Three up, three down

Three days, three art shows. Is that a hat trick or a turkey? Three goals for a hockey player is great and so are three strikes in a row in a bowling alley. For me? It was inspiring but tiring!


On Friday, I visited Choi Jeong-Hwa's installation at REDCAT. The show continues his investigation of what is art, what is truth, and whether either designation really matters. He posed the question, "Are fake flowers inferior to real flowers if they look better and last forever?"


For example, a lot of the stuff you see here can be found in gift shops, junk carts, and 99-Cents Only stores. Churches and temples, too. But put in context, they are art. Or are they?


These piggybanks were flocked and hung like a chandelier. See the bulge on the right? It's a leftover structure from Barry McGee's show. Choi told me he left it intact because he wanted to keep some "real art" in the room.


The artist also designs furniture. The top surface of this red vinyl chair is smooth until you sit on the center cushion, which squishes down. It's super comfy.


Later that evening, I returned to REDCAT to congratulate the artist on his show and say hi to the crew, too. They spent two weeks taking down Barry's show and putting up Choi's, and were fried. (Not too tired for some adult beverages, though.) Below on the right is Mark Murphy, REDCAT's executive director, who was celebrating his birthday!


I interviewed Choi for GR years ago, and readers wondered if he was antisocial since his responses included "That's a stupid question" and "What the hell are you thinking?" I brought him a copy of the magazine and he was totally cool! (Not me, below.)


On Friday night, I checked out the group show with Saelee Oh and Jill Bliss at GR2. The collaborative works are super nice, and their styles complement each other very well.


We had to leave before either artist arrived, but the art alone was worth the drive. See those paper houses? They're limited-edition prints, popped out and assembled in 3-D!


You can see Wendy in the background eying a certain piece. It was still there this afternoon. Maybe I'll surprise her with it for Xmas...


On Sunday morning, I had brunch with Wendy's family in South Pasadena and I wondered if I was near Bent, the shop where Albert Reyes and Shizu Saldamando had an opening on Friday. Sure enough, there it was, almost right across the way from Buster's Ice Cream.


The work was cool. Among other pieces, Shizue had some original works on notebook paper and Albert painted Kate Moss on a freezer door! No, we did not miss out on any "spit art" on opening night.


This is Angie, who runs the clothing store/art gallery. She remembered me from a Bigfoot opening in Culver City! She's got nice taste, especially the wall of ceramics that I couldn't take a photo of because my SD card was full from the weekend. Damn! Too many interesting things going on...