Los Angeles Art Blog

I met artist Albert Reyes while standing in line to enter Giant Robot Biennale 2 at the Japanese American National Museum, where he has an installation. We began chatting and, after running into him again later on in the evening, I asked to interview him for LA Weekly. He said yes and added that I should check out his Halloween art maze. The following weekend, I headed out to a house party to walk through a maze/art gallery compact enough to fit inside an average-sized LA backyard yet winding enough to provide ten minutes or so of screaming good fun.

Liz Ohanesian

The exterior of Albert Reyes' maze

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What's better than watching Biff Griff get arrested outside the clock tower while chilling on your hoverboard? Nothing, actually. But sneaking into a parking lot at the Universal Studios back lot to play inside the original Back to the Future DeLorean time machine is pretty damn close. Check out these photos from one recent late-night adventure...

Erin Broadley

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Shannon Cottrell

Comic-Con 2009

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San Diego Union Tribune reports that Sheldon Dorf, founder of San Diego's Comic-Con International, died today at the age of 76 after suffering from complications of diabetes. The Union Tribune obituary tells the fascinating story of a freelance artist whose life was changed by a trip to San Diego, where he went on to found the largest fandom convention in the country. From the paper:

Last week I did an interview with the blogging genius behind "crafts gone wrong" blog Kraftomatic. Soon after, she posted about these: Nose Cozies. "In my humble yet obsessive opinion, this is the best thing to happen to the cozy since the advent of the asthma-inhaler sweater," writes Marian Lizzi. The seller was tired of cold noses. Necessity is the mother of goddamned weird-ass invention.

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Shannon Cottrell

Donna Ricci wearing the "Time Traveler's Corset" at Labyrinth of Jareth

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Last summer, we bumped into neo-Victorian fashionista Donna Ricci at Labyrinth of Jareth and were taken by her corset. Known as the "Time Traveler's Corset," it's covered in newspaper print bearing headlines from the Victorian age to the mid-twentieth century. The unusual piece mixes with steampunk, dieselpunk and even modern outfits.

Real vampire hunting kit....or fake?

​Every now and then, a reader comment just blows my mind. Do you remember my vampire hunting kits roundup from a few weeks ago? Someone claiming to be an honest to god, "real" vampire hunter emailed me to explain that "the only creature who is lonelier than the vampire, it the one who hunts it." Here is his (or her) excellent advice on the Seven Rules of Vampire Hunting:

Rule #1- You can not kill a vampire. It is already dead. You can only destroy it.
Rule #2- An annoyed vampire is a dangerous vampire.
Rule #3- Guns tend to annoy vampires. See rule #2.
Rule #4- Real vampires are evil.
Rule #5- If you are seduced by a vampire, you will become one, or become dead. See rule #4.
Rule #6- (And this is the one that really counts.) Kill them all!
Rule #7- When in doubt, and all other times, execute rule #6.

​The much-anticipated cloth-bound editions of Penguin classic books are finally out in the US. They are designed by Penguin senior designer Coralie Bickford-Smith. Instead of the usual stodgy painting of the author on the cover, these have clever illustrations that pick up on some iconic image pertaining to the novel at hand (i.e., waves for The Odyssey by Homer, peacock feathers for The Picture of Dorian Gray). The covers and spines are printed with matte colored foil on cloth. So pretty. DesignSponge has a lovely interview with Bickford-Smith. The books will set you back around $20 each. Click here to buy.

Titles include Jane Eyre, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Oliver Twist, Crime and Punishment and more. These three below are particularly sweet.

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