We Rise L.A.! The 2019 Mental Health Art Experience

This is the rare weekend post, as I can't say enough good about the We Rise L.A. art show for mental health taking place now through May 27th in downtown L.A., and I want as many people as possible to experience it for themselves!

It's an entirely inclusive and immersive show, with different areas like "Create", where you can make your own screen printed posters, with messages like "You deserve infinite support and love" - which you do.

In the room called "Engage" you could mix and mingle with others, or take a break for yourself with some kombucha on tap and snacks like churros, as you watched a big Iphone bringing up messages from people arguing via text, that feel like how that usually goes. There was also a mirror being adorned with positive messages. It's a family affair, as this little girl was really into it, and though some subject matter may warrant explanation - or protection - communication is always a good thing, and kids can handle a lot more than we know ... especially these days.

So much damage in adults is leftover from traumas experienced as kids, and this show addresses a lot of that. Kids whose parents are incarcerated. Kids who have been separated from their families at the border. Kids who have been abused. Kids who have seen too much, as you can imagine from the piece called The Child. (Please forgive the lack of credits - the first draft of this piece disappeared when the internet went down and I'm trying not to have my own mental breakdown as I re-type this whole article after I already deleted the photos of the credits. Ugh and apologies, but go yourself to get all of the info!).

Sueños was especially heart-wrenching, as it depicts immigrant kids embracing their mothers through bars. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that we as a country allow this to go on. We need help.

Each piece in the art galleries has to do with some aspect of mental health, and while some are heavier than others, all pack a punch and instantly provoke thought and self-examination. It can't be helped.

Monarch Cluster might seem like a gorgeous bunch of butterflies, but to me it said you're not alone.

I looked at this photo and wasn't quite prepared for the gut punch that the title delivered ... Thank You For Your Service was the title of a photograph showing homeless U.S. veterans. Like, THIS is how we thank our men and women in service?! It's shameful - again.

The Parish Hall list of events shows how messed up America really is, even as we proclaim to be a Shining Beacon Of Light To The World. Yeah. Right.

Nipsey Hussle WAS a shining beacon of light to his community, until it was recently snuffed out by more of the constant senseless gun violence in this nation.

There were a couple of self-portraits that complimented each other, and also showed how scrambled up we can feel inside of our own minds sometimes. The first was by Adam Enrique Rodriguez ...

...And the next one was called Hanging On By A Thread, which is how I've personally felt a lot these days, and I know I'm not alone - especially after seeing this show.

A bed was hanging on by thicker threads as it levitated above a bedroom installation called In Limbo, that a lot of people were digging and photographing.

The art galleries are loosely arranged by issue, from incarceration to domestic abuse, from immigration to women's issues to social media. The women pieces were very powerful, yes, because I am one, but also because we've been so under attack in recent times. I can really go off on this topic, but for now I'll leave it at the fact that NO man should even be discussing any issue relating to a uterus if they don't have one. I could care less about any male perspective on this, and really don't even want to hear it. Sisterhood IS powerful.

You can tell the power of one sister just by her gaze and the tilt of her chin in Viva Yalitza!

I always love the work of Ashley Lukashevsy and its feminine power, like this year's piece, Space.

As you meander through the galleries, you hear music and talking coming from the cavernous main hall where the seminars and performances happen daily throughout the run of the show. You will be enriched by any that you attend, whether it pertains to you personally or not, you will get something from the beautifully and consciously curated discussions and music. One wall shows exactly what's going on ... All The Feels!

The other wall reminds you in the form of a plush, cozy wall, that You Are Safe Here - and you really get that feeling here. That people truly care, and that they truly want to help you.

A couple of my favorite pieces were hung beside each other, one was City Of Refuge - a little shanty town sculpture, and next to it were beautiful screen windows with floral embroidery, called Screened In. I can't believe I never thought of this, and now want to beautify every screen window I see.

I loved another piece of embroidery, as I love hummingbirds - but I loved it even more when I saw that it was called For My Struggling Students.

As you walk through the galleries, you're being watched by cameras bearing the logos of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram ... just like in real life!

There is an area dedicated to social media works, and a very hipster guy and I were standing there reading the same ones and we looked at each other at the same time, and he said, "Do you have chills?" I did, and it was one example of how you can connect with a total stranger over a common feeling - and that is the power of this magnificent artistic and humanitarian endeavor that was obviously put together with so much care and conscience.

A giant living wall reminded everyone to Breathe In The Present Moment, and that was the advice I probably most needed at this time. That, and that once again, people care. We're not alone. Everyone has their own struggle. Communication and connection are crucial to getting through this thing called life, and this beautiful show personifies that.

Every day of the show's run offers different programming and addresses different issues, all of which will be rewarding to attend. In fact, at one point I turned to my friend at the opening night party, and said, "Everyone here is better off for it." Truth, and the beauty of that is that it spreads, because then we all go out and talk about it, and we're all closer for it. Humanity at its best, delivered through art, without judgement. That is how we can go forward ... and protect our spirits.

Please give yourselves the gift of attending this show. You too will be better for it. THANK YOU to all involved in this special and important art experience. You are helping.

*Special shout out to the excellent people, food, and service of Lupetti Pizzeria, right around the corner where we celebrated being alive after. Thank you!

We Rise L.A.
1262 Palmetto Street
Los Angeles, 90013
Now through May 27th

We Rise - An Art Show For Your Mental Health

Update: This awesome show has been extended to June 10th, 2018!! GO!!!


We Rise is the perfect name for the outstanding art experience happening now through Monday in Downtown L.A., because once you have seen it, you immediately feel elevated. Wow. Just WOW. If you do nothing else this holiday weekend in Los Angeles, you should most certainly hit this powerful show. It's not just art ... it's a movement.

Created and curated by the same folks that brought us the excellent Into Action show in January, We Rise is perhaps even better than that previous show that I've still been raving about. Into Action was all about politics and taking action, where We Rise is about taking care of ourselves and each other. Mental health is at the root of just about every problem our society faces, and it's time the issue is treated with as much importance - or more - as anything else taking the attention of our national consciousness.

Well over 100 artists are on display with their works that all connect around the mental health theme. Moving. Heavy. Mega Important. Beautiful. Sad. Inspiring. All of them. But it's not just about the art. There are panels and workshops every day, with speakers like Common and Yara Shahidi. There are calls to action, and codes to scan with your phone to get involved. I can't say enough good about the entire thing. As I stated before, it truly is a movement, couched in the best of the best art shows.

The art. I loved it all. I couldn't get there until almost 8:30, so I had to hustle and look at the art while a panel about incarceration was happening. The reason I got there so late is that I'm working on a show for Viceland called American Junkie, and as I walked through the exhibit, I could think only about how we would not be experiencing this opioid epidemic if we better care for our mental health. It all starts there.

I got chills and choked up at several of the works, and I was not alone. To address that, the We Rise folks have arranged for counselors to be there for you in case something really bothers you and you need to talk to someone professional. I love the attention and care that is paid to every aspect of the issues, and the tangible feeling that someone cares about you. Wants to help you. Wants you to feel better. Is there for you.

There were different topics represented throughout ... like gun violence and kids being murdered at school. Imagine how that threat now affects our nation's children every day at school, when they're simply trying to learn and become who they're going to be. Isn't that hard enough without worrying that you might die at your desk? Do Not Cross (School Series), 2016 by Natalia Anciso thinks so.

And how about Emma Gonzalez, 2018 by Gabe Gault? Powerful stuff, powerful girl.

The opioid crisis and the over-medication of children (and everyone, really) is a massive problem, and there were several pieces that made direct hits on this outrageous - and preventable - issue. Like Avalanche, 2018 by Billy Kheel, showing it like it is.

Social media and cyber-bullying are also areas of concern these days, and one of the most chilling works in this show was Cyberbully by Lesley Augston and Alexander Rocco depicting a phone with sharp knives protruding from it. Ouch.

The idea that everyone is perfect online was tweaked by Adam Mars with his Validating Beauty Is Getting Ugly, 2017.

A gumball machine (Judgements 25 Cents, 2013) by Jennifer Dalton offered judgements of "OK" and "Not OK" were offered for 25 cents, but the point was priceless.

Speaking to the tendency to put a sheen over real problems for a better online image, Guillermo Bert lets us know that There Is No Filter For Toxic Culture, 2018. Amen.

Mental illness itself is often a taboo subject for the people that suffer from it. No one seems to really want to talk about it, yet all you have to do is walk down nearly any street in L.A. to see that it's an enormous crisis that is going unaddressed. It is THE root of our homeless nightmare, and something must be done. This show is a wonderful start to shedding light on the topic, and issuing a call to action. Catch Me When I Fall, 2013 by Holly Ballard Martz was made up of "Fall Risk" wristbands, and just hurt my heart.

Sutured Jane, 2014 by Dani Dodge was equally heavy. A sutured woman alone on a mattress. My heart ached for her, even as just an image.

Gary Baseman took it on with his series of 7 Selected Editorial Illustrations About Anxiety And Fears, Health And Human Wellness, 1995.

A basic, but crucial, question in the area of mental illness was asked by Aubrie Costello with her WHYCANTYOUTELLMEHOWUFEEL, 2017, with a code asking you to "BeThere" to text to 31996 to find out more ways to do exactly that.

Adam Enrique Rodgriguez showed the loneliness and confusion that may accompany mental illness with his Self Portrait #2 Out Of The Blue. Beautiful and more thought-provoking the longer you looked at it. I wound up randomly meeting him later on in the evening, and he gave me a lift back to Venice. We talked the entire drive about the importance of art in our lives, and how it really does have the capacity to shape our culture (after Bertolt Brecht). Rodriguez has one of the best stories about a career beginning ever, and is absolutely one to watch in the art world. He is also an awesome person that I am proud to call my new friend. Thanks, Adam!

Immigration was addressed by several artists, and rightly raised as an issue of mental health. How can you thrive and prosper when you're always looking over your shoulder in a country that is made up entirely of immigrants (aside from our Native population, who also often suffer greatly from mental illness, most likely from how terribly they've been treated in their own land).

Women and gender inequality was a big theme, and represented beautifully by several artists. This has been a year of reckoning for all that we have endured forever, and time really is up on that (awesomely illustrated this very morning by the perp walk by Harvey Weinstein that we were treated to all over the news. Richly deserved and ultra-satisfying to witness). The biggest piece on this was the Survivor Love Letter mural, with real notes to abuse survivors written and pinned on to the wall. Whoa.

I love love loved Be Gentle, 2018 from Ashley Lukashevsky, and its message of self-care. Loved.

The whole show is put on by an army of volunteers (and physically built out by recently released convicts), led by the wonderful Yosi Sergant. We first met on the first Obama campaign at a park in Compton, where the now Ex-President was speaking, so early on that he didn't even really have any real security detail to speak of. He worked with Shepard Fairey to conceive the "Hope" poster, and Fairey is always a presence in the fantastic events conceived by Sargent. I will go to every thing he ever does, as I'm always beyond impressed and inspired. Thank you, Yosi!

In the auditorium where the panels are held, there was a giant furry piece entitled The Power Of Safety, 2018 by Uzumaki. The truth that ART SAVES LIVES was done up on a big snuggly wall that Puff Daddy would have loved to stroke after smoking The Jeffrey in Get Him To The Greek.

Even with all the photos I'm showing you, you still have to go yourself, as I've barely scratched the surface of all the really, really great pieces of art. Like Ryan McCann reminding us that, in spite of it all, #LIFEISRAD, 2015. This blowtorch, oil, and acrylic piece on wood was also one of my faves. Because it's true. Or can be with the proper attention and care to each and every human being.

As you came to the end of the galleries, there was a bean counting system where you could vote by placing your bean in a jar that you felt was the most pressing issue. Tellingly, they were all filled about equally, because there are so many problems, and all of them are the most important to someone. And "We Say BS" on the myth that there are no real solutions. But there are, if we can only begin to work TOGETHER to solve them.

Imagine that. Because We Are Destined For Great Things, 2011 (By 2wenty) - if only we can get it together to become the nation we could - and should - be.

One where we understand that we're all in it together. That the Golden Rule is the best rule. That our neighbor's problems must be all of our problems if we're ever going to truly live in harmony. We must take care of each other, because in looking out for one another, we ALL rise.

Please treat yourself and your loved ones (especially the young ones!) to this wonderful art experience ... I promise that you will never forget it, and that you will be better for it. That's a pretty lofty statement for an art show, but this one deserves it. Heartfelt thanks to all involved in bringing We Rise to life. For bringing the issues out front. And most of all, for caring.

We Rise
1726 North Spring Street
Downtown L.A.
Through Monday, May28,2018