Venice Pride 2018 - Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic!

"Joyous" was the word I heard repeated over and over on Saturday night during the celebration for Venice Pride 2018. Faces of every kind were beaming, and fun was the only order of the day. And boy, let me tell you, it's been needed.

The Venice Pride festivities kicked off on Friday morning with the raising of the biggest rainbow flag in the universe or something, but I wasn't able to be there because it was early in the morning, and I had to be at my gig working on a show about heroin addicts that is the darkest subject matter imaginable. Friday night there was a comedy roast at Surfside that I also couldn't attend, but I had every intention of getting over to the re-opening of the new Roosterfish - until I heard from everyone texting me from there that it was lame. I'd had my doubts, and they were pretty much confirmed until I can confirm them for myself. Half hour to get a $16 drink ... not really gay enough for my gay friends ... packed with scenesters ... and lacking the grit that made it a welcome respite from the rest of the bougie places on Abbot Kinney now days. Oh, well ... at least they kept the name and the men's bathroom ceiling.

Saturday was a very, very heavy day for me. It was the anniversary of the death of my beloved father, as well as the celebration of the life of my friend Alexis Murray, with heart wrenching speeches and slide shows showing how much she is already missed - and will always be - just like my own family had years ago. It was very, very sad. So, the best thing to do after all of that was to get to Windward, where there was a full-on disco party for the whole community happening for the lighting of the Venice Sign in all its rainbow glory for gay pride.

The streets were already packed by the time I got there, and it was so fun and colorful and spirited that you couldn't be sad for long ... because WE are alive and kicking and need to celebrate that fact every single day while we can. Period. A giant light up "LOVE" sign was a popular backdrop for photos, and also the absolute message of the day.

I missed all the civic speeches and stuff, which was fine, and got there just in time to see the beautiful Disco Queen, Thelma Houston, singing the hits like her Grammy winning "Don't Leave Me This Way" to a buoyant JOYOUS crowd, singing and dancing heartily along. It was awesome out there.

The sign had already been lit up when I arrived, and it was an instant Instagram backdrop for thousands. When Ms. Houston finished her set, a DJ took over and kept the dance party going in the streets in what had become the coolest club in town, where everyone was having a complete blast, no matter if you were gay or straight, young (babies!) or old (wheelchairs!), grieving or not ... it was easy to forget ones sorrows and just jump up and down with joyful friends and strangers alike. Ahhh.

I'm sure there were several after-parties, but I headed for The Townhouse, where a drag band was killing it, and whiskey helped to further drown the sorrows. The vibes were straight fun and love and living in - and for - the moment. Just exactly what was sorely needed. The celebrations continued long into the wee hours (without me), and were still happening Sunday afternoon at The Whaler, so you know the weekend was a smashing success.

Thank you to everyone there for bringing me back up, and for supporting each other in the mission of love, acceptance, and JOY for everyone. No matter what. One Love!

The Fine And Fanciful Art Of Alexis Murray

5/9/18: Lexi passed away this past Sunday. There are really no words that can express how sad that is, so I will let her story speak for itself. She was Awesome.
                                           
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Alexis Murray is a fine artist living and working in Venice, California. She's also my friend, and real cool. We had a chance to sit down recently and dig more into her art and the path that got her here.

That path began in Philadelphia, where Murray was born and raised in household where "Artists were like heroes in our house." Her family's appreciation for art was further encouraged in high school, where Murray had the first teacher that really celebrated her work in a Mrs. Alice Cook. That led to attending Cooper Union Art School in New York and then transferred to Rhode Island School Of Design to pursue her higher education in painting and photography.

After working gigs in graphic design and as a photography assistant, and working on the Duke and Duchess of Windsor auction at Sotheby's in New York, Murray was happy to be working in her field ... but really missed painting. She created her first studio in her friend's extra bedroom and got into grad school at the School Of Visual Arts in NYC. She also got into illustration while there, which I totally see in her work ... you really want her to illustrate some very cool book out there. She had to choose a mentor for her thesis, and renowned photographer Duane Michals filled that role. His sense of humor and surrealism impacted her work, and grad school set her off in the direction of her current work.

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Murray wound up falling in love with her childhood crush, Austin, and he lived in Los Angeles, so that meant a move across the country. Together they embarked on a worldwide trip, which so influenced Murray that she set up her art studio right when they got back, all inspired. Two (darling) little girls (Luna and Larkin) soon followed, and that meant the studio space got sub-letted, while Murray spent more time at home. Home also affected the work, as painting at home with babies necessitated smaller scaled pieces, both for space and time.

Being home with two little girls also meant lots of time spent with imagination, dress-up, role playing ... "All the things that inform who you'll become." As Murray explained, "I want my art to have that sense of magic that you have in life as kids." As you can tell by looking at any given piece of her work, it certainly does.

Her work also always has that sense of humor within it ... "Everything I do is fun for me ... I find myself laughing while I work all the time." That comes through in her paintings for sure, but perhaps most amusing are her gravestones. The above painting, Buena Suerte 2 is like a sketch for her real, fabricated, sculpted headstones that say things like, I Was Awesome or For You (for the heirs). One upping that is her plan for an inflatable Afterlife Machine, a large scale public installation, where the viewer would walk through and see what their next reincarnated life would be projected on the wall. Fun AND funny!

Now that the girls are in school and busy as kids are these days, Murray has a new studio in the Beacon Arts Building in Inglewood. Once each year, the building hosts Open Studios and this year's event is November 8th and 9th, from 12-5 pm. "Inglewood is super supportive of the Arts Community," says Murray (and now has far cheaper studio space than Venice - something we need to get a handle on if we still want to be a haven for artists. For real.) The November event is sure to be feast of fantastic art to behold.

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Murray's own work has grown once again, both in scale and meaning. As she explains, "I'm extremely interested in dualities. Almost all the paintings I make depict things trying to live in many worlds at the same time, and the struggle that inevitably presents." As in her Keeping An Eye ... "Here you see identity, sexuality, authority, femininity, aging, beauty, wisdom, bundled with severity, humor and melancholy." As you stand before it, you see for yourself - it's all there.

Showfolk is about family life. "It's about how we all change roles and shift in dynamics within any given scenario and continually challenge one another." Murray went on to say, "I also love kitsch. This informs a lot of my colors and the overall look of the painting, and adds an element of modernity to the very traditional style of painting I have studied and worked so hard to learn." So great.

You notice in Murray's work that she tends to also have fun with composition and traditional teaching about where things should go, tweaking the work with things you're taught not to do, and making those choices work.

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Among her body of work are the miniatures, work directly inspired by her time spent in India. Six inch squares that "demand intimacy from the viewer even in the way the need to be physically approached ... they should almost seem impossible to make and are the result of obsession." And because they're so little, you can both afford them and have the space for them! Win win. Another cool thing for Murray was that she was also recently chosen to design a commemorative coin for the state of Wyoming. How cool is that?

We also spoke about the Venice we love, and Murray told me, "I've only ever lived in Venice in L.A. - and I have every intention of dying in Venice." (Her headstones would certainly fit in here!) She felt similar to how I did when I first came here, that "Venice is the essence of being free to be who you are." Arriving from New York, Venice fit Murray to a T. "People are so open-minded and so cool ... it's bohemian, but upscale if you want that ... the climate ... the creative vibe ... you just meet the best people here." Fact.

Murray loves raising her kids here (you should see their house for Halloween - wow!), loves their neighbors, loves the Saints and Sinners bakery on Lincoln ("the epitome of Venice funk"), and loves that she gets to live and work in a place that so lends itself to exactly what she's doing. Living her art.





Visit Alexismurray.com to see more, or visit her at the Beacon Arts Building for Open Studios, November 8th and 9th, 12-5 pm. Murray is located in Studio 4D.