#laodyssey

[thaoworra]

"Uncle Bryan, what's America like?"

[juanjaviercdaily]

“#flashbackfriday to the year: 2012...first apartment in LA...breakfast...furnished with the essential decor. #newfish #hollywoodbabylon #franklinave #laodyssey #losangeles #hollywood #fbf”

Juan via his Instagram on August 9, 2019.

[shaunsturz]

Congrats on the #photography show @serge_gil #LAodyssey #reverie #BruceLurieGallery (at Bruce Lurie Gallery)

[losangeleslibrary]

#LAOdyssey month may be coming to a close, but our biggest event is on its way! Join us this Saturday at Central Library for a marathon reading of #TheOdyssey! Details: lfla.org/odyssey - Repost from @libraryfoundla | #lapl #LAOdyssey #centrallibrary #dtla #homer #livereading

[thechernoble]

After spending 3 hours of my life making a fake Peter Shire vase for a display, I got really excited about seeing the real thing. #laodyssey (at Studio City Branch - Los Angeles Public Library)

[wanderingrider]

#outsidelands may be this weekend, but @alyssakjar and I are looking forward to two weeks... #fyf #LAOdyssey

[goldsoulblackheart]

la odyssey

[idajoglar-blog]

"Masked + Wanderers" opening

I got involved with the LA Odyssey project when Serge Gil, of Flores, Gil and Mann, having seen a previous work of mine, showed it to the others and they asked me to contribute a piece to their show.  They showed me 3 photographs, one of which was "The Ugly Duckling".  It is a striking image, with beautiful colors, but it is also very disturbing and a little scary.  It was this aspect of the project that attracted me and that resonates with my experience of visiting Los Angeles.

LA is a foreign land to me.  In the video, these creatures fall from the sky and are seen wandering around, taking it all in.  They might not realize it, but they fit right in.  This is a place where body image comes first and identity seems to be always concealed, at times shifting.

When asked what kind of art I make, I will often reply "interactive video art installations".  While this is an accurate description of the parts and components of my work, I think a more honest reply might be "I create experiences".

For this project, I wanted to create a viewer experience that is as unsettling as it is seductive.  Putting on the mask creates a heightened state of awareness.  One's vision and hearing are completely enveloped by the beautiful (if slightly disturbing) imagery and sound of the video, while also making the viewer vulnerable within the gallery space.  In the piece description on the wall, I added a "Clothing optional" note, a dare to the viewer.  In fact, at Thursday's opening I verbally dared several people, but in the end had no takers.

I was interested in the effect the piece creates for other people in the space: to see someone wearing the mask, standing still, in the middle of the gallery where the walls are covered in the photographs of masked individuals.  It is akin to asking people to participate in a performance piece.  As a close friend put it, most people don't come to these events to see the art, they come to be seen.  So the piece, as per instagram, was a huge hit.  Keyword: meta

It is always very satisfying to see people interact with one's work and I truly believe that a piece such as this is not complete until that human interaction happens.  I also got a lot of encouraging reviews from old and new acquaintances.

Unfortunately the piece will not be up for the remaining two weeks of the show. My apologies to anyone who might have been interested in going to experience it.  It was a hard choice to take it down, but in the end, I was not comfortable leaving my work in the hands of a gallery owner who refused to ensure its safety.  Not to mention that when I showed up the next day to talk about it, the power plug had been unceremoniously pulled "to save power" (nevermind that I had programmed a macmini to run the piece on a schedule: looping the video during gallery hours and putting the whole thing to sleep at night).  So this was not the venue for continued viewing of Masked + Wanderers, but I hope to put it on view some time in the future.

Here is a picture of me standing awkwardly with the installed piece the night of the opening:

Even more installation photos and film stills after the jump -->

[linennotes-blog]

This show blew my mind... Thanks for the invitation @lillmcgil 💋 #laodyssey #bruceluriegallery #photography #inspiration #motivation (at Bruce Lurie Gallery)

[thaoworra]

No cheating on your mini-golf scorecards!

[thaoworra]

Apparently Laosie the Riveter didn't test as well with the committee

[thaoworra]

It's just Lao poetry

[thaoworra]

A great way to close out Year of the Tiger with friends at the Embassy!

[thaoworra]

I'm sure they don't mean HAUNTED haunted, kiddo. It's only Ohio.

[thaoworra]

[thaoworra]

And in this part of the country, if you're really lucky, you can stop by this memorial at a Pennsylvania rest-stop dedicated to...checks notes... an abandoned section of the turnpike.