I had a busy weekend sitting the Coagula booth at the ArtL.A. Fair. Drove out to Santa Monica every morning Thursday thru Sunday. Spent 11-7 each day at the fair, most if it at the table, explaining the art of Llyn Foulkes and Michael Salerno to people, talking about the magazine, and seeing lots and lots of old friends. The art fair was well-attended (after a scary slow Friday, fortunately Saturday and Sunday were crowded) although sales were on the slow side – especially compared to the December Miami art fairs.

Camera battery is low or I would have loaded some fair pictures, and some of the after-party tonight at Fitipaldi’s, featuring a group photo exhibit of Downtown denizens, yours truly included.

So I have been finishing up what is hopefully the end of a cold and installing a small booth for the magazine in the lobby the Art L.A. Fair

We (being me and Mike Vegas) installed it early this morning (Early for me being getting up at 9:30 a.m.) and then we (being Salerno and I) drove out for the opening party, which was basically people telling me how much they like the new LLYN FOULKES paintings in my booth, the recent Michael Salerno paintings in my booth or the magazine (my magazine, Coagula) on the table in the booth.

So the party was cool, even if I was in the lobby and most of the action was in the fair’s expo hall, it was good to see a lot of old friends.

I will be at the Santa Monica Civic sitting in the booth pretty much all weekend, in fact, I hope that I am able to get up and move around the fair at all. There is 42 grand in art on the walls I would be unattending. Weird.

I hope you don’t got what i got.

First things first, for those of you who are afraid of China taking over the whole world, peruse this site … (I have linked to it before but am there agian as it seems updated), if this isn’t the most ass-backward hoodwinking in the history of art promotion, I don’t know what is. This doesn’t seem to be coming from a culture with a snowball’s chance in hell of influencing anything.

If you are anywhere near Fullerton this Sunday afternoon, I juried the Orange County Biennial opening at the Muckenthaler

More Info

Should be a good time for all.

We went to the opening of Photo L.A. at the Santa Monica Civic. The work was all above par and more to my personal liking than in previous yeaars - it seemed less vapid and empty (fewer eurotrash slackers, more collectible big bucks/big names sorta things). The show was more interested in either aesthetics or well-presented content.

I am no photo person, but if you like photography at all, this is a GREAT show of what is going on out there. Sales were brisk. Culver City Art Dealer Jeff Poe (of Blum and Poe infamy) bought a small Edward S. Curtis picture from Seattle’s Flury and Company Gallery of a Native American costumed dancer - maybe he is into that whole Furry craze.

The fair is organized by photo gallery Stephen Cohen and he was in the middle of the floor making sales.

Photo L.A. Organizer, gallerist Stephen Cohen, doing business on a bustling Photo L.A. 2006 opening night

Click this link to see A VIEW OF ABOUT ONE-FIFTH OF THE FAIR just to show you how massive it is. This is about 1/3 the main floor, plus there is a side room of galleries with a lower ceiling as well as a lobby-full of picture booths.

The show had its fair share of celebrities (Helen Hunt, David Alan Greer), and non-photo art world luminaries such as sculptor Peter Shelton…

The show is up all weekend:
http://www.artfairsinc.com/photola/2006/

Love him or hate him, Jeff Koons has put his money where his mouth was and fought for the free speech of every artist, even when that means borrowing imagery that exists out in the world we experience.

Read all about his winning a big court case and defending the right of every artist to make their art as they see fit. READ IT HERE.

Salerno and I drove out to Santa Monica and dropped off 600 copies of the magazine at Photo L.A.
We got passes for the shindig tonight. The highlight was seeing where our booth at Art L.A. will be next weekend.
Yeah, that should be cool.

Sent postcards for the ART WORLD BOOT CAMP to the printers - the kick ass designer from JUNGLE 8 artied up a masterpiece.

So basically, how many people are telling me things like “Mat, You should teach the ART WORLD BOOT CAMP at …(fill in the blank)” the implication being that their little incestuous clique and gallery-like clubhouse are somehow immune from being part of what holds artists back. I’m doing the BOOT CAMP because I teach it here at the Coagula workspace. What is so hard about that to get? What is hard is for them to think outside of their clique, the first place they ever felt like they belonged that was a mere simulation of art world success.

Oh wait, this is one of the boot camp lectures and here you are getting it for free.

After blogging for free for 5 years and publishing a free magazine for 14 years (after two years of publishing a free student underground newspaper in college), it is time for me to sell this information. I am not used to placing value on what I have to offer, but now is the time.

This is the night that if I cannot sleep well or wake up comfortably, I get all research-nerd on the internet and find a new and imporved pillow.

Preparing Target Card for massive usage.