(Credit: Courtesy Lazarides Gallery)
Last year, if there was one art phenomenon that burned in L.A.’s memory, it was U.K.-based street artist Banksy staging a surprise show in a warehouse downtown. Lines stretched down the block, a live painted elephant bunched the panties of animal rights activists and the location was kept strictly under wraps. Brangelina famously popped in to buy a piece for $80K. I went and saw Josh Groban, which wasn’t thrilling, but at least the work was: whip-smart street art with plenty to say about politics and pop culture.
If you heard about it too late, take notes on this one, junior. On September 19, Antony Micallef—repped by Banksy’s London dealer, Lazarides Gallery—opened his debut L.A. show, "Impure Idols," at a previously unknown location in Hollywood. The address was under the radar at press time, but I just got off the phone and weaseled it out of the wily Brits: look for a disused retail space transformed into a temporary gallery, and the popping of flashbulbs. 6763 Hollywood Boulevard to be exact.
Micallef’s work has been described as “critical” pop, and has earned him his own share of celebrity worshippers; Jude Law, Michael Stipe and Damien Hirst own pieces, and Londoners stand in queues to see his delicately-hued and politically-charged paintings. “Twenty-First Century Love” (left) is a not-so-subtle stab at corporations, depicting a winged creature burdened by commerce.
Inspired by both Caravaggio and Japanese anime alike, Micallef uses an airy pastel palette to render the dark subjects of consumerism, gun culture and corrupt politics.
I ducked in at noon on Tuesday as workers were sweeping up construction dust and empty rolls of duct tape for a sneak peek, and had a chat with Micallef. The exhibit comprises three floors, with large-scale paintings tucked under glass and suspended from rusty chains, and a row of gleaming sculptures of headless, gun-topped children plated in shiny nickel and perched on pedestals. The empty space was at one point a bank, and walking through a hulking vaulted door, you'll find a room littered with InTouch Weeklies and People Magazines, with a trio of paintings depicting the wishes of little girls already obsessed with the media.
Watch your head going into the basement to get a glimpse of another sculpture; this time it's cherubs locked in a fistfight, with murky, roughly-sketched paintings in black and white hung around the dank basement walls—each somehow paying homage while admonishing Hollywood culture.
After the exhibit you may stumble back onto Hollywood Boulevard, in the shadow of the Hollywood and Highland shopping mecca, more culturally disoriented than you'd have expected. Which seems to be exactly what Micallef is aiming for.
Watch out—the Brit's got something to say.
The Sept. 18 private preview was invite only, but expect to hear about the roster of celebrity art aficionados who attended. We "normal" folks can catch "Impure Idols" at 6763 Hollywood Blvd. Sept 19 though Sept 30, from noon to 8 p.m. daily.
(Pictured: "Twenty-First Century Love," Antony Micallef, 2006. Courtesy Lazarides Gallery)
Alie Ward is Events editor for Metromix Los Angeles.
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