garden paradise in pasadena

my favorite mustached magic maker, shrine, is at it again. you may remember him from an earlier post about his making love out of trash art show in which he and his daughter jesse transformed 19 truck-loads of trash into beautiful art.

shrine was recently featured on the front page of the house and garden section of the los angeles times for the inspiring garden world that he has created around his pasadena home.




shrine's gardens tell stories of found treasures, intricate mosaics, and fascinating succulants and cactus plants that are artwork in themselves. because of his focus on drought-tolerant species, shrine's garden is a xeriscape which does not require supplemental irrigation. shrine gets a big green thumbs up for his urban greening project. he's not only conserving resources of water but also reusing other people's trash to create beautiful green space.

read more about shrine and his funky gardens from the la times.

and i just couldn't resist adding a photo of zee artist and myself from burning man this past year :)

making love outta trash

OUR LOVE
installation by father daughter team
SHRINE and JESSE

10.14.06 - 11.18.06

Reception:
Saturday October 21, 2006
6:00pm to 10:00pm

my favorite moustached mischief maker...shrine, and his lovely daughter jesse have put so much heart into this show...don't miss it! our love is an installation of shrines and paintings by the duo...proving that you can make love out of trash. if you can't make the reception on saturday night, the show will be at the transport gallery through nov. 18th.

Los Angeles, CA - Transport Gallery in association with Forever's Ghost Riders present, OUR LOVE, an installation by father daughter team Shrine and Jesse Blue Spears. The exhibition will run from October 14, 2006 through November 18, 2006. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, October 21st from 6:00pm to 11:00pm.

Daughter father team, Jesse Blue Spears and Shrine combine forces to lift the veil to the other world. No mercy, full power, no holds barred paint off trash throw down. Come celebrate "our love" for you with this powerful installation.


Regarding the installation: 19 trucks full of forgotten debris collected and transformed into holy relic beauties for you to see and know the secrets of the future. Fingers with their own agenda are painting for pure joy. Transport Gallery has been dipped in special paint and on top of this special paint we hang the so-called art, we call it "Our Love". From the ceilings hang layer upon layer of exotic shrines - seeping down roots, cascading bones and wire. Crying birds will guide ye through secrets we do not understand. Now the journey has begun, constant flowing creation from; paint, trash, pom poms, wire, feathers, leaves, cardboard, glass and wood, everything falling in love over and over again.

Transport Gallery is located at 1308 Factory Place, Los Angeles CA 90013. The gallery is open by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, please call 310-956-5344. To learn more about the gallery and its past exhibitions, please visit the website.

Transport Gallery
1308 Factory Place
Los Angeles CA 90013

*photo by marsi of coachella shrine installation

art is trash

this past weekend was the brewery's fall artwalk, and the original phil and i ventured downtown to check it out on saturday. if you aren't familiar, the brewery is housed in an old industrial pabst complex converted to the largest live-work artist collective in the world. the artist's open their studios twice a year to the public. the work was very inspiring...but even more so to me, is experiencing the living spaces of the artists. i came very close to moving into the brewery last year, but was working on the west side at the time and did not want to deal with the commute from downtown. it is definitely more tempting to move there now, although the poor air quality and lack of walkable things to do leaves me less inspired...

anyways, the brewery was alot of fun indeed, i even ran into some familiar faces such as steve samo and christian of tin foil man, blacksmith and sculptor extraordinaire...always a pleasure :) i was also fabulously inspired by artists such as annie terrazzo of art is trash. annie's work is raw and beautiful, and very green (as she creates her work from other people's trash). as she says on her site bio:

"I have no inspiration, I only have reaction and my work was born out of nothing but that and sheer poverty. Back in 2003, I didnt have the money to afford real materials so I was forced to improvise. Id find used canvases at thrift stores (that always had Cousin Emilys first oil paint lesson on it) and
rummage through clearance barrels for paint and glue at the cheap markets
to get the basics. After the first layer was done, Id take it apart, destroy
something, put it back together and then find some trash on the street
(perhaps yours?) and make art out of it. Now, its been a few years since I began working this trash and I can afford better materials, but I dont bother. There is something about the sad little abused canvases I find. They have a history, a prior life and a story to tell. Each one is a piece from someones past. Each had a use or was loved and lost or tossed aside."

i love the trash to treasure theme of annie's work. the brewery itself is a great example of adaptive reuse as well, as the complex could have surely been torn down to create brand new lofts like the ones going up all over downtown... but the brewery has history, it has character, and like annie's work, it is full of stories....

the brewery art walk is offered biannually, so add it to your spring calendar yo!