The OC Art Blog was created in 2004 as a way to build community and promote the marginalized but dynamic Orange County art scene.

  I forgot how clever the “got milk?” advertising campaign was until I saw Art & Copy at the Orange County Museum of Art.  “Got milk?” began in 1993 when the designers at Goodby Silverstein & Partners were presented with the challenge of selling more milk.  To paraphrase their initial concerns: milk is as old as time itself, unlike Snapple or Gatorade there are no new flavors, the labels have not changed in over twenty years, and there are no favorite brands of milk (2% is...

04 August, 2009 /

Last time I was up in LA I checked out the Miracle Mile gallery openings and caught the 'Transforming Photography' group show at the Edward Cella Art + Architecture Gallery. It was excellent.Gallery Director Edward Cella was kind enough to give us some insight into artist Joni Sternbach's amazing tin type photographs.  Unfortunately you are too late to catch the show, but if you go to the gallery website www.edwardcella.com you can view all of the artist's work from the exhibition.Better late than never. . .Edward...

03 August, 2009 /

He is not five stories tall, he is not accompanied by a blue ox, and he did not create the grand canyon by dragging an axe.  However, what I have been told is that Robert Crumb doodles masterpieces on placemats in restaurants, and helped a friend with a major expense by drawing them a personal portrait.  In fact, a man once unexpectedly showed up on Robert Crumb’s doorstep in France only to be invited back the following week. The most unexpected treat of R. Crumb’s Underground at Grand Central Art...

30 July, 2009 /

 Laguna Art Museum is currently accepting submissions from Orange County and Long Beach artists working in all media for an upcoming exhibition scheduled for February 20 – May 16, 2010. OsCene is a survey exhibition drawn from artists working in all media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, multi-media installations, video, architecture, performance, and design. The survey will focus on artists based in Orange County and Long Beach. However, artists who have an ongoing presence within the county, but may not live in the region and commute, are encouraged to submit,...

29 July, 2009 /

                                 The Hibbleton Gallery in Fullerton, and ISM have extended the deadline for submissions to their Polaroid 600 Series exhibition.  Submissions can now be sent to kevin@ismcommunity.org until Friday, July 24:   ISM: a community project and Hibbleton Gallery pay tribute to instant film and the discontinued Polaroid 600 Series with a gallery exhibition + limited edition book.The opening reception of INSTANT GRATIFICATION: a polaroid party is scheduled for 7:00 PM on Friday August 7th, 2009 at the Hibbleton Gallery in...

17 July, 2009 /

You wouldn't tell we are in a recession by the amount of people that turned up last night at the group show opening of 'Rogue Wave' at the LA LouverHere are a couple of pics:  Right and Left sides of video room installation of Micol Hebron.  Lots of gum chewing. . .  Olga Koumoundouros in the Main Gallery (that is a plastic Big Gulp cup there at the bottom) Tia Pulitzer sculpture, clay and auto paint video and ink jet prints from Erin Cosgrove and...

17 July, 2009 /

Yesterday while at OCMA revisiting their video exhibition, I managed to convince curator Sarah Bancroft to give us the scoop on one of her favorite pieces from the show.  This is a big show including historical works by artists such as Nam June Paik, Pipilotti Rist, Chris Burden, William Kentridge, Bill Viola. . . .  See the museum website for full details.PSOne of my favorites was the single channel video titled '414-3-Rave-95' by kookie duo Cory Arcangel and Frankie Martin, we laughed our butts off.Exhibition Titled "The Moving Image: Scan to Screen, Pixel to Projection"Artist...

17 July, 2009 /

    Every day I am amazed at the ingenuity of Iran’s cyber generation.  Isolated from outside media, they transformed seemingly narcissistic and shallow, global networking sites (check out pics of my trip to San Francisco) into an unrestricted forum divulging political corruption.  This generation is completely utilizing resources like Youtube, where millions of people are witnessing the violence erupt in the streets, and Twitter, where first-hand experiences are chronicled in a continuous feed.  Every viral message conveys unabashed, fear, frustration, and freedoms previous generations did not...

15 July, 2009 /

Richard Morrison from The Times (London) finds this book gripping. . .I'm not sure how gripped I was by the marketing strategies and branding, but it is pretty entertaining.   For those of you out there that cannot come to terms with the astronomical prices that Contemporary Art commands, this is the book for you.Don Thompson does a good job at giving the reader an overview of how auction houses, art dealers, collectors, and museum curators each play an economic role in the pricing of artworks.-Joanna ...

14 July, 2009 /

Hi Everybody,  I am back from Colombia and ready to blog.  I spent almost a month in South America and loved every minute of it.  Sundays in Bogota. They shut-down the streets and everyone gets out.Can you imagine one day a week, no cars and quasi-obligatory exercise. . .?? Besides eating my way through the city, I also saw an excellent Warhol exhibition at the Museo de Arte del Banco de la Republica, went to several gallery openings- one in particular for Colombian painter Luis Caballero that knocked my socks off, along with salt mines made into churches, horse drawn carts selling avocados the size of cantaloupes,  street...

13 July, 2009 /

Here they are folks, Mike McGee & Andrea Harris-McGee and Mr. OC Art Blog Saturday night at the Crumb opening in Downtown Santa Ana. ...

13 July, 2009 /

On Saturday July 18, 2009, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art will be hosting the exhibition "LA to OC - emphasis:EXTREME". This exhibit brings ten of the downtown Los Angeles art galleries down to the OC to exhibit works of art from select artists. The galleries exhibiting are:Bert Green Fine ArtCrewest GalleryDeborah Martin GalleryHive GalleryIntegrated Circuits GalleryLos Angeles Center for Digital ArtMONAPharmakaPhyllis Stein ArtTodd/Browning GalleryThis exhibition, curated by Jeff T. Alu, brings together emerging, mid career and tenured artists with a common emphasis: each...

06 July, 2009 /

To commemorate the date of the burning of Rome, The Box contemporary art gallery is proud to present new works by artists Craig “Skibs” Barker, Jeff Felker, and Michael Pukac.  This collection of mixed media figurative paintings will open at the Costa Mesa gallery on Saturday, July 18, 2009, from 7:00 PM until 10:00 PM. The exhibition will run through October 3, 2009.  July 18 marks the anniversary of the most known burning of Rome, where in 64 A.D., popular legend reports Nero played his lyre after setting fire to the...

06 July, 2009 /

On Saturday, July 11, Grand Central Art Center honors a lifetime of talent, wit, and carnal fantasies with the opening of R. Crumb’s Underground.  Extending beyond Crumb’s comics, this exhibit includes the debut of his spool drawings and highlights collaborations with other comic artists including his wife, Aline Kominsky-Crumb.  GCAC is the only Southern California venue to showcase this exhibit, organized by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and is the final stop after two years of touring this show.   R. Crumb's Underground,...

04 July, 2009 /

Arthur Taussig: Postcards from the Edges of America is a sampling from more than 15,000 photographs taken by the artist as part of a documentary exploring mid and low culture museums.  What could be considered detours and road side attractions are presented as destinations valued for their preservation of culture and history.  Some of the treasures highlighted in the exhibition include: The Yo-Yo Museum, Chico, California; The Mary Kay Museum, Houston, Texas;  The Spam Museum, Austin, Minnessota; The Cockroach Hall of Fame, Plano, Texas; The Pez Museum, Burlington, California; and The Babyland General Hospital...

01 July, 2009 /