of geometry in nature, so these naturally hexagonal pink cactii will probably be popping up a few more times

Souther Salazar and Megan Whitmarsh

First of all, I LOVE studio tours. It's such a great glimpse into the reality of the working artist. Fecal Face is really good about updating them on the reg, and the latest one was the LA studio of Souther Salazar and Megan Whitmarsh. I think collaborations or even shared spaces is an excellent idea, because even though the personal space is affected, the bouncing and sharing of ideas is a fabulous marriage. One day I would love to have a seperate studio from home; I kind of got a taste of that in the Honors Studio at VCU and it gave me the bug. I won't even bother posting images of their actual work (you can go to their websites for that) but I love the following things about their studio:
1) Exposed brick walls
2) Lots of weird nooks and corners
3) FLAT FILES. SO AMAZING.
4) Lots of light
5) Tons of books and other reference materials
6) An influx of neon. Superb.

Anyway, here's the studio. Maybe the next time I'm in LA I'll be a creep and lurk outside.

Los Angeles Festival of Books!

UCLA is hosting a weekend-long book festival at the end of the month that is FREE!!! Nothing in LA is free, but somehow this is (however, parking is not). The Los Angeles Festival of Books will take place Saturday and Sunday, April 25-26 on the UCLA campus in West LA. There will be book readings, signings, and local authors on hand peddling their wares. Click the link above to get more information on what's happening and who will be attending. Tickets are free but required to enter some of the events and panel discussions.

UGH NO FAIR

Kidrobot LA is JUST far enough away to make me a crazy person for driving up there just to shop. Still, they have so many ridiculously cool events that my sanity is often tested by my desire to go up there and blow my life savings on toys. Tonight Frank Kozik is kicking off his summer apparel series with a signing and pre-release of the new 1984 Labbit from 6-8. All the details can be viewed here and also below.


Is it bad I would move to LA just to be a hobo outside the store?