Think Tank Gallery, Los Angeles is an urban art gallery in a city that is realizing its post-street art potential. The gallery focuses on integration and progression with each show, and serves as a place to inspire with each event and exhibition shared within the historic part of Downtown LA it inhabits.
YOU ARE HERE II: SHOOT A COP CLOSING PARTY TOMORROW - INTERVIEW WITH SOUND PIECE DESIGNER PATRICK NISSIM
There were many parts that went into our first show of 2013. YOU ARE HERE II: Shoot a Cop - A Celebration of Our Boys in Blue celebrates its closing party tomorrow night, March 2nd, and will be one last chance to get together with the artists and talk to them about the work they created over the last month that ruffled so many feathers. A piece that could have ruffled feathers if not handled with so much grace is the sound piece by one of the Think Tank’s newest resident artists, Patrick Nissim.
The piece takes sound bites from news reports during the riots and combines them with an interesting journey of music. Tomorrow will be your last chance to hear it amidst the art, so come out to the BYOB event if you have a chance. Or listen to it above.
Here is what Patrick has to say on the piece:
First off, how would you describe the piece you created for YOU ARE HERE II: Shoot a Cop?
I looked at the project as an audio narrative. It felt like an NPR piece to me in some ways, but with more time to let the music breathe. There was so much to cover (and so much I left behind), so in many ways it was the abridged version of a much larger story. It was also very raw, since I had to piece it together in a short amount of time.
You’ve done a few video shoots at the Think Tank since you became one of our newest members, but what drew you to designing a sound piece for the new exhibit? And how does this stack up to your more regular work and side projects?
Well interestingly enough, I actually used Final Cut Pro (my video editing software) to piece the whole thing together. I’ve always been captivated by the 1992 riots in LA and have actually been trying to write a script on them for a while, so this was a great chance for me to throw on some headphones and take a different route to the same destination. When I finished, it felt similar to finishing a documentary. I was listening to so many telecasts, sound bites, and news reports that I began to really understand the breadth of all of it just by immersing myself in the material.
The subject matter was nothing if not loaded. What had more impact in creating your piece, the intimidation of the title or the complexity and history of the subject matter?
The complexity and history of the subject matter. It was so dense with a history of racial tension and boiling tempers, which were symptoms that had been present for decades. I kept seeing similarities to Do The Right Thing. When Mookie threw the trash can through Sal’s window, it was hard for some people to justify his actions. When you looked at people looting stores and setting their neighborhoods on fire, it didn’t make sense for a lot of people either. Spike Lee says in an interview, “in 20 years since the film came out, no black person has ever asked me why Mookie threw the trash can threw the window”. In a lot of ways, I feel Mookie threw the trashcan for the same reason Los Angeles erupted in flames after the Rodney King trial.
How did you select the songs and sound bites for the piece?
For the soundbites, I would go onto youtube searching for telecasts and footage of the riots. It took a lot of me mixing and matching this footage to help create a story that could thread in a linear way. I would grab the audio, label it as well as I could, and piece the narrative together once I became familiar with what was on every clip. As far as the music is concerned, I went with whatever felt right. There was an emphasis to throw in songs that were specific to the 1992 riots, but there were also tracks from decades before and after that made it in because they simply fit. Cops Get Scared of Me, released in 2012,was a track I hadn’t heard until I started digging for this project and it became one of my favorite parts of the narrative. I went with what felt right or relevant and just rolled with it.
What do you think of the show, now that it’s up and presently being shared with the world?
It’s important. I think the show did a great job of not putting an opinionated spin on anything. This was about letting these photographers capture the LAPD in a candid light. They all turned out well. As far as my piece being shared, I think it’s great. I hope people can learn something from it or be inspired to dig further into the riots.
Does that differ at all from what you thought it was going to be?
I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure if we were going to be shut down or if people were going to be offended. We had models walking around in police uniforms and pig noses, serving donuts and coffee. Shit, that’s gotta offend somebody. Luckily the LAPD has been very cool, which was refreshing to see.
Did the Dorner situation change anything in your creative process? It happened right when you were in the thick of working this piece out…
It made things very sensitive. I was hoping people weren’t going to get the wrong idea and think we were exploiting it. For the most part, people understood. One thing I didn’t want to do was censor myself. It was important for me to find a balance with everything without throwing people off or compromising the integrity of the project.
ARTIST CREATES BUST OF HIS FAVORITE POLITICIAN OUT OF HIS OWN BLOOD
Hussaini, whose eccentric ideologies mimic his moniker selection as he goes by no full name, is a teacher and sculptor from India. In his latest, bizarre piece, the artist took multiple liters of his own blood and that of his own students, and casted it into a frozen sculpture of the bust of Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha, his favorite politician.
The noted artist wanted to thank the politician for being the “most sports loving CM of India” and for her support to his archery association, and since he had a few liters of his own blood stored for special occasions, he decided to put it to good use.
NEW MEDIA CREATORS HIGHLIGHTED AS TODAY’S STORYTELLERS
New Media Rockstars is kind of like the Golden Age NBC radio of the web-era. Many online video stars who are both figuring out what changes when you begin creating content for the web as opposed to the screen and others who are creating new ways for that content to be consumed show up on New Media Rockstars’ page. If you’re not following online video, and the incredible content being created out of the bedrooms of talented kids who are capable of imagining things on the computer screen that ten years ago the biggest production studio couldn’t consider, then this piece on who NMR thinks should direct the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie instead of Michael Bay can introduce you to some talented young men.
Check out the article here, where three of the five highlighted creators are artists that have producedvideosat our space.
Street photography is a genre that sees varying layers of boldness amidst its proponents. The least bold, who make up some of the most talented and well-known in history, include artists who set up shots from afar and allow their characters to stroll unknowingly through them. The most bold strap a light to their camera rig and flash people right in the face in the middle of the night. Eric Kim is one of those bold photographers.
At risk of looking exploitative, Eric has continued his distinct style even through the many criticisms that some have had of his photos and the technique that produces his often thrilling shots. BBC Religion and Ethics recently spoke with Eric about this particular type of photography, and peeled back a few layers on the onion that is street photography technique.
For some insightful commentary and even some tips on how to gain the guts to shoot this way yourself, head over the the interview here.
Whole Beast Rag, whose two founders are resident artists at the Think Tank, host Mondays on the Think Tank blog. Their audience flirts with fringe, and you can find a link to their editorial at the bottom.
We were all a bit cold, and none of us had a car. Somebody brought up freelancing, public transit and finding jobs in LA. “You have several veils up, all the time,” Kat said to T. and me as we were standing, waiting for the bus, pizza box on my hip.
The topic, as is becoming more and more common, was hustling to get by in Los Angeles. T. was intimately familiar with the lifestyle; if this was for better or worse was unclear. He’d approached us rather coolly, asking where we’d gotten the pizza, scoping us out but also asking us questions, seeing if we were right to talk to (even though he’d been slinking around mumbling to himself minutes earlier). T. decided, at some point, that we weren’t weirdos in the wrong way, and sat by us when we hopped the 2 toward downtown. Turned out he was headed to a few galleries himself, nearer to the river, so we chatted for a while.
He was an introvert, and talked very quietly and esoterically (not too airily/stupidly, though). From the 10 or 15 minutes we were talking with each other, I gathered that he’d been couchsurfing for the whole or a large chunk of the past 5 years, worked odd entertainment jobs (not surprising here) and that he’d declared bankruptcy after school. T. said he was an artist, but that he also did production construction background/set design anything else you can imagine.
He was attractive and dressed well, but you could tell he probably didn’t eat regular meals. I thought briefly about the nearby TB (yes, tuberculosis) outbreak that our landlord had sent us an email about. A bit before he had to get off the bus, he said, “We should be friends,” with a smile and asked that we put our names, email addresses and numbers in the notepad app on his iPod. I did so somewhat hesitantly, feeling like a dick for expecting him to exploit the information. He hasn’t yet.
I looked him up on Facebook later that evening. His only pictures that were public were those of his CV; in the photo description he nearly begged his friends to both get his resume out to people, and to let him stay on their couches. What was ultimately more surprising to me was that his CV was impeccable. Several freelance gigs in various capacities in various industries, a solid education, etc. Something about this reminded me of what he’d said earlier:
“Everybody assumes you’re talented in LA, that’s a given. You have to sell yourself in some other way.”
T. hasn’t figured that way out for himself yet, which is somewhat discouraging. However, Kat and I were talking about a recent compliment (I assume?) we received that made us both more hopeful: “The magazine, everything you’re doing, seemed so ambitious. I was hesitant about all of it at first. But you’re doing it, and I couldn’t stay away from it.”
DOCUMENTARY ON 15-YR-OLD HOMELESS ARTIST GIRL UP FOR ACADEMY AWARD
The Oscars are this weekend, and we are particularly excited as one member of the group inside the Think Tank played the role of Lead Artist in a film nominated for Best Picture and a few other awards. One of the most enlightening things that happens around Oscar season every year is a plethora of short film releases that follow incredible stories. Most of these stories are perfect, little, bite-sized sources of inspiration for anyone who is trying to push forward in a creative lifestyle. The nominated film “Inocente” is one such film this year.
Following a 15-yr-old homeless girl whose friends don’t know she is homeless and whose mother attempted to jump off a bridge with her when she was younger to end her crying, the film is a story of how much therapy art can provide even in such a hopeless situation as hers. You can catch the entire ~40-minute film over at MTV online.
HOW THE ACT OF BEING OPEN CAN OPEN DOORS IN YOUR ART CAREER
Hyperallergic has quickly become a convenient source of entertainment and hope in the lives of many web-savvy artists (announcing a partnership with none other than Tumblr just this week). Their newest piece draws a connection all the way from Savannah, Georgia, where three artists in three different stages of their careers - Angel Otero, Marcus Kenney, and Ingrid Calame - spoke on openness and the various ways it can lead you to making a living with your art.
With such obvious yet important suggestions like “meet more artists,” many of the things they suggest are natural occurrences that most artists take for granted. That, or things to which we may not have access which would serve us well if we sought them out - like the ability to speak on and write about our work. The point that letting the art speak for itself may take a proactive role in turning away customers is a poignant one.
VIDEO RECAP - YOU ARE HERE II: SHOOT A COP OPENING NIGHT
After months of work and much-appreciated volunteer hours leading up to the event, our latest exhibition YOU ARE HERE II: Shoot a Cop - A Celebration of Our Boys in Blue finally opened last week to a humbling response. Having LAPD come to the show and enjoy it, many of them making appointments to bring friends and family to see the exhibit again, we couldn’t be happier with the reception the show has gotten from the community.
In what could have been a not-so-rewarding experience, we would like to think that our show - with its name that caused many artists to drop out and its piggy model performance piece that could have been taken poorly by the police that showed up - got its message across in a serious yet light-hearted way. If you didn’t get to come to the exhibit, we hope this video will inspire you to make your way out during our operating hours this month. Details below.
YOU ARE HERE II: Shoot a Cop - A Celebration of Our Boys in Blue Think Tank Gallery 939 Maple Ave Second Floor Los Angeles, CA 90015
Show Runs: February 14th-March 2nd
Gallery hours Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 12-4PM
Whole Beast Rag, whose two founders are resident artists at the Think Tank, host Mondays on the Think Tank blog. Their audience flirts with fringe, and you can find a link to their editorial at the bottom.
You’d think after a week of doing nothing but making art (the cutting, the hanging, and let’s not forget, the choosing of what is “best”) I’d be stretched thin. The truth is that yes: I finally broke down and bought concealer to cover the circles under my eyes. But the reality is this: I would have it no other way.
Living in Los Angeles is a lesson in extremes. Eccentrics and celebrities live here along with a million other lives some might describe as “normal” or boring. Standing on the fire escape the other night with one of my partners-in-crime we looked at the lights burning across the alley way. I would hate that life, she said, meaning the one chained to a desk. And for what? I ask myself this all the time. But I laughed, trying to see the other side. That is our life, I reminded her, pointing to the fact that after this cigarette we were going inside to hash out more details about this or that project. The only difference I see is how we describe our jobs, in that we do ours in the pursuit of art.
It’s not about definitions. I think that is the opposite of the point. But when I am still - like so many and despite all effort to the contrary - otherwise officially “unemployed,” honoring what I choose to do in response (make art) means I must reframe. At Zinefest this weekend, I picked up a new postcard from the rad people at Dum Dum and on the front it says “Punk was born from failure.” I am amused by all this beauty born from debris, from the wealth rising from the raw. Try and see this next time you are out in the streets: where the other side is and what it has to say. What you can learn from what you think is wrong. I promise it will be worth your time.
YOU ARE HERE II: SHOOT A COP - OPENING NIGHT PHOTO RECAP
The sequel to our photography experiment YOU ARE HERE couldn’t have come at a more interesting time, with its goal to Shoot a Cop being a hot topic during the tail end of the Dorner debacle. Fending off some harsh criticisms, our photographers and all of the people hard at work on the exhibit came through to gather support for a show that is as much about the media’s perpetuating of a negative light on LAPD as a whole as it was about cops and their primarily just but sometimes impatient ways.
Many police officers have visited the exhibition since, and we are proud to say that the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
The opening was a large event, with hundreds of people drinking coffee and eating warm donuts provided by SK’s Donuts and Croissants and Krispy Kreme, and handed out by our wonderful piggy models Anastasia and Jasmine, who were done up by celebrity special effects makeup artist Eric Fox. Brandon Muñoz also killed it like usual with his modern take on the “pen is mightier than the sword” conversation.
Tag pictures of your friends at the event on our Facebook page, and like it to be up to date on all of our future events, including the closing event that will likely be held on March 2nd.
And make sure to visit the show if you haven’t yet during our new business hours, listed below!
YOU ARE HERE II: Shoot a Cop - A Celebration of Our Boys in Blue Think Tank Gallery 939 Maple Ave Second Floor Los Angeles, CA 90015
Show Runs: February 14th-March 2nd
Gallery hours Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 12-4PM
