bloomfest festival

There has been an upsurge of festivals during this summer season.  I can't complain because it's free and I get to enjoy some decent music, yummy food trucks and beer gardens on a Saturday afternoon.  The Bloomfest festival was held in the Arts district in DTLA and the area manages to change and gentrify every time I visit.  I wonder where the real artists are now because the place is surrounded with luxurious loft spaces and high end condos.  Maybe the artists recieve a discount in living in the art commune because their making the murals or stamping their graffiti on the concrete floor, like the owl above, or defacing telephone poles with stickers, who knows?

It was tons of fun to soak in the sun, eat my Korean bbq and listen to some free music.  I finished my meal with a Coolhaus sammy (red velvet ice cream swirl + chocolate cookie), yummy!

I also did some window shopping from the various vendors, such as the American Apparel flea market.  There were some cute skirts and dresses, but there were defective items with holes and stains, and a bit overpriced.  I also saw some silkscreen prints and while walking about, stumbled upon dry spilled paint on the sidewalk...loved it.

To get everyone excited about art, they had random artists painting on the side walk and displaying their original art for purchase on a stop sign.  There was a section where anybody can grab a paint brush and finish a painting if they desired.  The event was a hodge pod of fun randomness.  Bring on some more festivals to fill in my summer weekends.

exit through the gift shop

It's the best documentary I have seen up to now. It's about a guy who shoots videos as a hobby and decides to make a documentary about graffiti artists. He sought for the most elusive and mysterious graffiti artist out there, Banksy. When he finally has the opportunity to shoot Banksy, the pseudo filmmaker becomes a graffiti artist himself. He finds success and is considered to be reckoned with in the Art world. It's such a brilliant documentary because it raises the question what is art? Is it art because there is so much hype about the work or is their talent behind the creations. After the documentary, I questioned Banksy's exhibition in L.A. a few years back. It was a strange art show because he is well known as a stencil graffiti artist, yet he had sculptures to paintings galore. I thought it was a joke because I didn't believe him to be a fine artist. I consider graffiti artists as rebels of the art world. I can go on and on about this documentary because it raises more questions than answers about Banksy. Either way, try to catch it one of these free week nights when your looking to be amused. Oh, btw, I saw it at a Landmark movie theatre and I fell in luv with that place. They have couches as movie seats and it felt like I was watching it at home amongst other strangers. Note to self, more movie watching in a Landmark movie theatre.