I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid I clipped things out of magazines and stuck them to the wall. I remember vividly having Jodeci, Milla Jovovich and Marilyn Monroe in close proximity. The fact that everything these days is viral and that this might date me makes me slightly sad. I was also sad when the day came to tear down these seemingly un-saveable collage projects from the wall. I implored my mother to briefly save a door once, but eventually it too got thrown away.

Willie Alexander, best known as the keyboardist for the Velvet Underground, also really liked to tape things to his wall. Apparently, he never stopped. Since he was 13 years old, he has been taping and collaging found images together from magazines, newspapers and everyday life. Even while on tour with The Velvet Underground he would obsessively collect daily ephemera and paste it in journals, cataloging his experiences. Back at home, he would stay up at nights tacking images to every possible surface -including the ceilings- perfecting a system with packing tape where once he was done, he could peel the wall (or ceiling) off in its entirety like wallpaper. This week, Esopus, one of my favorite publications who does only amazingly cool, head-spinning things, is displaying these collages for the first time ever. The exhibit goes up on Thursday, but Alexander himself will be on hand next week to meet with people like me who who are excited about this special art form typically relegated to the teenage bedroom. I’ve already started a new wall.

Willie Alexander’s show, Wall Works, is up February 9th- March 13th with an Artist’s reception on February 15th from 6-8pm at Esopus Space, located at 64 West Third Street, open to the public Mondays from 12 to 8pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 to 6pm, and always by appointment.

Image: Willie Alexander/Esopus Space

Caris Reid is one of the most creative people around. She creates, curates, writes, dances, sings, sends coded messages and does all sorts of cool things (including contribute to Dossier.) When we put on an week-long party during fashion week and asked everyone to host an event, Caris was one of the first to respond by offering up a guided Reiki session with Randi Ditman-Ibrahim. Oh, and she also curated an art show based on hypnosis. So it came as no surprise to me to find out that Caris is now teaching a collage class, or two collage classes; one for children and one for adults. This week, participants will cut, paste, and pass in the tradition of the surrealist parlor game, Exquisite Corpse. Expect wine, scissors, and stacks of vivid imagery. You are welcome and encouraged to bring some of your own inspirations, but it’s not necessary. To add to the fun, all of this takes place at The Oracle Club, a members-only throwback to surrealist literary salons, which got a nice write-up in the Times. The room the class takes place in has beautiful lighting, tall ceilings, huge plants, and is the perfect backdrop for creativity. And if you are feeling like you have no creativity, don’t worry. I am sure Caris will let you borrow some of hers.

The class for adults is every Tuesday at 7:30 pm. The classes for children is every Saturday from 9:30am-10:30am for ages 6-8, and 11am-12pm for ages 9-10. All classes are $20 per person, and are located at The Oracle Club, 10-41 47th Ave in Long Island City. To reserve a spot, email: theoracleclub@gmail.com

Image: Collage made by students in Caris Reid’s class

Photographer Katja Rahlwes describes her images as “Cool Women, or better: Femme Intense.” She re-phrases the perception of the female gaze, with her own unfaltering approach to shooting women who are in command of every shot. Her glamazonian subjects often subvert the idea of the classic pinup. Katja has contributed to independent publications such as Self Service, i-D, Dutch, Butt and Made in USA. She has also created works for the fashion houses Celine, Chloe, Miu Miu, A.P.C, Maison Martin Margiela and Gucci. Katja’s closest relationship to date has been with Purple. Her most recent collaboration was the Full Moon supplement for issue #16, comprised of childhood pictures, Polaroid snapshots and a number of her own collection of vintage postcards. The zine is rendered with a combination of black and white images next to a neon orange colourwash. With her numerous editorials, intimate still-life pieces and self-portraits, Katja’s images make for a rich portfolio.

Natasha Arnold: How did you acquire a taste for fashion photography?

Katja Rahlwes: From an early age I was drawn to imagery through magazines. I’d cut out everything that triggered an emotion in me, made me dream, escape or move. I still have a huge collection of bits and pieces, photo cut-outs, postcards, entrance tickets.

Natasha: How did you develop your attachment to still-life photography?

Katja: It’s a very personal process for me to work on stills, I really love that moment when I start setting up a scenario, it’s quiet, there is suspense. My aim was to inject some new sense to it. It all started when I took more and more pictures of my personal environment. I did that to remind me of ideas or situations or set ups I liked. It was a sort of diary memo work. I then discovered the magic of mini photo sets, the way you would set up a situation inspired by the items you photograph. Great design has a lot of soul, so a fabulous pair of shoes can lead you in quite a storyboard.

Natasha: You’ve had a strong connection to independent publications throughout your career. What is your main drive behind this line of work?

Katja: Basically, independent publications allow you to develop your groundwork. You are more or less free to let run your creative thoughts. There is also something quite confidential about it, you work close with a team of people and you sense the passion everybody has for what they do, that is so important. Some magazines can become your house of thoughts.

Natasha: You have worked a lot with Purple. I loved your recent supplement. Can you talk us through the ideas behind the display of intimate childhood Polaroids and vintage postcards?

Katja: That book is a collaboration with Olivier Zahm and I guess we are still looking for who I am. I think we all are driven by a moment of time and images we never forget or helped us form a point of view. I am, for sure. I collected the vintage postcards at the time they were absolutely not vintage but they are today. Postcards help me to capture a moment of me being somewhere no matter where and what I do. A postcard is always the ideal representation of something. At least, I would say that is the intention of a postcard. For me, I sense a lot of loneliness from a postcard too. It really makes me think.

Natasha: In your formative years you worked as a fashion illustrator, fashion stylist and studied fashion design at Studio Berçot. With such a multi-disciplinary background, is there a path outside of photography you’d like to pursue?

Katja: I don’t know, but it is true I am thinking about it a lot, “What is my next step?” I love furniture and lamps, I would love to be able to just buy everything I discover in that domain and furnish a big house or an entire village!

Natasha: Who are your art heroes and why are they important to you?

Katja: I was actually really blown away by a recent show I saw in Paris at The Museum of Modern Art by Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch. I thought to myself: if you come up to such a high point of realization about our today’s today, what’s next? How can you move on and not go crazy? Super hyper lucidity, they are quite strong out there.

Natasha: Could you pinpoint your personal influences?

Katja: Really everything has an influence on me. Essentially it would be my dilemma and my strength.

Natasha: Living between Paris, London, New York and then your home of Frankfurt- are there any tangible differences between each city? Do you have a favorite?

Katja: No, no favorite, but a place like Frankfurt am Main is nice because it’s a ‘wannabe big’ city with all the wannabe clichés of a branded city like Paris or New York, but then its very provincial too. Those elements are very touching to me. I gain new headspace when I go there. I am currently working on a book called Paris am Main, the romantic drama of messed up perspectives.

Natasha: What is your stance on the fashion industry today?

Katja: There is a lot to say, it’s a very reactive ground. I think its best to keep it in the open.

Natasha: Do you think there is something a female photographer can access that male photographers cannot?

Katja: I wonder is it really about making the difference? Because I think the work you do is due to the individual and the therefore each approach is different.

Natasha: What is next for you?

Katja: Going back to work!

All Images, Katja Rahlwes

Born and bred in London, Phoebe Collings-James creates multidisciplinary works in sculpture, illustration, photography and video. Her art is thought-provoking, provocative and demands a reaction from the viewer. The twenty-something artist has exhibited in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, Beirut, Mexico, New York and most recently at the Miami Art Basel RiffRaff show. Phoebe was recently featured on Purple Television, alongside her friend Karley Sciortino AKA Slutever, with their film Tit Prints, an homage to Warhol star Brigid Berlin. Up next, she will come to New York to hold a residency at The Still House Group’s Red Hook Gallery in March 2012.

Natasha Arnold: Is there a tangible chain of events which led you to art – or do you feel it is engendered?

Phoebe Collings-James: For as long as I can remember it is the only thing I have been compelled to do. I always enjoyed escaping in to other worlds and making things when I was younger. My house was full of music and dancing all the time which might explain why I like using sound so much, my dad had a ridiculous subwoofer in the living room that would make the whole house shake. He also had a darkroom upstairs, where I spent a lot of time in watching him work. I went to art school when I was 18, first to Byam Shaw then Goldsmiths. They were both eye-opening experiences but I am definitely happier outside of that system, it can be quite claustrophobic. It feels like a lifetime ago now.

Natasha: I read a tutor at Goldsmiths deemed your ink drawings of bestiality to be pornographic and highly offensive, I’d assert that just because someone is offended it does not make them right. Would you say attempts to teach art within an academic framework are futile?

Phoebe: I was livid when I first found out! Institutions are such funny things, some people seem to get fossilised in them and progress just passes them by. It was sad because I had really respected the work of that tutor and those drawings were quite clearly far from pornographic, most definitely not offensive. I don’t think education is ever futile. But I did have such a polarized experience of art school. On the one hand I had experiences like you have described, with old-fashioned ideas that ran all the way from what I was making to what I was wearing and the color of my hair. But then I also had some of the most stimulating conversations about art that really challenged and encouraged me.

Choke on Your Tongue, 2010

Natasha: Would you say your work is deliberately provocative?

Phoebe: I want it to have an impact on the viewer, I want them to be able to engage with it and as a tool quite often it helps to be a little provocative. Sometimes I think about it like a puzzle with a few missing pieces. I don’t want to give away the whole story, just make suggestions to encourage a thought or feeling. My work is not definitive, an important part is for people question what they are seeing, how it makes them feel and why, I want people to enjoy the experience. Whether it be emotional, silly, disgusting or even boring.

Natasha: Does London play a role in your creative output?

Phoebe: I grew up here, so London has my heart. Most of my friends and family are here. It is a very hard city, especially at the moment. The country is being crippled by cuts which makes it hard to stay optimistic at times. Saying that, I did feel very proud last week when I heard that 2 million had gone on union strike. Many of those people including my mum were under huge illegal pressure from their bosses to stay at work, so it must have taken a lot for them to make that stand.

Natasha: Do financial implications affect your work?

Phoebe: It some times affects the speed at which things can happen which is frustrating, but things always work out in the end.

Natasha: You have mentioned that music is a key influence to your artwork. What are you listening to at the moment?

Phoebe: Coastal Grooves by Blood Orange is great. I bought it as soon as it came out and have probably listened to it every day since. Sun Araw are getting to be another favorite too, I really want to work with them- maybe they will see this! Little Dragon is also fantastic. As for older stuff I started listening to Archie Whitewater’s Steam again recently, which I love. There really are too many to say! My Ipod is on all day so I am constantly flicking.

Natasha: Who are your art heroes?

Phoebe: I always find myself looking backwards, perhaps partly because works tend to build in pertinence over time. Particularly to the 70’s, artists like Carolee Schneemann, Stephen Dwoskin, Lynda Benglis, Yoko Ono…I could go on and on. Vito Acconci’s Seedbed is another work that springs to mind. I was actually speaking with Brenden from Still House quite recently about some work on show from that period at MOMA, I think it was from their permanent collection. We were both saying what an affinity we felt with the work they were making. I definitely have a feeling we are at a similar point now of massive social and technological change.

Natasha: More general influences?

Phoebe: Sun Ra, John Cage, Merce Cunningham and Rebecca Horn are all people I look to a lot. I think that growing up with a constant stream of TV, computers and cinema has had a massive affect on the way my brain processes and creates imagery. There is a pace to it that requires immediacy both when making the work and experiencing it. I sometimes find it hard to concentrate on art films for more than a few minutes, which is something that has probably filtered into my work. It is the predicted sensory overload of my generation I suppose. Having been saturated with digital screens we constantly require more to be sensually fulfilled.

Natasha: Did this observation act as a catalyst to your piece ‘Broken Hearts Requiem’?

Phoebe: Very much so. The gallery was shoebox small and as it reached crescendo the sound was so hypnotic that despite the near deafening wails people watched it through to the end. I was having quite a traumatic year whilst making that piece and the thought of sitting in front of a computer blubbing over a tiny, grainy youtube video seems ridiculous now. But actually, finding comfort in the inanimate, as futuristic as it sounds is the reality we are living in. I guess that’s what video often strives toward. Making the inanimate, animate.

Broken Hearts Requiem, 2011

Natasha: How does the Internet inform your work? Do you feel it has had a positive effect on the art world?

Phoebe: The Internet is a contemporary life force; it is incredible and naturally has a positive effect on art. Ultimately my work does come from life, I am looking at how we communicate fears and desires but I do find its possibilities very exciting.

Natasha: What does Art Basel mean to you?

Phoebe: Art Fun. I have never been, I have a picture of sunny skies and art dealers falling off boats drunk! The experience of viewing work at art fairs is usually pretty sterile, I think most artists I know going out there are planning shows that try to break away from that.

Natasha: With Charles Saatchi recently describing the art buying world as ‘vulgar, eurotrashy and masturbatory,’ do you care about your audience and who buys your work?

Phoebe: Well he would know, wouldn’t he? It’s yet to be something I’ve had very much contact with. Luckily all of my works have gone to happy, art loving homes. And it definitely makes a difference because, to go back to what I was saying earlier, art really should be about a conversation. There is no need for that to stop at the gallery.

Natasha: You had a piece in the show ‘Riffraff’ with the Still House Group in Miami. What did you exhibit?

Phoebe: I showed a piece called Splitting of the Phallus, Making of the God. It is a phallus splayed through the seam, swinging from a noose.

Natasha: What message do you hope to communicate from that piece?

Phoebe: The description creates quite a violent image but in reality it almost resembles some sort of bone. I was interested in the historical symbol of the phallus as protector, against evil spirits, as a protector of women and children. It is about breaking myths, freeing us from the shackles of certain charms and traditions. The split phallus is an effigy, a mini monument to the free.

Splitting of the Phallus, Making of the God, 2011

Natasha: What motivated you to join The Still House Group?

Phoebe: I love them! I went to visit their studio when I was in New York this year and I was really impressed by their attitude and the art I saw. They are working from an incredible space in Red Hook at the moment, it’s the size of a football pitch, right on the dock. I am going to do a residency with them in March next year and I can’t wait.

Natasha: Would you say your gender is pertinent to your work?

Phoebe: I don’t think there is an artist alive or dead whose gender doesn’t colour their work to some degree. I wouldn’t say it was pertinent but it is certainly visible.

Natasha: Is the reaction to your work notably different when you exhibit in cities outside to London?

Phoebe: I have really noticed it when works have been shown in London and then taken to another country. When I showed Primates last year in Berlin the reaction was far steelier than in London. People were not just uncomfortable but in some cases found it very offensive. And that’s where the power of suggestion comes in to play, the shame and disgust that are felt are dependent on the viewers’ own perception of what they are viewing and the connections they make.

Natasha: What are you working on next?

Phoebe: Lots of things all at once! But I am really excited about a new work I am making with Matthew Stone. It’s a performance piece that will happen in a Hammam in Marrakech during the Biennale early next year.

Top Image: Phoebe Collings-James by Tom Ordoyno

Sexily titled Tailgates and Substitutes after a Bob Dylan song, the group show at Thierry Goldberg includes the work of twelve artists ranging from sculpture, to painting, to photography. Many of the artists in the show are working with abstracted forms in various mediums. The idea of substitution aptly has a connection to abstraction; many of the artists are exploring the space between when meaning is emptied out of something and when our minds fill it back up.

The work of Joyce Kim and Ellie Krakow play with the perception of viewing in the split second void that occurs during substitution. Kim has two pieces in the show that combine minimalist sculptural and painting gestures with pieces of framed text that are heavily narrative. On first approach, Traces of Gold XII is a piece of loose leather hung above a rectangular canvas that has been treated with iron, and a piece of wire that connects from the top of one to the bottom of the other- creating a beautiful negative shape on the wall. Squatting down to read the text piece that is propped on the ground, a specific but yet paradoxically vague snippet of a story emerges. Immediately following reading the text you start to evaluate the objects, painting, and pieces that are making the installation in a new representational way, the imagination starts to fire to make connections. The balance Kim has struck in making minimalist installation transform through text into objects that seem like evidence of the story, but open enough that not every viewer is finding the same story, is compelling. Krakow photographs ancient bust sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum, showing them side-by-side; one-figure remains, while the other is erased. The closeness of the silhouette from one to the next at first seems like the same statue but subtly you find they are different bust. By showing us a full bust and then vacating the next one, Krakow is able to evoke history and its relationship to time and representation by focusing on these past relics. There is a sobering moment when it is possible to find yourself in the voided space, one day knowing that you and your life will be the relics.

By naming the show Tailgates and Substitutes there is a possible recognition and understanding of how artist and viewers make work, all through a process of alliances and having one thing take the place of another. The landscape photographs of Hannah Whitaker rub close to abstraction. By de-contextualizing a close view of land and reduced elements, she seemingly winks as it becomes figurative and extremely sexy. White snow runs diagonally down a dark mountain or minimal mounds of snow appear to be sucked into the rolling land.

Tailgates and Substitutes is on view through January 22 at Thierry Goldberg, 103 Norfolk St, New York.

Parasimpatico, a multimedia exhibition that recently concluded, is the first major solo exhibition in Italy by Pipilotti Rist, a boundary-breaking Swiss artist. Her installations, which transform the medium of film by reinventing language and employing expositive procedures, have been exhibited worldwide at musuems including MOMA in New York and Centre Pompidou in Paris. By tapping into her audience’s emotions, Pipilotti creates a nebulous space between dreams and reality that connects basic human instincts with spirituality.

Photographs by Paola Foresti

The artist, Pipilotti Rist.

Jess Rotter is an illustrator who lives in Brooklyn. Not only does she run a successful t-shirt line, producing shirts with her own illustrations based on vintage record covers, but she is also the head of publicity at the music label Mexican Summer. Through her job, she travels to shows and music festivals around the world, and it’s on the road where she frequently finds inspiration for her personal work. She has contributed to Dossier, and worked on projects with brands such as The Gap, and Pamela Love, among others. But her biggest contribution yet – in scale and meaning – may be the mural in room 1122 of The Ace Hotel in New York. One in a series of artist collaborations commissioned by the hotel, it combines her love for music, illustration, and travel, housing it under one roof. I was lucky to be invited to watch part of the process and ask Jess a few questions.

Stephanie Tran: How long did the mural take you, from start to finish and what did you listen to while painting?

Jess Rotter: The total time was 10 hours, evening to morning. I listened to a lot of mixes from friends during the ride (Turquoise Wisdom, Dublab, and Doodcast!). There was definitely a rad 2 am champagned Thin Lizzy moment, which is always the best.

Stephanie: How did you choose the image for the mural?

Jess: I based the painting on an image I shot in Marfa, Texas a couple of years ago. The landscape was originally made to be included in a comic book I am currently working on called Paradise, which is about trying to experience true moments as a whole, whether nasty or gorgeous – a feat not easy in the age of our lives being filtered by emails, phones, and Campbell soup cans. It’s kind of fun to have all this heavy plain trippin’ taking place in a little New York City hotel room.

Stephanie:You mentioned listening to a certain song a lot while traveling, which must have a special meaning here, as a soundtrack to your mural, in a hotel room where your work will be seen by many others in a similar state of transience.

Jess: The country-folk-blues song Never Make a Dollar That Way by David Wiffen, from 1971, is a really special personal totem, as it’s been a go-to reflective jam for years throughout my travels. One of the finest times I’ve had with the tune was solo escape of a crazy party in the desert, and being truly dazed staring at cartoon stars within completely pitch-black air. There were tears, there were smiles- it was awesome, it was… paradise. The song can be found here.

Marfa, Texas in New York City? Paradise indeed.

Photographs by Jeaneen Lund

Above photo: Rick Ross signing a photograph of himself by Jonathan Mannion at AE Gallery

Saturday, December 2 on South Beach saw the Phillips du Pury charity auction at The Webster benefiting the Playgrounds Around The World charity. Artworks by Ryan McGinley, Dan Colen and the late Dash Snow hung on the walls, the first time the three downtown legends had ever shown together. The three pieces raised just over $200,000 ($150,000 for the Colen alone, the other two about $25,000 each) for the charity.

Mihoko’s 21 Grams, a high-end Franco-Japanese restaurant opening in Manhattan next year, provided guests dinner prior to the auction, replete with caviar and pink chevre mousse bombs. As bidding concluded, an impromptu dance party began, the star of which was 9 year-old Sunny Melet, who began to jump rope with a giant scarf worn by one of the guests, urging everyone to take turns.

After the room played jump rope, Ryan McGinley spoke about how happy he was to be involved in the auction. “I chose this piece because I knew it would sell, since this is a charity auction you always want to pick a piece that will sell. It’s an important cause. And I’m happy to do anything to promote Dash Snow’s work.”

He commented that this year at Basel was his most enjoyable to date. “My favorite experience at Basel this year was having my work shown with a few artists whom I really love and respect, who I have never shown with before. It was also great to see my work displayed on a 7000 square foot screen at The Bass Museum event. I’ve never had my work displayed on such a large scale, and it was amazing for me. It was like a drive-in theater, with a few hundred people watching on bean bags. On the other hand, my least favorite experience this year in Miami was getting a moving violation for rolling through a stop sign. I haven’t been pulled over in years… It was bad. Terrible.” (laughs).  New York artist Brent Birnbaum jokingly added, “My favorite thing at Basel this year has been seeing composed civilized people wasted on the street.”

Above photo: Bodybuilders in front of Mint & Serf graffiti at the Norwood/Patrick Duffy party

Patrick Duffy’s Norwood party at the Shore Club with downtown graffiti artists Mint & Serf filled the last night of Basel with bulging muscles, spray paint and hip hop. Mint&Serf, AKA Mirf, lead the Peter Pan Posse, a downtown collective that runs the streets of today like the Irak and ALIFE crews did a decade ago.

At the pool behind the Shore Club, shiny bodybuilders flexed, smiled and posed in front of a spread of fake candy treats and a backdrop of a 1950’s era suburban living room. Guests reclined in cabanas, smoking weed from apples. People danced around the bar and DJ booth as Gucci Mane and Dipset bounced through the tall sheer white curtains that billowed in the breeze.

Around 8pm, the body builders left their posts, and Mint & Serf’s graffiti crew quickly moved in and began spray-painting all over the backdrop. Mint dropped “REAL NY” in the upper right-hand corner. Guests crowded around, mesmerized as the artists fluidly took turns, spraying layer over layer of graffiti for over twenty minutes.

Then the body builders resumed their perches, and the artists headed to the DJ booth to pose for pictures and generally jump around like lovable juvenile clowns. “We’re the PPP!” laughed Mint, forever young indeed.

“The most important thing we’ve learned this Basel is keeping it cute, and keeping a lot of swag,” chimed in Jacuzzi Chris, AKA Same. Mint added, “This is by far our favorite event of Basel this year, because it’s so weird. Writing graffiti while smelling bronzer… After going to crazy parties, you get the idea. Everyone has crazy swag. There was the Louis Vuitton party with the bottles and the models, but it’s contained.” It was refreshing to be at a non-corporate event filled with a true Basel mix, where the PPP graf boys and the DSquared duo, Dan and Dean Caten, in matching white jeans, could mingle with trannies and Miami fake boobs. “Wow, this is great,” Dean or Dan Caten said (we weren’t sure who was who).

Few crews so dominated the Basel scene as PPP, with members showing art, throwing parties, doing public graffitti walls, DJing, performing and just generally winning Miami’s annual competition for best downtown crew. And this party – wild, weird, fun – was a great example of their unique New York swag.

Above photo: Rick Ross in conversation with photographer Jonathan Mannion at AE Gallery

In Miami’s design district, AE Gallery hosted Classic, an exhibition of key works of iconic urban music photographer Jonathan Mannion. Mannion has become the go-to photographer for legendary hip hop artists, and is renowned for developing strong, ongoing relationships with celebrated musicians who trust his ability to capture their artistry. His photographs of hip hop icons such as Jay-Z, Notorious BIG and Lil Wayne at once inspire a flooring sense of awe for their subject, whilst engendering a profound emotional connectedness. They capture not only the glamour and gravity, but their unguarded humanity.

Rick Ross made an appearance and sat down with Mannion to discuss photographs he has taken throughout Ross’s career. Each photograph was projected onto a screen and the pair reclined in white leather armchairs, reminiscing over each shared memory. At a photograph of Ross subdued in a canary yellow fur, Mannion exclaimed, “Bumble bee yellow fur?!” Ross, incredibly articulate and unstoppably smooth throughout the discussion, replied simply, “Yeaah!” “What was on your mind at this time?” “Excess.”

When I asked about his favorite moment of his career thus far, Ross replied, “It’s hard to pinpoint any one moment. There were so many minor struggles that meant so much to me. Looking at those pictures, I just remember that this was a dream. A dream that I worked hard for- I set a goal and I went after it. Any artist, you can create your own destiny. That’s something that I’m a living testament to.”

Below photo: Nine-year-old Sunny Melet jumping rope at The Webster charity art auction

Thursday night at the Gussman Theater for Performing Arts gave us the premiere of a short film by the graffiti artist Neck Face, followed by a performance by SALEM. Neck Face’s film, Born Under A Bad Sign, was mediocre if passable, but did end with a Kung-Fu street battle between a sworded man in a massive and delicately exquisite carved headpiece, and a tiny Asian woman who ended up having her neck slit, true to Neck Face’s frightening style.

SALEM subsequently took over the stage, filling it with soft, dense smoke, each member appearing witchy and swaying under alternating spotlights. Their gothic hip-hop chants (“If you can’t beat your bitch/Then you don’t need your bitch”) were delightfully contrasted with the decor of the restored Gussman, which is an odd mix of baroque/Mediterranean/gothic, but nonetheless lavishly beautiful.

Later in the night, The Black Lips gave an out-of-control performance at the Toyota Antics party at Grand Central. Guitarist Cole Alexander jumped and somersaulted into the crowd, who loved every moment of the rowdy spectacle. Backstage, Alexander was just as hyperactive, bopping and constantly moving around, clothed all in bright green. “Basel is kinda pretentious,” he said. “but I like art, so whatever.” Lead singer Jared Swilley commented “We are probably the greatest artists at Basel. Also, period. When I look in the mirror it’s considered art.”

Tony Cederteg is undeniably all things creative. A publisher, editor, designer, art director, musician and a friend, to name a few. In the beginning of December he surfaced as Jony and released a 7-inch vinyl entitled Fartygets Fingrar in an edition of 100 white transparent copies. In keeping with the “more than meets the eye” spirit the first 50 copies came with two CD-R records (Sibirien Series Vol. 1 & Vol. 2) and 23 new additional songs recorded on a cell phone and computer, along with a small booklet of lyrics. No, he’s not a Transformer. Yes, he does enjoy a good bottle of water and a bag of chips. Click “Read More” to enjoy his music and to watch the projects two music videos, directed, respectively, by Todd Jordan and Adam Saletti.

Owls with gangster tattoos. Children frolicking amidst an industrial landscape. Butterflies possessed by Dionysian fury. All of these unlikely subjects are recurring motifs in the phantasmagoric paintings of Los Angeles-based artist Sage Vaughn. His work continually tests the stability of the elusive boundary that separates the natural world from an urban sensibility—a complicated balance that emanates from his paintings with grace. With a solo show, The Runaways, currently on exhibition at San Francisco’s Fifty24SF Gallery and with two solo shows in China next year, Sage is quickly becoming a key player in the Los Angeles art scene.

Amy Davis: A lot of people think the backgrounds in your street scenes are actually blurry photographs atop which you’ve painted. How did that layered aesthetic develop?

Sage Vaughn: I love taking pictures, but I’m terrible at it. I used to take shots with disposable cameras and leave the plastic wrapping on, over the lens. The pictures came out looking like memories. They were like dreams—the harder you focused on them, the less you could see. So much of the imagery that we see today is digitally manipulated and, frankly, mediocre. Why does everything we see need to look like a Bruce Willis movie poster? By painting the backgrounds in my pieces a little imperfectly and out of focus, they shift from the “specificity provided by a camera lens” point-of-view and instead fall within the realm of recollection. They have the sentiment of a city, rather than that of an actual locale.

Amy: Your manila envelopes are featured prominently in The Runaways and are becoming a cornerstone in your body of work. How did you first decide to start painting on envelopes?

Sage: I started those because I love the idea of making something while you’re making something else. I have them around the studio constantly. At some point, they began to take the place of my sketchbooks. I kept them catalogued by date, thinking that I would look back at them years later, but a gallerist came through the studio a couple of years ago, drank some of my special studio espresso, got fired up and went through all of them and thought people might like to see them. I like that they provide a consistent format for me to work in.

Amy: Birds, butterflies, coyotes…What is your affinity to these particular animals?

Sage: Birds and coyotes….these are animals that are thriving in our world. I’m interested in that facet of our existence—that area where the line between instinct and tradition is less defined. We love to call it black and white, but the difference between wilderness and society is not so clear to me. I like to echo the existence of these animals in my work, to chip away at our illusion of control. Emotionally, I prefer the chaos. The day after the ’94 Northridge earthquake, I was driving with my father through the San Fernando Valley. Most of the cinder block walls that surrounded people’s yards had fallen down, and I saw a pack of pet dogs running 50 deep through the streets. They looked like revolutionaries the day after the dictator had been overthrown. I remember sitting in my dad’s truck, wanting to run with them.

The Runaways by Sage Vaughn is on exhibit at FIFTY24SF GALLERY, 218 Fillmore Street, 
San Francisco, CA, through December 15.

Photographs and text by Amy Davis. Paintings by Sage Vaughn.

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