6/25/10

HENRY RENFIELD


antebellian artist, RENFIELD brought in his latest painting....
it is a beauty entitled~

THE BLOOD IS THE LIFE, DON'T YOU KNOW

8x10", oil on canvas panel, a portrait of actor DWIGHT FRYE as MISTER RENFIELD from the 1931 film~ DRACULA.

here's a clip of dwight frye as henry renfield from the the classic~ dracula.

for more info contact~

ANTEBELLUM
1643 n las palmas ave
hollywood, ca 90028
323 856-0667
antebellum@earthlink.net
www.antebellum.us.ms

FRENCH FURRY COMMERICAL

this is very interesting, check out this commercial for orangina.
my furry friend LEWD would love it!

6/24/10

NARCISISSY ART AUCTION



the NARCISISSY art show is ending with a bang!

Saturday Jun 26, from 7-9pm is the Narcisissy Art Auction hosted by Nancy Shields (Brooke's Sister) where you can get many things for ridiculously low prices, such as:

Crochet lessons from Aunt Connie at your favorite coffee house
A date with Nancy Shields
Those adorable candy jars
Paintings and sculptures galore

Snacks provided!
no host bar!

suggested donation $5 to benefit antebellum

ANTEBELLUM
1643 N. Las Palmas ave
Hollywood Ca 90028
www.antebellum.us.ms
antebellum@earthlink.net

Normal Gallery Hours: 1-7pm Weds- Saturdays

THE RED SHOES



my favorite film of all times~ THE RED SHOES, is screening tonight @
THE AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE.
if you have not seen this flim you must check it out-


Newly Restored 35mm Print! THE RED SHOES, 1948, MGM Repertory, 136 min.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s urgently colorful and deliriously dream-like masterpiece about the aspirations of a young ballerina and the brilliant composer and passionate ballet impresario she is torn between has mesmerized audiences for generations. the american cinematheque will present a special screening of the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s celebrated restoration of the film, following its triumphant unveiling at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.



read my review of the red shoes in the premiere issue of LITTLE JOE magazine-

THE RED SHOES, (1948) written, directed and produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It tells the story of a young ballerina who joins an established ballet company and becomes the lead dancer in a new ballet called The Red Shoes, based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen about a woman who cannot stop dancing. The film stars Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook and Marius Goring and features renowned dancers from the ballet world. It has original music by Brian Easdale and cinematography by Jack Cardiff, and is well regarded for its creative use of Technicolor.

And that's what drew me into this film, the color. rich and vibrant it makes you feel like you're watching a color film for the first time. the red shoes is so hypnotic, i will drop whatever i'm doing and watch this film from start to finish whenever it screens. the crux of the story- choosing art over love is timeless, classic and devastating. cinematic moment- so many, but the shot of moria shearer dressed in an opulent evening gown, ascending a decayed staircase in the afternoon sun of southern france is breathtaking. an exact replica of Eaux d'Artifice by kenneth anger. i'm not sure who influenced whom.


Thursday, June 24 – 7:30 PM
American Cinematheque
6712 Hollywood Boulevard,
Hollywood, CA 90028
323.461.2020
323.466.FILM
www.americancinematheque.com

TW @ D&G



my longtime pal and muse TONY WARD was the special guest model for DOLCE & GABBANA spring/summer 2011 fashion show in milan this weekend.
in honor of the 20th anniversary of D&G menswear Mr. Ward was back on the catwalk presenting next years Spring Summer collection which included live music by ANNIE LENNOX!
check out these very hot photos courtesy tonyward.com-

getting ready backstage






the catwalk



check out the show-

Mr. Ward @ Dolce&Gabbana Menswear SS11 fashion show from Tony Ward TV on Vimeo.

6/23/10

TOM OF NEW YORK


if you live in NYC or plan to visit, check out this great group exhibit featuring all things TOM-
Feature Inc.
presents:
TOM OF FINLAND AND THEN SOME
A Group Showing

Opening Reception: Friday, June 25, 6:00 - 9:00 PM

In cooperation with the TOM OF FINLAND FOUNDATION,
sketches and drawings by Tom of Finland...




AND THEN SOME!

Partnering Tom of Finland is imagery by a number of other contemporary artists including-

Richard Kern
Judy Linn
Bastille
Jerry Phillips
Martin of Holland
Joe Brainard
Fred Esher
Larry Clark
Robert W. Richards
Brian Kenny
Sean Landers
Richard Prince
Robert Fontanelli
GB Jones
Jeff Burton
Mie Yim
Raymond Pettibon
Catherine Opie
Carl Ferrero
Kevin Larmon
Jared Buckhiester
Judy Rifka
Jeffrey Pittu
Scooter Laforge
Tyler Ingolia
David Frye
The Hun
Kinke Kooi
Juan Gomez
Rex
Gengoroh Tagame

TOM OF FINLAND (Finnish, 1920 – 1991),

Tom of Finland, Touko Laaksonen by birth, was born on the south coast of Finland on May 8, 1920. He trained and worked in design and advertising and in 1973, left his job to work full time on his drawings. Between 1978 and 1988, Tom of Finland split his time between Helsinki and Los Angeles; he died of an emphysema-induced stroke on November 7, 1991. This exhibition is made in cooperation with the Los Angeles based Tom of Finland Foundation.

————------------------------




Feature Inc. is a contemporary art gallery exhibiting painting, drawing, photography and sculpture by established and emerging American and international artists in New York City since 1988.

Feature opened on April Fool’s Day 1984, in a second floor space at 340 West Huron St., Chicago. In August 1988, the gallery moved to NYC and opened in October at 484 Broome St. Soon after the move, the 340 W. Huron building burned to the ground; Feature escaped just in time. Feature relocated to 76 Greene St. in September 1993, and became Feature Inc. in January 1994. The move to 530 W. 25 St. occurred in October 1999. At all the aforementioned locations, Feature contained two or more exhibition spaces, so that several exhibitions could be presented simultaneously.

Feature Inc. reincarnated in September 2008 at 276 Bowery, delighted to be back downtown, however two days after opening the crash happened and life there was short lived.

Mid-December 2009, Feature reopened in its sixth space at 131 Allen St., still on the lower east side.

Feature Inc.
June 25, 26, 27, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 12 - 6 PM
June 29 - July 31, Tuesday - Saturday 12 - 6 PM
Closed July 4 - 10
131 Allen Street, New York, NY 10002 · MAP · 212.675.7772
Feature Inc.

JAMES BIDGOOD IN THE BUTT


(Photo by Moss Roberts)

BUTT MAGAZINE did a really cute interview with legendary filmmaker/photographer~
JAMES BIDGOOD.

i had the pleasure of hanging, (as in exhibiting) my photography with mr. bidgood at our recent exhibition called

REVEALED, THE TRADITION OF MALE HOMOEROTIC ART


(James Bidgood, Apache, mid 60s, Clamp Art, New York)

check out the BUTT INTERVIEW-
Interview by Michael Kowalinski

It was a hot June morning in New York when after a long hike up an endless flight of stairs, I met the photographer and filmmaker James Bidgood. Famous for his ethereal photography of beautiful young men in the 1960s, James Bidgood directed, produced and wrote the iconic 1971 film Pink Narcissus, starring Bobby Kendall. Nearly all of the film was shot in Mr. Bidgood’s Hell’s Kitchen apartment between 1963 and 1971 where he lived within the sets he built. Before the film reached completion, it was taken from him by investors and edited without his involvement, creating something Bidgood says he couldn’t even follow himself or stay awake through. Devastated after having spent the past seven years of his life making the film, he refused to sign his name to the project and for years it was credited to ‘Anonymous’, which led many to think that perhaps Andy Warhol was behind it. When I arrived at his apartment, Mr. Bidgood asked the first question.

James: What are we going to talk about? What do you know about me?

Michael: I read everything I could find about you.
Well, I haven’t! Whenever I Google myself – you should forgive any image that might conjure up – I find out something new about myself.

M-What are you working on now?

J- Well, a few years ago when the destinies were distracted for a moment, I very fortunately met Christian Louboutin. Christian is a genius – a truly brilliant designer of women’s shoes and an incredibly sweet man, unbelievably understanding. Anyway that’s what I’m working on, a couple of ideas for him.

M- Does he ask you to send him ideas?

J-Not about designing shoes. He just sends me a shoe and I create whatever surround I think that particular shoe inspires and take a photograph. And at least and at last, I don’t have to ‘make do’ as much.

M- Make do?

J- Well, I have a little more in the way of ‘chedda’ to work with now, wait, oh fuck that – EUROS! You know, when I first started taking pictures – those ‘underwater’ shots of Jay Garvin, I had to use whatever crepe paper or Junior League Mardi Gras Ball costume part was left over or something I might find in the trash, like pan scrapings. I’ve even used the paper dividers from peach boxes and egg crates. I knew how to make costumes because I went to Parsons. I was supposed to become a fancy schmancy fashion designer and obviously, I didn’t!

M- What happened?

J- I have the very worst luck. No really, no one believes me, until they’ve been around me for a while. I must have been one mean son-of-a-bitch in a past life ’cause I am sure as Hell paying for some kind of heavy transgressing this trip through. Or maybe God just pulled out the wrong file card when I happened. The other day, Oprah was all about believing in yourself and sticking to your dream and if you did, that dream would happen one day. Maybe to the lady next door but I’ve been stuck with my dreams for close to 80 years now, and I still have to worry whether I have the rent money every month.

M- I remember now, reading somewhere ‘If only he’d had a little luck, he could have been as famous as Andy Warhol. Luck is something Bidgood’s needed for quite some time.’

J- Exactly! Ya know – because of all that sissy scenery in that ‘Narcissus’ thing, I guess people expect me to be lounging around in a silk caftan, face powdered and rouged with twenty yards of orchid chiffon draped around my neck with my bong and a few boys by my pool! Very often guests like yourself think I only work in this slum dwelling, but I live here! There is so little room, I sleep on a twin mattress twice as old as you are, half of which is occupied by a six-foot plaster male store mannequin. I use it to build paper mache forms on and for draping costumes because a regular dressmaker form doesn’t work for the kind of costumes I make, if ya get my meanin’! There’s nowhere else left to put the damn thing, so I got a man in bed with me every night – where he’s of no use at all, like sleepin’ with a cold corpse!

M- Does he hog the bed?

J- Well, as popular as pigs are these days in ’some’ circles, I wouldn’t wanna out him!



(Bobby Kendall (left), Jay Garvin (right))

M- So, what do you think about photography becoming so extreme and shocking?

J- I don’t know. It seems like folks these days would rather look at a bloody car accident or a nauseating crime scene than a glorious sunset or a pretty English garden. Shock value used to be what the talentless with low budgets resorted to, like in terrible William Castle movies or those tabloids in grocery stores. You know ‘Oh darling what a lovely evening gown! It just cries out to be photographed on a homeless man buried under garbage in a yucky dumpster.’ But I’m not sure I understand anything about fashion anymore. You know, the piss stains in your Levi’s crotch, or how many rips, and how worn and faded, are now price points! The ‘in’ aesthetic seems to be looking as much like you’re wearin’ one of your mothers old size 18 dresses yanked up here an’ mooshed together there ta fit your size 8 figure, or like some dotted Swiss window sheers has been bunched up around you and hastily safety pinned in the least flattering place possible. And what faggot talked Anna the Wintour into wearing the music hall curtain to that Met Ball the other night? Ruched indeed! I expected ta see Rockettes hangin’ off the hem! Chanel must be spinnin’ a mile a minute in her grave! I don’t know why this change of subject popped into my head but did you see Sophia Loren at the Oscars? The tits were still up ta here, and there was no trace of any waddle under that chin. I said ta everyone that they must keep her in a vat of oil between outings! For years I heard she went around with the tapes that pulled it all back like a cheap lift. And hello – what about Raquel Welch? They both must have made some sort of deal with that Metha– Mefa – ya know, the devil?

M- Let’s talk about the models you worked with. They were beyond gorgeous.

J- Really – I didn’t always think so. Musta been all them coats of Mehron!

READ MORE-

LADY GAGA IS FALLING DOWN






laaaady gaga fell down while walking in her 20" platform boots.

it was like watching the empire state building collapse.
does anyone remember SUSAN? the antenna hair-do lady who used to traipse up & down la brea ave in her mire 13' platforms?
i'll find some images and post laters

FOLSOM-2010




here's a couple photos from folsom- 2010

courtesy Rob Ordonez

6/21/10

PIN-UP


photo courtesy~ bettinger studio

FUCKBALL





i'm sooooooo sick of futbol, football, basketball, anything to do with a ball.... AND THE LAKERS!
i've never been into sports, so i guess that makes me an old-school homo, but i just don't get the aggression without a release, (as in cumming).
the audience for mainstream sports are violent and disruptive.

last thursday, (laker night) a guy actually got out of his mercedes on las palmas ave and took our balloons lining the street for 1ST HOLLYWOOD ART WALK.
when i asked him to, "please not seal our balloons, his response was, "call a cop. these balloons are for my kid."

so in honor of futbol season, sports fanatics and all the crazies that come with it, i present some loving images for your viewing pleasure, courtesy antebellian RIK LAWRENCE-