Photo Flurry

Today is for taking it easy, wrapping up recent print orders, and tidying the house after the three-day weekend. Labor Day weekend is usually an eerily quiet time here, as everyone’s out of town to catch the last bits of summer, or to commune with the desert spirits at Burning Man. We decided to spend yesterday’s holiday wandering around downtown LA, enjoying the vacant streets and breezy afternoon sunshine, thus stripping ourselves of even more goth points than usual. Alas.

First stop: the Dennis Hopper “Double Standard” retrospective at MOCA. An impressive exhibit – I had no idea Hopper had collaborated with Duchamp, or worked in fiberglass, or made moving sculptures. Besides acting and directing, he’s known for his portraits of people like Warhol and Lichtenstein, but his photographic body of work is so much more. Hopper’s sense of humor and sense of momentum practically flood the two rooms of the exhibit dedicated to black and white shots. There are tons of paintings and found objects and assemblages in this show, all inspiring and forming a cohesive body of work, but the photography touched me most. If you’re  in LA, the exhibit runs until September 26th. Well worth the $10 admission.

Next, a stop in Little Tokyo to refuel. Above, minced raw fatty tuna and barbecued freshwater eel over rice. Ultranoms.

Once were sufficiently foodened, A and I walked to my personal Mecca, the Bradbury Building, otherwise known as J.F. Sebastian’s home in Blade Runner. Being here, for me, is on par with entering the Nortre Dame. Though The Bradbury is much smaller, and off-limits aside from the lobby, there is something about the light that’s completely alterdimentional. And would you believe that most of this place is occupied by police offices, when it so obviously needs to be my home? Nonsense. At least I got to photograph it yesterday, and have paid my tribute to Pris with the photos V. Perlovich and I did for Plastik Wrap a while back.

Actually, it might be time for a re-shoot, now that I’m platinum again. Also, I’m Pris for Halloween this year, obviously, and think A will make a good Deckard. Anyhow, the rest of the photos are mine, so scroll on to bask in the glowing glory of the Bradbury Building.

After the Bradbury we wandered across the street to a massive botanica, where I took no photos out of respect and fear of curses. They had an impressive collection of “alleged bat brains” and “alleged cat hearts” among the usual candles, oils, magical bubble baths and incense. I was terribly tempted to buy an alleged bat brain, just to see what could possibly be inside the packaging, but resisted. Then, a walk back to Little T, where we spent at lest an hour at Kinokuniya, finally tearing ourselves away with the first volume of The Drifting Classroom. In lieu of botanica and book store photos, here are a few more from the walk, etc. Until next time!