Feb 03, 2015 One hour at the LA Art Book Fair 2015
Every Super Bowl weekend, a large group of people gathers in Los Angeles to get stoked, give bro hugs, and share high fives. Not football fans but collectors of art books from photocopied, staple-and-fold zines to deluxe coffee table collectables to everything in between. My wife and I were only able to drop in to the MOCA’s Geffen location for about an hour or so but maybe it’s better that way. I could have blabbed all day and would have left penniless.
It made perfect sense that the weekend’s gathering included a collection of books and zines by the Templetons curated by the Deadbeat Club. Ed and Deanna Templeton aren’t the only art photographers who make zines and are published in books but they are the most dialed in to skateboard culture as well as museum circle. So it was cool to see their history in print collected and displayed in an organized-but-not-too-fancy manner.
Immediately, I ran into friends. My pal Una Kim took some time off from tending her Keep Company shoe empire to join la familia Potes at the Hamburger Eyes table. I love their street-level photo zines, which are as DIY as they are packed with B&W energy. The Hamburger Eyes crew recently relocated from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and I can’t wait for them to print a riot zine after the Dodgers win the next World Series.
I also saw Rich Jacobs, who was back down from Oakland with a full spread of zines. I picked up Move Zine 26, an all-photo issue made in collaboration with Sergej Vutuc and filled with pics of music or bands. No dates or locations are listed, making it more like a crazy mix tape than an archive, and the mix of bands is unhindered by style or genre. Clickitat Ickatowi and Downset are on one page, while Mudhoney, Nels Cline, Big Drill Car, and Foo Fighters are on another. (Fugazi get their own spread.) Vutuc’s insert is more mysterious: blurred images and scratched negs on gray stock. Nice.
KCHUNG Radio had a table with mix tapes, mugs, and other gear for sale to support the cause. I’m a big fan of the free-form underground radio station, which broadcasts in Chinatown and streams online. Where else can you hear noise music, punk rock, and pro basketball gossip? Of course, my friend Gabie invites me onto her show a few times a year to blab about our next Save Music in Chinatown event. See you at the KCHUNG compound in May, and let’s get some Pho 87 right afterward.
Just around the corner was the Maricon Collective crew. The queer Chicano/Latino DJ and artist collective has really taken off over the last year, with shows at Ooga Booga, DJ nights all over town, and collaborative efforts with punk icons Alice Bag and Martin Sorrondeguy, as well as artist Shizu Saldamando. A very cool project with super nice people, too.
In the crowd I ran into an old friend Arrington de Dionyso, who was visiting all the way from Portland. I first met him when he was on tour with Old Time Relijun sometime in the ’90s. My buddy Aaron Hartman was playing stand-up bass in the band, and they all crashed at my place. Anyway, Arrington has a successful solo music venture now as well as a parallel career in the art world, and how cool was it to see him there.
Although the shoes he made for YSL aren’t in my budget, Arrington graciously flowed me a nice zine collecting recent works of his own modern anthropomorphic and hyper or hybrid gendered figures in somewhat tribal or religious poses. The effect is bold and raw, much like his music, and the publication even comes with a CDR. Nice! Too bad I didn’t get to see him play music at the art show.
I spotted artist, illustrator, and pal Michael Hsiung hanging out at the Secret Headquarters booth. I love his freaky, effortless linework and the Silver Lake shop is a real champion on independent and DIY comics and art, so the pairing made perfect sense. At the table, my wife picked up some mini zines about Korean food for a Korean friend. Would have been cool if she got The Complete Zap Comix box set for me, too, but there’s always next time.
Our time was almost up by now, but we couldn’t leave before finding the Giant Robot booth and saying hi to our old friend and partner Eric. On display was an array of signed or exclusive stuff from a lot of the usual suspects: David Choe, James Jean, Katsuya Terada, Edwin Ushiro, Audrey Kawasaki… I should have Sharpied up one of those Giant Robot 1 and 2 reprint sets!
Right next door to Giant Robot was Slow Culture Gallery, where Tim Biskup was hanging out and said hi. Did you know that he’s been in a band for nearly 30 years? Big Butter has a busy month ahead with shows at The Standard, Slow Culture, and Day XIX Studios in Eagle Rock. Check out @BigButterBand on Instagram for more details.
And there was so much more. I saw Ron Rege (Skibber Bee-Bye) and then Wendy Yao (Ooga Booga Store, Ooga Twoga) right when we walked in but I was holding coffee and couldn’t take their photos. Oh well. And No Age, Lucky Dragons, Thurston Moore, and who knows who else played shows that I missed. Crap! Next year I’m staying longer, and hopefully I’ll seeya there.
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