Melancholy GIF masterpieces from Laura Brothers. Brothers is just one of the many stellar artists exhibiting technology-inspired work in Synchronicity’s new show, Man, Such As We Know Him, Is A Computer.

Synchronicity, run by Chris Gere and Future Shipwreck’s own Katie Vonderheide, is one of L.A.’s most reliably awesome art galleries. Sadly, they’ve been in limbo for a few months now thanks to jackass East Hollywood landlords raising rents– so this show will be taking place at Mastodon Mesa‘s space in the Pacific Design Center.

Spencer Longo has taken on the task of transforming the gallery’s interior with an all-encompassing cyberdelic installation. Come check it out tomorrow night, January 20th– and get sucked into the net! The show includes work from Rafael Rozendaal, Peter Burr, and Owleyes and a boatload of other rad people. Don’t miss it!

Leilah Weinraub has spent eight years working on Shakedown, “the story of a black lesbian strip club in Los Angeles.” What started as documentation of the club’s by-women for-women performances (which Weinraub used for video installations) soon grew into something much more personal and meditative, as she began to focus on the lives of the performers outside the club. The deeper she became invested in the project, the clearer it became that a wider narrative of labor, community and symbiosis was being woven through the individual tales of the women who make up Shakedown’s extended family:

The film is anchored in the stories of three women: Ronnie Ron, the creator and emcee of Shakedown, a large butch/stud lesbian and former Jehovah’s Witness; Egypt, a single mother, beauty pageant fanatic, and dedicated self – (re)inventor; and Jazmyne, the complicated and sometimes conflicted “Queen” of Shakedown.

Go check out the video on Leilah’s Kickstarter page, and consider making a contribution towards the completion of this epic untold tale!

Every winter around this time, Giant Robot invites a boatload of marvelous artists to make original pieces on the unsung canvas of the Post-It. Hundreds of these tiny pieces are currently plastered on the walls of GR2, going for just $20 each– a bargain-basement price for many of these artists.

Last year and this year, I volunteered to assist in the intricate process of hanging this massive show. My reward was a sneak peek at the smörgåsbord of miniature masterpieces, which led me to determine with laser-point precision exactly which Post-Its I needed in my life. The three above were my selections from this year’s collection, crafted by (clockwise from upper left) Christina Song, Greg Clarke and James Chong– three artists I didn’t know from adam before this show, but to whom I now feel a deep-running affection.

Stop by Post-It Show 6 before it closes on January 12th! Below, check out the Post-Its I picked up at last year’s show, from three of my favorite artists (and one dude whose name escapes me).

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Here’s how it works: you pack as many artists as you can fit into a room, each of them wielding a projector. Then they each project whatever they want, wherever they want. It’s called BYOB, or Bring Your own Beamer. Beamer? You know how the Brits call trucks “lorries” and elevators “lifts”? Well the Germans call projectors “beamers.” Those silly Europeans, what will they think of next!

After the first BYOB in Berlin, the anarchistic romp was repeated in Athens, and again last week in New York City. The New York edition (see photos from the evening over at Rhizome) included Future Shipwreck faves Travess Smalley, Michelle Ceja and Artie Vierkant in a stellar line-up of 25 artists. But as tends to be the case, Los Angeles is about to outdo New York with a BYOB event this week featuring 29 artists! Eat it, big apple!

BYOB L.A. includes beams of light emanating from the minds and machines of rad people such as Eugene Kotlyarenko, Hazel Hill McCarthy III, and Parker Ito. Two net art masterminds, Guthrie Lonergan and Chris Coy (who also has a fun new project going on up at JstChillin), are responsible for assembling the evening’s west coast guest list, and they’ll be participating in the wild light show themselves. Don’t miss it this Friday, November 19th at the USC Gayle and Ed Roski MFA Gallery.

Apparently, the New York edition got so crazy, it caused a power outage. This could be a great opportunity to find yourself in a completely dark room full of foxy art nerds, don’t pass it up!

Unless you’re having a seizure right now, you’re looking at a GIF of a sculpture by Matt Furie. Furie’s first sculpture since art school was heralded by a barrage of flashing lights at Show Cave’s Corn on the Macabre III. The Halloween show also featured the talents of fellow Future Colors of America collaborators Aiyana Udesen and Albert Reyes, spooky new works by Leslie Winchester and Ariana Papademetropoulos, and a projector plugged into Furie’s Return of the Quack. Pictures below!

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Future Colors of America is a terrific artistic triad comprised of troublemaking superfriends Matt Furie (Boys Club and Return of the Quack), Aiyana Udesen (an ace at drawing Whorf, Britney Spears, and penguins), and Albert Reyes (whose haunted maze I helped bring to Mastodon Mesa last spring). It’s always a pleasure to see these three artists working together. Their distinct visual sensibilities and senses of humor weave effortlessly in their collaborations and crossovers. They take delight in both both intensifying and obscuring the symbols, fixations and refrains of each others’ canons.

Though the group has been collaborating for years, Future Colors of America made their eponymous debut when Matt and Aiyana brought Albert up to San Francisco last year for a show at GRSF. So Albert returned the favor by inviting them to show in his east L.A. neighborhood, El Sereno, on the eve of Halloween. Bouquet of Death, which also includes work from Monique “MAC” Contreras, Leslie Winchester and Aaron Martinez, marked the debut of the brand new DOA (Dose of Art) Gallery.

Like the rock stars they are, Future Colors of America opened another show in L.A. on the same night– Corn on the Macabre III at Show Cave. Pictures from that opening will be up shortly!

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Cali Thornhill DeWitt‘s head lays claim to two things that I covet: his slicked-back hair and his eyes. His eyes work different, they stop and pay real homage to the things that I can only admire in fleeting glances. As much is evident in the photos on his blog, where he focuses on the washed out yellows and pale blues, the pauses of the L.A. expanse, and his gorgeous family and friends who inhabit said space.

Cali’s latest body of work, This Natural World, juxtaposes epic abstractions of picturesque National Geographic landscapes with his own crystalline snapshots of Los Angeles– amplified through rapturous repetition. There’s a true admiration for our city present in these portraits, and their presentation both forces and lulls you into considering the concrete landscape with its musty mattresses as important as the exotic, hyperreal nature scenes he culls from National Geographic.

This Natural World is currently on display at Family, so definitely take a moment to sink into Cali’s vibrant visions when you stop by the Awesome Book of Thanks! release party this Saturday!

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Neck Face devised a hellish haunted house at OHWOW gallery last night to kick off his solo show, Into Darkness. Watch the madness unfold below, and then check out some classic gory imagery and dorky jokes from everyone’s favorite demonic rapscallion.

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Ruth Swanson, San Francisco champion of ethereal grit and sloppy sensuality, is bringing her stellar photo practice to L.A. I love watching the city I call home reveal itself in golden light and dusty air through Swanson’s fresh eyes. Swanson will be making her public debut as a Los Angeleno at Show Cave’s Corn on the Macabre III, a Halloween-themed show that also includes three of my all-time favorite illustrators: Matt Furie, Aiyana Udesen and Albert Reyes. Don’t miss it this Friday, October 29th!

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Mary Woronov is the raddest B-movie actress of all time. This is true not only because she is self-aware, saucy and sincerely good at what she does– but also because she’s an artist, a Factory Girl, and a prolific writer. She’s written novels, memoirs, and essays for Artillery on legendary artists from Edward Hopper to Takashi Murakami. She’s a trailblazer and I admire the winding and unconventional path she’s taken through life. When I look at the insane number of marvelous trashy movies on her IMDb profile, all I can think of is what a shame it is that she’s not in ALL the B-movies. Side note: I’m pretty sure there exists a clause in her contract stating that all Mary Woronov movies must have AMAZING posters (see below).

Woronov will be gracing one of my favorite L.A. galleries, Workspace, with her presence on Sunday, October 17th, for a reading called Notes on Film. It’s the latest installment in Nikki Darling and Kate Wolf’s excellent Five Point Readings series, and she’ll be flanked by CalArts faculty member/curator Michael Ned Holte and Peruvian photographer George Porcari. Go see a living legend in the flesh!

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