ANTEBELLUM BLOG

8/30/10

NICO & ADRAIN~ 2011

if you are lucky enough to be in NYC this friday, check out NICO & ADRIAN's S/S 2011 collection!

ANTEBELLUM is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of artist~ SCARLETT ROUGE~ IN THE WOMB.
i have know scarlett rouge since she was 0 years old. i like to consider myself her "uncle." it has been a pleasure to see her grow into an incredible artist with a bright future.
please join us for opening night~ SEPTEMBER 2ND~ 6 till 9pm.

antebellum presents~

Scarlett Rouge
IN THE WOMB: Death, Birth, and Everything In Between
Opening reception September 2, 6 to 9 pm.

Antebellum Gallery
1643 N. Las Palmas Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90028
+ 1 323 856 0667
antebellum@earthlink.net

Antebellum gallery is pleased to present “In The Womb: Death, Birth, and Everything In Between,” the first US solo exhibition by Los Angeles and Paris-based artist Scarlett Rouge. “In The Womb” is a multi-media installation which continues Rouge’s interest in archetypal and alchemical symbologies and the metaphor of birth as it relates to society’s capacity to communicate and evolve.

“In The Womb” creates a narrative questioning our most basic assumptions and deep-seated fears through a series of sculptures materialized in oil paintings inside ostrich eggs, which rest upon hand-sculpted steel pedestals. The creations are unions of the earthly and celestial, strength and fragility.

Accompanying the sculpture installation is a short video art work, “Magic Trauma Sprinkles.”

Opening Reception:
Thursday, September 2, 2010 from 6-9pm.

Please join Scarlett Rouge for additional salon events at Antebellum~

September 10th, 7-10pm: Film Night:
Magic Trauma Sprinkles and other video art works.
September 12th, 10:30am: Yoga with Rouge ($15).
September 19th, 10:30am: Yoga with Rouge ($15).

SCARLETT ROUGE is a multi-medium artist who lives and works in Los Angeles and Paris. Her first performance was at age 4 holding a sign that read “Nepotism” as she and the band “Visiting Kids” opened for Nina Hagen in Hollywood. Over the next 23 years, she sang, acted, painted, sculpted, modeled, cooked, and performed. As a child, her art practice began with a quest to discover what God really is. She became interested in metaphysics, quantum mechanics and Eastern philosophies while furthering her spiritual development through yoga and magick rituals. Rouge says, “If I found myself in art, it was a combination of my father’s own art practice and my mother saying in her heavy French accent, ‘There are no more philosophers, only artists.’”

Rouge has a permanent installation at Owenscorp in Paris and recently had a solo show at The Palais Bourbon in Paris. In June 2010 she was a guest artist in Vaginal Davis’ performance “Speaking from the Diaphragm” at New York City’s PS122. Rouge’s work has been shown at Track 16 in Santa Monica, Antebellum Gallery in Hollywood, The Palais Bourbon in Paris and she has participated and performed in alternative spaces. Rouge graduated from Calarts with a BFA in 2002. Her press coverage includes such publications and websites as Dossier Journal, A Shaded View on Fashion, NY Times Magazine, LA Weekly, and Interview.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ANTEBELLUM is located in the heart of Hollywood. Founded by
RICK CASTRO in 2005, Antebellum is steeped in Victorian nuances with a salon style and is a casual space for art and engaging conversation. The gallery is intended as a hybrid of artistic, cultural, and political iconoclasm. Antebellum is the only fetish art gallery in America, and perhaps the world. Antebellum approaches the subject of fetish as something personal to each artist. What is their driving force? What moves their soul?

Antebellum is housed in a 1923 building rich in Hollywood history and creative culture. Prior to its current incarnation as an art gallery, the space was an antiquarian bookshop called Baroque books (circa-1960ish-1989) owned by Red Stodolsky. Red was best friends with writer Charles Bukowski, and the two would drink together regularly at the space where they would frequently host impromptu book signings. Designer Rick Owens created his first collections next door from 1995-2004. The building has been in numerous films ranging from “The Cotton Club” to “Knocked Up.”
www.antebellum.us.ms

RICK CASTRO is an independent filmmaker, photographer and curator living in Los Angeles. His work has been published in artist editions, exhibitions and institutions.
Rick Castro lives and works in Hollywood, California.

POLE RIDER

check out JOSIAH GRANT aka JOSIAH "BAD AZZ" pole dancer and teacher.

(photos by~ Alloy Images)

what a talent.. i've got to get him to perform @ antebellum.

you can take his workshop HERE-

8/29/10

SUNDAY @ ANTEBELLUM

sunday's @ antebellum are uniquely tranquil salons.

we started with yoga @ 10am with my modern shaman & yogi~ EDWARD VILGA, assisted by his mascot dog- BELLE.

(assistant yogi~ belle)

then followed by the KINKY CAMERA CLUB. this month's guest host was photographer STEVEN BLANK, who created an event with two amazingly hot models- NORMAN & RAYMOND, modeling simultaneously @ different spots in the gallery.
towards the end of the club they teamed up and..... wow!

to make the event even more unique, antebellum artist~
JOSE DE JUAN, came by and created watercolor paintings of the salon.

here is the result.

(kinky camera club as painted by jose de juan)

for more info about YOGA SUNDAY and KINKY CAMERA CLUB, please contact-

antebellum@earthlink.net

PIN UP

photo courtesy~ barry morse

8/28/10

PUPPET FETISH

did you know there was a puppet fetish?..
it's getting bigger all the time.... here's a sample.. more to come.

REMEMBERING HOLLYWOOD

here are two historic pic of hollywood, from back in the day~

MUSSO & FRANKS GRILL~ circa 1919.. still open to this day. considered the oldest resturant in hollywood. my breakfast club and I had breakfast there this morning~ i recommend the flannel cakes!

HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD~ circa 1940~ traveling west to east. las palmas ave is on the left, highland ave is on the top right. musso & franks would be on the lower right.

THE HISTORY OF FETISH

since i do own the only fetish art gallery in the world, (ANTEBELLUM) many people ask me to explain fetish. i thought the best way to approach this~ a topic of vast definition and impossible to fully explain since the concept of fetish changes with society~ was to go directly to the sources that created the first theories of fetish.

it's no coincidence that fetish is becoming mainstream in the 21st century. the time is finally right. what was once vastly misunderstood and deviant is now part of contemporary culture. i like to think that i've had a lot to do with this acceptance within art, ( my photography and antebellum gallery) film, (hustler white, plushies & furries) & fashion, (rickcastro,com) . here's how our historians previously defined fetish-

from websters dictionary-
FETISH- (from the French fétiche; which comes from the Portuguese feitiço; and this in turn from Latin facticius, "artificial" and facere, "to make") is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others. Essentially, fetishism is the attribution of inherent value or powers to an object.

Initially, the concept of fetishism was used by the Portuguese to refer to the objects used in religious cults by the West African natives.
The concept was made known in Europe by Charles de Brosses circa 1757, while comparing West African religion to the magical aspects of Ancient Egyptian religion. Later, Auguste Comte used the concept to apply an evolution theory to religion. In Comte's theory of the evolution of religion, he proposed that fetishism is the earliest (most primitive) stage.
In some forms of Christianity, which is a monotheistic religion, the Holy Cross and consecrated host are examples of fetishism.
In the 19th-20th century, Tylor and McLennan held that the concept of fetishism allowed historians of religion to shift attention from the relationship between people and God to the relationship between people and material objects.

(west african fetish)

alfred binet theory-
Alfred Binet proposed that fetishes be classified as either "spiritual love" or "plastic love". "Spiritual love" occupied the devotion for specific mental phenomena, such as attitudes, social class, or occupational roles; while "plastic love" referred to the devotion exhibited towards material objects such as body parts, textures or shoes.

(alfred binet)

sigmund freud theory-
First described by Sigmund Freud in 1887, sexual fetishism is a form of paraphilia where the object of affection is a specific inanimate object.
A fetish is when a person is sexually aroused by a specific object or objects. What makes a fetish "fetishism" by definition is that it interferes with your life. It's not just something you like to do, or you want to do, but something you have to do. It’s as if there is a compulsion.

(freud's infamous~ therapy couch)

karl marx theory-
"Fetishism" in this context refers to symbolic attribution of power to an object to the point where people believe and act as though the fetish object really has that power, and this power is even regarded as being intrinsic to the object. In reality, that power is not an intrinsic characteristic of the object at all. However, in terms of social behavior, if a sufficient proportion of people act as though the object has the power, then the object can function as if it had that power.
For thousands of years, people already knew or believed that particular objects or activities could cause harm, and that others could have good effects, even although they did not really know why in a "scientific" sense. Consequently these "primitive" people were apt to regard such objects as being ruled by good and evil spirits, or endowed them with magical or supernatural powers, and they devised rules for their appropriate use. Some objects were then treated as sacred or taboo, meaning they could not be touched or used, or that they could be used only under specific conditions, or by authorized people.

(karl marx)

Marx argued that a similar sort of perception arises in market trade, where special powers are attributed to the traded objects and their relationships, to the extent that people believe and act as though those powers are the natural, inherent characteristic of the traded objects and theorize about them in that way. Since social relationships are expressed as the relationships between the things being traded, it begins to look like social characteristics, such as value and exchangeability, are the natural, intrinsic characteristic of the things being exchanged.

(marx's market trade fetish)

(freud's foot fetish)

(binet's material fetish)

(modern day fetish~ combines all theories)

to learn all about the wonderful world of fetish~ visit ANTEBELLUM gallery wednesday thru saturday~ 1~ 7pm, and check out our website~ www.antebellum.us.ms

LIVE PERFORMANCE

(this image & info courtesy~ nic kne)

check out BLOODHOUND GANG, ( Formed in 1992) a Collegeville, Pennsylvania-based American comedy alternative/punk band, although it began as a rap group and gradually changed their genre throughout the years. Their songs typically have humorous and off-beat, satirical lyrics that often deal with sexual subjects and contain many puns and innuendos.
They are best known for their hit singles "Fire Water Burn" and "The Bad Touch".

during mid-2006 they started using a "golden shower" act onstage during a rendition of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence." Ant'nee (one of the band's crew members) also mentioned in one of the Belgium shows, Evil Jared used feces instead of using urine as an alternate.

8/27/10

KINKY CAMERA CLUB ON SUNDAY

(model- norman- photo- steven blank)

all you budding photographers out there... the KINKY CAMERA CLUB for august is coming this sunday with guest host-
STEVEN BLANK and two of his favorite models- NORMAN & RAYMOND.
reserve now for the discount

ANTEBELLUM
presents
KINKY CAMERA CLUB

keeping in the tradition of irving klaw, (who used bettie page as a model), antebellum is proud to recreate the camera club of the 1950s!

KINKY CAMERA CLUB
hosted by special guest artist- STEVEN BLANK

guest models~ NORMAN & RODNEY

(model- raymond- photo- steven blank)

(norman will explore the sports/ jock image, going from athletic gear to sports underwear, jock strap to nude.
Rodney will take us on a journey of kink with a collection of his own latex and leather)

$75 pre paid
$85 @ the door

please join us
AUGUST 29TH- 1PM

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

8/26/10

TONY WARD IS A 10

check out the newest issue of 10 MAGAZINE from the UK. the entire issue is dedicated to my longtime pal & muse- TONY WARD.
there is also the first, (but not the last) interview with my berlin buddies~
NIC & JOHNNY, creators & designers of TONY-WARD.COM and the graphic artists & webmasters of ANTEBELUM. WOW!
you can check out they're very funny interview here-
file:///Users/antebellum/Desktop/10Magazine.pdf

/Users/antebellum/Desktop/10Magazine.pdf