Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver, Jim Cameron, Frank O. Gehry, and Dennis Hopper invited me to this swanky party in Malibu. On the way, I grabbed a cigar to puff with Arnie, some paint swatches to run by Frank, and a bag of hash to share with Dennis. But they're nowhere to be found so here I am checking out Hiro Yamagata's art. After all, it is his art opening. Even if you don't follow the art scene, you may be familiar with Yamagata's stuff. In 1988 his colorful cityscape prints combined with the work of Susan Rios accounted for more than half of the Martin Lawrence Gallery chain's seven-figure boutique sales! Also in the '80s he was responsible for the commemorative paintings for the 100-year anniversaries of the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower. Then in the '90s, he painted Hawaiian-shirt flowers on restored Mercedes-Benz Cabriolets, which were put on display at the 1997 Academy Awards Governor's Ball.

Today, the Malibu native dismisses his commercial paintings as "embarrassing" and would rather talk about his new work with lasers. Yamagata's lightwork combines elements of the cover art of Pink Floyd's stoner opus Dark Side of the Moon, with Disneyland's old "Adventure to Inner Space" ride in which tourists journeyed to the center of an atom. People can actually walk into installations where they are surrounded by an array of beams, reflections, and flashes. "By stretching the holograms and subsequently bouncing the laser beams off these surfaces, we are now able to perceive and start to deal with the ways the sun's rays divide light into color and other specific properties of the sun's light force," says Yamagata in his invitation/press release. This I had to see, and who am I to decline an invitation from Hollywood big shots? Driving up Pacific Coast Highway on a Friday night, traffic stops in front of the artist's cement complex, where a line of Town Cars and SUVs with tinted windows waits to be valet parked. I score a spot on the street a mile away and weave through the glut of celebrity stalkers and professional photographers who wisely opt not to take my picture.

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