LJP Blog

Lowbrow Tarot Show video by Mike Wollen

Here is a short but marvelous video of last year's "Lowbrow Tarot Project" opening at La Luz de Jesus Gallery by Mike Wollen of Foundry Films.

Tarot Show artist Heather Watts will be doing a show at La Luz de Jesus in April of 2010.

Video: Tiki Farm Anniversary Party at La Luz de Jesus by Crystal Cove Media

BEYOND EDEN: Over 3,000 attend opening - Robert Williams honored

BEYOND EDEN: Over 3,000 attend opening - Robert Williams honored - opening night pictures

L to R: Andrew Hosner (Beyond Eden organizer, Thinkspace Gallery, Sour Harvest,) Matt Kennedy (Gallery Director - La Luz de Jesus,) Robert Williams, Billy Shire (Owner, Curator - La Luz de Jesus,) Lee Joseph (Beyond Eden publicist, assistant coordinator.) Photograph by Sam Graham

"...I've been coming to this place for 47 years and believe me, 10 years ago you couldn't have this kind of art in this venue. Abstract expressionism, Conceptualism ruled here until right up until recently. If you come here and you take this for granted you are making a big mistake, cause a lot had to change in this country to have a show like this. I just want to thank all of you people and I'm just, overwhelmed, absolutely overwhelmed. “
-Robert Williams upon receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at Beyond Eden 2010

"We're honoring one of the world's most foremost artists of today. Not only is he a great storyteller, but a great painter."
- Billy Shire on Robert Williams at Beyond Eden 2010

From Andrew Hosner / Beyond Eden event organizer:
BEYOND EDEN 2010 opened with a blast this past weekend drawing nearly 4,000 people total over the weekend to the beautiful grounds of Barnsdall Park and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

We would like to thank everyone who came out to support the artists and to extend our gratitude to the staff at LAMAG for making the event possible and nurturing it into such an overwhelming success. Saturday night's opening reception alone drew well over 3,000 people and the energy in the air was palpable.

At 8pm when the time came to present the one and only Robert Williams with a Lifetime Achievement award, the venue was simply packed with a crowd of friends and revelers that stretched outside into the municipal gallery's courtyard. Robert Williams, ever a gentleman, was gracious and ribald during the well received presentation.

We can't stress enough what a huge honor it was to have Robert--the progenitor of contemporary West Coast art--there and to be able to present him with this award in front of all his friends and family. It was truly the crowning moment of an already amazing night that saw so many new people exposed to the thriving New Contemporary Art Movement. Long ignored by the mainstream, this movement continues to gain momentum and supporters all the while further breaking down the doors at institutions and museums the world over. A new generation of artists and art enthusiasts is rewriting the rule books and we are excited that BEYOND EDEN can serve as a vehicle of enlightenment and change.

Check out pictures from the opening night reception here:

Check out footage of Robert Williams receiving his lifetime achievement award:

Thank you all again for the magnificent support of BEYOND EDEN 2010 - we look forward to seeing you all again next year!!!

The first LJP blog.

I’m christening this blog with a welcome and thanks! The idea for LJP materialized during the summer of 2006. I had been running Dionysus Records, a small independent record label for many years and needed something fresh. At the time, I was considering starting a dog walking business. A friend, Lisa Erickson who was in the process of starting a fashon design company, had made a very aggressive point via phone conversation, that I should do something more than walk dogs all day (uuuh...excuse me...I love dogs) by the very fact that I had cultivated a lot of resources and was surrounded by a bevy of creativity from a lot of talented friends. A few days later while having drinks at a very lively multi-media art, photography, live-painting and fashion show in Culver City at Black Cat Gallery headed up by LA punk rock producer legend and friend Gexa X …an idea came to my slightly buzzed head which kind of floated around until two days later, on a Monday. While sitting silent on the sofa, I was hit with a revelation and wrote up two pages of ideas for a visual art publicity company, keeping in mind my music background. I called a group of people including friends, favorite artists and some who had designed record jackets for Dionysus including Shag, Heather Watts, Lisa Petrucci, Andrew Brandau, Chantal Menard, Bobby Green and Carol Moore of Bigfoot Lodge/Saints and Sinners and Jay Naylor of M Modern Gallery, with the legendary Billy Shire recieving my first call on the subject...each one was asked their opinion on the ideas. All were very positive and supportive, most telling me that what I had in mind did not exist on this level. Billy Shire was the first to hire me to work the "Glenn Barr's Haunted Paradise" book. Heather Watts came aboard shortly thereafter. I didn’t even have a business card or website or email address other than my Dionysus Records account.

Backtracking for a moment, I had done a three year stint at the log-cabin motif Bigfoot Lodge booking bands and started the groundwork for publicity work when we stopped having live music and went with a seven-night DJ schedule….At the suggestion of Bobby Green, I had kept my Wednesday night, shifted to a four-hour DJ set…and started doing publicity for the bar. I still DJ at Bigfoot every Wednesday and also spin every Thursday night at one of Bobby’s other amazing bars, Saints and Sinners. The bars have become a part of the visual art publicity company as these are very much “high-concept” theme establishments, every bit as much art and eye candy as they offer liquid, social and musical treats.

Thanks goes to all my initial supporters, clients, all my press contacts and friends in and beyond the vibrating Los Angeles art scene for their support and again my clients for their patience in hanging with a company that is just starting out…rough spots and all. Thanks to an early supporter, Leora Lutz from Gallery Revisited who designed my business card...that design became the basis of the look of this site. Thanks to Jeff Turney of The Next Level for desinging this site.