Chloe Sevigny and boyfriend were spotted at the Bugs Exhibition Opening at Sonos Studio in LA on April 4 hanging out with filmmaker, friend and Bugs creator Tom Kuntz.
In one of the stranger multi-media installations we’ve seen,Tom Kuntz, in collaboration with electronic musician Dan Deacon, The Mill LA, and Sonos, brought his strange band of insects to life.
Deacon and six of his friends performed with the animated bugs themselves for an experimental electronic jam session featuring a unique instrument to each musician. They were outfitted in special costumes designed by Kuntz-collaborator Mindy Lebrock.
The Bugs exhibition is made up of six large monoliths containing TV screens positioned in a circle to immerse visitors in the visual and aural show. Kuntz designed the bugs, Deacon composed a wealth of loops for each, and The Mill LA worked their magic with animation and created software to generate randomized playback for the ensembles’ many loops. The final result is a perpetually changing installation with millions of variations. It is at once bizarre, comedic, and utterly fascinating, just like the team of collaborators. Music is not always a pure aural experience. From live performance, to music videos, to film, the visual facet of music has been an element of continual exploration and creativity. The Bugs installation highlights the power and fun of music and video coming together. Each Bug comes to life via a SONOS PLAYBAR, the ultimate conduit merging video and sound, conveying the rich musical soundscape that accompanies intricately rendered visuals. All six Bug characters perform simultaneously, surrounding the visitor, for an intense aural and visual experience, demonstrating the supremely immersive energy of the combined senses.
There is no future. We have evicted ourselves from our own cities, rendered our agriculture poisonous, criminalized the poor, aggrandized the rich, honored the stupid and ridiculed the intelligent…I have no solutions, no wisdom to offer…Whilst Rome burns, I take up my little chisel and I carve a panoramic apocalypse of my own…and if you want to see it, you’re more than welcome. – Stanley Donwood, 2012
Housed at Subliminal Projects in LA is Stanley Donwood’s latest body of work: Lost Angeles. The work is a highly graphic depiction of Los Angeles flooded and on fire under a meteor storm. The rhythmic waves pull you into this scene of catastrophe and submerge you in the chaos of it. To high success, Donwood paints a picture of impending doom on society as we know it today.
Donwood is best known for ‘London Views’, 2006 and his work with Radiohead over the last 18 years. Visit www.slowlydownward.com for more info on Donwood’s work.
On two nights last week, famed photographer, Mick Rock displayed some of his greatest works at the CATM Gallery, but with a unique twist: They were colorful interpretations of his photos featuring a whole slew of famous faces including Madonna and Bob Marley.
Guests who turned up to the event on Tuesday included another legend himself… Lou Reed.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at what went on at the show.
So gifted, so talented....these portraits capture her at her best
We have a brilliant London correspondent, Sophia Hemphill, who has provided us with access to this amazing interview with painter Sam Shaker, whose portraits of Amy will stand the test of time.
Sophia Hemphill, is an accomplished London journalist, known for breaking exclusive stories left, right, and center. Here, is her exclusive interview and pictures with painter Sam Shaker, which provide a fascinating insight into a irreplaceable talent.
Sam says;
Mitch and Jane are going to come to the opening night. I approached the nearest gallery to Amy’s house. We will show all the paintings but I can’t sell them, I’ll only sell about three or four to contribute some money to Amy’s fund. There are about 38 pictures but I can’t sell
them Amy didn’t want me to. I will sell limited edition prints so that I can cover the cost of it all. For me it’s for everyone to remember Amy. I want the ones that aren’t sold to go into a gallery. Amy always said to me that she didn’t want me to sell them, she planned to put
them in an exhibit.
Amy and I worked on this gallery for five years and she always said when they were finished she would put them in a gallery. I have approached the National Portrait Gallery but they have put me on a waiting list so we will have to see if they are displayed there. It’s Amy’s gallery and they are the only paintings of her and she has so many fans it’s important. When Amy made the record with Tony Bennett she phoned me and asked me to paint them together because she told me it was one of the most important things she ever did. I have only just finished it but it meant so much to her. Her gallery covers her images over the years, she always told me not to sell them it meant so much to have this collection for her. Its so sad. I want people to remember Amy. I want to put the collection in a secure place because four of them have already been stolen from my club where I had them.
Mitch is doing better. He played at my club (Jazz After Dark) recently. He plays here once a month, he was here two weeks ago. He rehearses here. He feels close to Amy at the club because it’s where Amy used to go, her pictures are here and her friends used to come down here. Mitch loves it here, he feels close to her here. He knows I was a good friend and loyal to Amy so now he likes to come. Amy used to come here and we would look at all her photos and choose one for me to paint.
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