intersections

Downtown Art Walk

The second Thursday of every month in Los Angeles is the Downtown Art Walk. It officially runs from noon to 9:00 pm, but my sense is that it doesn't really get started until after dark.

Yesterday was my first experience of the Art Walk and I didn't get to do much, but I did stop by the Crewest Gallery where there were a couple dozen graffiti artists painting on boards and canvases. Photos after the jump.

Missional Museums?

I have a new post at Allelon's Missional Journey blog called "Missional Museums?" As I mention in the article, I got this idea when a few of us from the Hollywood Church went to the Getty Center to hear our friend and artist, Man One, speak as part of a panel discussion called, "Art in L.A.: 1997-2007."

Here's an excerpt:

Last December, the Getty Center turned 10, which caused so small amount of reflection not only in the art community but in the architectural community as well. An article on the front page of the LA Times by the resident architecture critic, Christopher Hawthorne, caught my attention. As I read his article I had this impression that I was listening to a conversation I am frequently a part of – that of the relevance of the church as an institution in our communities.

Hawthorne opens his December 2007 article, entitled, “Getty at 10: Still aloof, yet totally L.A.”* like this:

During much of the 1990s, as the Getty Center was rising on its Brentwood hilltop, a couple of stubborn questions dogged the hugely ambitious project: Would Richard Meier’s design ever have anything meaningful to do with, or say about, the city over which it loomed? Or would it exist as an expensive import, a vast collection of smooth enamel and rough travertine conjured up by a New York architect who looked west for commissions but east, to Europe and its Modernist past, for inspiration?

Questions worth asking, to be sure. Questions church leaders would do well to ask as they are “building” their churches. I hear a lot of talk in my denomination and others about building a great, relevant, healthy, significant churches. But often it seems like we do nothing more than build “expensive imports” inspired by our “Modernist past” that have little do with the cities in which they exist.

Read the rest here.

Art in LA: last night at the Getty

Last night a few of us were at the Getty Center for a panel discussion about Art in LA in the past decade (1997-2007). The main reason we were there is because Man One, the artist we've hired to do our mural at the church, was one of five panelists (moderated by Patt Morrison in the bright orange on the right). The prior day a different group of us were at the Arts & Parks committee of City Council to give public comment to the committee about the problem the city is facing with murals. I don't have time to go into all that here, but sufice it to say, the City, in combating legal and illegal super-graphics and billboards that multiply like rabbits, has made it impossible (legally impossible) to get fine art murals on private property approved. Things have ground to a standstill, so we're involving ourselves in this political process to urge a rapid resolution to this process.

However, while we were at the event at the Getty, some other things were said about art in Los Angeles that got me to thinking about missional church. So, stay tuned for the next post, Missional Museums.

Can art change the world?

This is a question I've been wrestling with for the past three weeks. As I mentioned before, I'm speaking this Saturday at the SONscreen Film Festival. So, I've been reading and researching as much as I can about this question. I've been asking, WDJT? (What does Jesus think? - sorry, I couldn't resist).

If you come to SONscreen on Sabbath you'll hear the full scoop - and I'll probably post my message online when it's done - but here's the short version.

I think some art can change the world. In the specific case of storytelling - some stories can change the world. The mere act of hearing someone's story can affect change, plant new possibilities, create a new imagination. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so. In my research this week, while cruising around the TED website (looking at Al Gore's new presentation) I ran across Pangea Day - a worldwide film festival on May 10, 2008. This is the creation of Jehane Noujaim, the writer and director of the documentary, Control Room, and the winner of the 2006 TED Prize. You can hear her talk about her vision for Pangea Day here.

Anyway, this is an incredible convergence of things for me, and I'll definitely be using this as an example of the way that film - the craft of visual storytelling - can affect change in our world. But people must engage, and I guess that's the point. Film can connect people and those relationships can change the world.

Keep reading to view the Pangea Day trailer.

On the Row exhibit opens

Photo by Alburn Binkley

We had a great time on Satuday night at Chris's exhibit opening at Overtones Gallery in West LA. The place was packed and the buzz was really exciting. As you can see from the picture above, the exhibit will be hopen from now until April 26, so I hope you can stop by and see his remarkable paintings.

For all the details see by previous post, here.

"On the Row" - Christopher Chinn

One of my friends who is a part of the Hollywood Adventist Church, Chris Chinn, has a major exhibition that opens tonight. If you're in the area, join us at 7:00 pm:

    Overtones Gallery
    12703 Venice Boulevard
    Los Angeles, CA  90066
    www.overtonesgallery.com

Chris has spent several years painting the homeless individuals he met and got to know on the streets of skid row in Los Angeles. I'm no artist, but I'm am deeply drawn to the humanity he portrays in these faces. And don't be fooled. This painting you see here at the left is 5 feet tall.

This is a solo exhibit - the first time Chris's paintings have been exhibited in a solo show. The first time I visited Chris's studio, behind his Highland Park home, I asked him if these painting had ever been exhibited. He told me that tried several times and consistently people told him, "You're a great artist. Come back when you're not painting homeless people."

Finally, someone has see Chris's vision.

Here's a link to Metromix Los Angeles posting.