Drink, Mate, Art

by Patricia Frischer

I am sure everyone has noticed how well attended the events aimed at the younger demographic group are when art is added to the entertainment. TNT at MCASD, Cocktails and Culture at SDMA, A-List at the Athenaeum and Art After Dark at the Oceanside Museum of Art, as well as the numerous vodka companies that hold launches at art gallery, are all opportunities for young adults to mix and mingle.

The really big question is how do we get that same audience to start buying art after they have attended an art show to eat, drink and mate? Suggesting education might be too big of a leap for those addled by alcohol. But the idea is to get them to start looking more closely at the art to develop some sort of choices that might lead to a desire to acquire. Here are two strategies to consider:

• Roll playing: Hand out oodles of fake money and ask the guests to make choices about what art they would buy. A case of vodka goes to anyone who brings out the real thing and makes a purchase.
• Match Making: ask couples to choose art for each other. This would entailed some work in figuring out the what and why. A bottle of vodka goes to the artist whose work is most chosen.

We need every trick in the book to build a healthier art world and that means where events are not only well attended but artists are supported hopefully in a monetary way.

Read another view on this subject from Kevin Freitas

Picked RAW: Adaptable Sites at the Periscope Project

Picked HONNA: Peace on Earth

by Keikichi Honna

I was enjoying reading a book I bought a few weeks back. Silence of a hot summer afternoon was suddenly broken by 3, 4, maybe 5 police cruisers.

Momentarily put the book aside, and eyed on outside. The cruisers were gone, but after a few minutes or so a police helicopter flew in with a loud speaker. Circling around over my place, and called residents' attention. "... a Hispanic male, wearing a white T-shirt and black pants..." Such a precise and exact description - it could be anybody, and everybody. We the inmates burst in laugh "Every Hispanic male wears white T and black pants!" All the resident enjoyed quiet afternoon since there was no one in white T and black pants on the street.

I finished the book. Another peaceful day.

Picked Raw Peeled July: La Jolla Fashion Film Festival

La Jolla Fashion Film Festival by Patricia Frischer

The Fashion Film Festival held for its second year in La Jolla in July 2011 is the brainchild of Fred Sweet who also owns SD Model Management and is a fashion entrepreneur. He certainly should be given credit for recognizing this new genre of film which is still in the birthing process. There was soft porn without any real eroticism. It appears models don’t mind baring breast for art’s sake. There was narrative in the form of film noire, one line jokes, and even poetry. Sometimes we simply saw the kaleidoscope of images which thrills as a psychedelic color fest. At its lowest, some films were self indulgent and corny, but there were a number of highs.

Although none of the films we viewed were blatantly commercial, product placement was certainly apparent. Costume design in traditional theater and cinema gives credit to fashion designers. And in almost all cinema and TV, product placement is riff, working its insidious way into the plot. The best of these films started with a plot and the worst seemed to be looking for one.

One of my dear friends GB Feld is a film critic in Los Angeles. I always remember his criteria for judging film” Did the film have something to say? Did the film maker say it well? Was it worth saying? Too many of these films used Art to create the lie of fashion desirability as the only subject of the film thus begging the question, was it worth saying.

This was a wonderful opportunity for directors from all over the world to meet and exchange ideas. Hearing some of the speak about the delights of being in La Jolla and getting this attention for their efforts was very heartening.

 

 

My top 4 picks from about 40 films:

Move by Dominique Palombo - sheer beauty of movement and rhythm

In Search of Light by Miguel Angel – an artist struggling for his vision and the best use of fashion as a subject equally weighted with the performers.

To the Top by Heidi Hartwig – a model’s revenge

Precious by Monica Menez – pizza as a tool of subversion