Venice Loses Ed Moses

Two days after an opening of new works at the Runway Gallery next to Hal's in Playa Vista, Venice is mourning the loss of legendary artist, Ed Moses. I regret that I missed that opening, and the chance to celebrate this founding member of the "Cool School" of art one more time.

                                                                                                                 Portrait: Kwaku Alston

There was a massive Moses At 90 retrospective featuring decades of Moses' art a couple of years ago at Bergamot Station that was packed to the rafters, as everyone marveled at how very prolific Moses was, even at 91 years old.

The L.A. Times ran a comprehensive article on the life and career of Moses yesterday that will tell you everything you need to know about his history, but all of Venice will miss just seeing him around with that ever-present twinkle in his eye. A notorious flirt, one could always count on Moses for a good bon mot or story. The old Hal's was always good for a Moses sighting, as he held court there often - usually under one of his massive pieces that the main wall was always reserved for. I remember him saying at an anniversary celebration for Hal's at Electric Lodge that "Hal's has B+ food, which I like, because I can always get a table." Everyone cracked up, mainly because Moses would never have a problem getting a table at Hal's - or anywhere.

His loss has left a gaping hole in the art world, and in Venice, but the beautiful thing is that his wonderful work will live on forever.

Deepest sympathy and love to all who loved Mr. Ed Moses. He was one of a kind.

Ed Moses At 90 - A Celebration At William Turner Gallery

If you're from Venice and you care at all about art, most likely you were at the opening of Moses@90, the survey exhibition at Bergamot's William Turner Gallery of the entire career of Ed Moses. Everyone was there. There were so many old school Venice folks that it almost felt like the last night of the old Hal's again (where Moses always had the big wall reserved for his work), just with lesser wine.

The parking lot was packed with overflow guests, and it took a while of chatting before we could even make it inside the first building.

It was extra festive, with everyone seemingly thrilled both to be there to honor such an impressive body of work, but also to see each other. Stories were swapped about openings past, and just about everyone had at least a few Moses anecdotes or quotes to share.

The sad part was that Moses himself was not in attendance to see this whole thing ... the massive turnout of old friends and fans that adore him ... the work being oohed, aahed, and photographed over ... the pretty ladies done up for a night out, all primed to flirt with ... but I was told he was not feeling well enough to be there. That's a shame, because the evening was truly all about Moses, from the art to the conversation.

His presence loomed large, however, with each significant phase of Moses' five decades of painting on display. It's rare to see so many different periods in an artist's career all shown at once, yet this show has it all.

There is so much work to see that the event occupies two separate venues on the Bergamot campus, both the William Turner Gallery and the former Santa Monica Museum of Art building, which is even bigger.

There were the big stark primary color paintings taking up one entire wall ...

There was a plaid looking period ...

There was a series of work that even left the brushes used by Moses still attached. Next to spiders.

This was a show that I'll probably want to revisit while it's on, as there were so many friends to catch up with that the work didn't really get its proper attention from me. Not that I really could have given it, so densely packed in was the crowd that it was seldom easy to get right up there and absorb it, even if I had been able to stop talking.

One thing I always notice at events like this is how art truly does bring people together. Yes, to come out and look at a local legend's vast array of important work and have fun together, but you also see and hear people making plans, making friendships, and forging relationships with others that just found out they had something in common in other areas of life because they were looking at the same art. You know what I mean? I saw business cards and numbers being exchanged all evening long, and it encouraged me. That the people and the scene still matter, to the world and to each other. Art unites.

Thus, Moses is a uniter, which goes along with his status as a Shaman in the art world. It is a guise that fits him well, as he self-describes there on the wall.

The colors are something I've always loved about Moses' work, never afraid to be bold, or to sparkle, to provoke or to force self-examination, as some of his warped mirrored pieces insist.

I miss seeing the work of Ed Moses on the regular at Hal's as much as I missed the turkey burger, I realized while walking the halls of this show. It was a comfort to see one of his giant wall pieces there as we sat together and enjoyed our Venice. Moses is another one of ours ... he lives and works here in Venice, and was one of the original pioneers of making it a haven for artists and just making it straight up cool. I felt this cool as I soaked it all in, and knew that those around me felt it and knew it too.

That is a life real well lived, when you're still creating your work at 90, everyone is still awaiting it, and you get to revel in the celebration of it all in your lifetime. I hope Moses well knows how great of a time was had by all in his name. Cheers to you, Sir, and Happy 90!

Moses@90 is on through June 25, 2016
William Turner Gallery
2525 Michigan Avenue E-1
Santa Monica, 90404

Ed And Exene - L.A. Art At Bergamot Station

This past weekend was all about ART in all its many shapes and forms. It was also about parties, and a good one that combined both went down Saturday evening at Bergamot Station, where there were receptions for Ed Moses at the William Tuner Gallery, and Exene Cervenka at Sloan Projects.

It was a beautiful night, and the place was packed. The crowd outside Sloan Projects was decidedly more punk rock in appearance, fittingly for a show celebrating Cervenka, the front woman of the seminal L.A. band, X.

The Dust Of Sunlight showcases work in journals and collage from 1974 - 2015. I love journals, and I love collage, so this show was right up my alley. Cervenka herself was there, meeting fans and signing copies of her show book that contains many images of her collage work - and that I now own. Cool.

Her images are made up of sweet story book images mixed with her drawing and musings, cut-outs and ephemera gathered along the road during rock tours. I loved every piece, and the quote in the press release from Cervenka that says, "I didn't make the fucking reality on the planet ... but I can make art out of it." That's right. We all can.

We enjoyed some cocktails and a groovy band set up in the parking lot, loving the fact that we kept bumping into old school Venice people, all out in the name of art.

Over at William Turner, it was another packed house of folks squeezing in to see the latest work from Ed Moses. At 89, it was impressive to see both the sheer size and number of new pieces in the Now And Then show, but also what seems like a new direction for Moses.

The works were much darker and a bit vampiric to me, lots of blacks and whites and reds, shot through with jolts of neon color. Coming off his rose wallpaper pieces (always prominently displayed at our now sadly gone Hal's), this appears to be a brand new direction for the ever-evolving Moses.

The crowd skewed older at the Moses show, with many of the artist's contemporaries in attendance, but right when I was thinking that, I caught a tiny little girl standing mesmerized in front of one of the big paintings. It is never too young to teach them to appreciate art.

The art was exciting, and so was the atmosphere. As the openings only went until 8 pm, we decided to carry on the party over at Wabi Sabi, which has now kind of become our default Hal's as one of the few places left on Abbot Kinney that you can get a stiff drink, and actually still see people that you know.

We weren't disappointed there, as one after another of the old friends we'd run into over at Bergamot were now showing up at Wabi Sabi, with none of us saying so to each other at the galleries! It was like group think of the very best kind. Drinks flowed as people mingled between their tables, and we all raised our glasses to art ... and to the Venice we love.

The Dust Of Sunlight is on now through July 4, 2015 at Sloan Projects.

Now and Then is on now through August 8, 2015 at William Turner Gallery.

Spring Ahead Weekend

This past weekend was jam packed with all sorts of good things to do ... but it being 80 at the beach kind of trumped all the other stuff. So hot and gorgeous, it was all I had to do to leave the actual sand ... but I did ultimately manage to hit some other spots.

Like Bergamot Station for the Fault Line opening for my friend Gary Palmer's work at Robert Berman Gallery. Palmer is a longtime Venice dweller, and one of the best Irishmen around. He's working on creating a big, cool chalk festival for Venice to call its own. When it happens, people will be able to have their minds blown in the streets, like they did at the gallery Saturday night. Check out his abyss in the middle of the floor ...

I have no idea how he does that, but I'm glad he does. (*Note - that piece was done along an actual fault line crack in the gallery. Food for thought.) It was a more fun and interactive opening than usual ... clearly. Palmer shared the space with John Valadez, whose California looking pieces were the big hit of his Como Fregas/What Now show. Really great stuff all over.

Then it was across town to the Subliminal Projects space to see the Paper Cut show.

The night featured incredible work (all cut from paper in some way) by Adam Feibelman, Aurel Rubbish, Bovey Lee, Gregory Euclide, Nicola Lopez, and Swoon. One piece was cooler than the next.

Shepard Fairy was there to hold court and spin tunes, along with Benjamin Lee Ritchie Handler and DJ Babydonut.

The space was packed with scenesters, in a great turnout for a Saturday night with a lot of stuff going on.

By then it was just enough time to skedaddle over to Hotel Cafe to see our friend Matt Ellis bring it with his excellent backing band to celebrate the release of his new video for Thank You, Los Angeles, and just to rock out with friends.

Which we did. Ellis's band Saturday featured special guest drummer, Andy Clockwise, who was extra feeling it, adding pizzazz to his drum riffs, and further riling us all up. I always love to watch Tim Walker play his pedal steel, and this night he was so good that I felt like going home and learning that thing on YouTube. Stay tuned.

Ellis and his wife, Vavine sang together for my favorite "Seven Years At Sea", and it was a gorgeous testament to love, friendship, and sticking with something good. Glancing around at a whole slew of my friends moving and shaking together ... it just felt good.

As did sleeping in the next day on the spring ahead clock day, and spending the day feeling awesome to be a woman for International Women's Day (which is kind of dumb to even have, but a fine reason to celebrate us, I guess. Every day.) with more of that love, friendship and sticking with something good.

So we're back to Monday. Back to work, probably feeling kind of beat, but happily so, because you know that when you leave this evening, it will still be light out! A spring will automatically come to your step, just because now you know that those long Summer nights are coming up ... and that it's all been worth it.

We're almost there ...


Faultline is up at Bergamot through March 21st.

Paper Cut is up at Subliminal Projects through April 11th.

Water Is Gold

I was over at my friend Lacey's for dinner last night, and as we were sitting down outside after we ate, I noticed a little green plant growing in her backyard that is entirely dirt. It's entirely dirt because we're in a terrible drought, we've had no rain in forever, and no grass would or could grow.

But this little guy sprouted up because condensation builds up on the top of their patio umbrella and drips off directly on this spot. The miracle of water!

Over near where the garden hose is coiled up, there was another burst of life where the spigot drips. Things here want so badly to grow ... but they're dying of thirst.

We made a little barricade around the plant to protect it and see what happens ...

... And then we prayed for rain, so that we all don't wind up like this girl in Paul Gronner's photograph (Closing reception tonight, 6-9 p.m. at the Verge Gallery at Bergamot Station)!

With so many people so concerned with wealth and status and consumption ... it's important to remember that water is gold, and without it, we're dead. That's that. Then today my friend said, "Water is God", and I thought he might be right.

Verge Photography Show At Bergamot - Art In The Dark

There was a fantastic photography opening at the Duncan Miller Gallery at Bergamot Station on Saturday featuring the Verge Photographers. One of the Verge photographers is my brother, Paul Gronner, so our gang was out in full force for this one.

I thought it was an especially good turnout for a Saturday night art opening when we arrived, with people spilling out of the gallery and into the parking lot. Upon closer examination, I realized that many of the people were outside because there was a blackout inside the gallery, turning the whole thing into a kind of street party.

Inside, no one was deterred from looking at the art they came to see, and everyone had their cell phone flashlights out to better see the great collection of photos amassed here. In addition to the Verge collection, the Duncan Miller Gallery also features classic photos by the likes of Ruth Orkin and iconic shots of Einstein, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, and all the kinds of images that make photographic work so compelling.

Gronner's art was clearly my favorite (nepotism, for sure), with his gorgeous shots of Venice and sun-baked earth women (timely with our awful drought!) capturing the attention of collectors and babies alike ...

Sarah Hadley had some beautiful seascapes that were highly coveted, and Rico Mandel's work also featured stunning nature shots.

Susan Swihart's photos of regular everyday people were riveting, as were the visages captured by Benjo Arwas, Tami Bahat and Jamie Johnson.

These photographers on the verge of blowing up all made the best of the fact that people couldn't really see their work so well with no lights, enjoying talking about the pieces, sharing wine, and making new friends in the dark.

It wound up being one of the more fun openings in recent memory, as people were in this case using technology/cell phones to unite us for once ... lighting up the dark, and drawing us closer, rather than ignoring everyone around us while we glue our faces to screens.

As the power didn't return until the very instant the opening was over (seriously), the show's run has been extended to this Friday, October 24th, where there will be a closing party starting at 6 pm ... until the lights go out for real.

Congratulations to Paul Gronner and all the Verge Photographers on a truly inspiring and excellent show. It truly lit up the dark.



*Cool gallery shot 2nd to last by Matt Ellis.