Images: Oleg Dou

Image: Chema Madoz

Image: Imogen Cunningham

Last night I went to a private event for a social network I’m a member of, hosted by Daniel Miller at his Venice Boulevard gallery Duncan Miller. If you haven’t already been tipped off to the space, Duncan Miller showcases some of the finest hand-picked photography in town–from the traditional to the surreal. Currently up: a solo show of the work of Kim Weston (grandson o’ Edward) which mostly consisted of unusual female nudes, and a group show featuring some of the biggies like Edward Weston, Ansel Adams and Imogen Cunningham.

The previous private party I attended at the gallery was a closing show for Chema Madoz–an amazing Spanish surrealist photographer (Bunuel would be proud). I love the work!

Another favorite of mine is Oleg Dou–a talented young Moscow artist whose work reminds me of a contemporary photographic version of Bruges Renaissance painter Jan Van Eyck.

Image: Madonna and her latest baby Jesus in the W magazine spread that started it all

As a writer I couldn’t ask for a better cliche truth than this: Madonna has a Madonna/Whore complex. Only in her version, the spicy Latino guys are “just for sex” and the tough brooding Anglo men are relationship material.

She has recently been all over the tabloids because she’s found herself a new 22-year-old boy toy (the above “Madonna Whore” model Jesus Luz). The two met doing a saucy photo shoot for W. Something tells me this was a set-up by the magazine. We all know she has a thing for pretty young Latinos–and men of color in general. What a way to sell copies of the mag.

All of this of course is post-Alex Rodriguez affair…yet another (”MadonnaWhore”) young Latino…

However, if we cast a gander back to the men Madonna has had even slightly significant relationships (i.e. “Madonna Madonnas”), they are a completely different type.

Back in the day, there was Sean Penn. Ok, he’s half Italian. But the other half is Irish. Let’s face it–hot as he was back in the 80s when they were married–he’s kind of a “tough guy” Anglo type who doesn’t put up with shit.

And let’s not forget Warren Beatty. He may not have been a marriage but they were in the public eye enough (and in her film “Truth or Dare”) to qualify as a couple. His father was Canadian and he grew up in a Baptist family. He clearly has gorgeous, blue-eyed Anglo looks and again, a–shall we say–independent demeanor. From what we saw in “Truth or Dare,” the man gets very irritated–even a little hot-headed–about not being in control.

And finally, this leads us to the most recent “Madonna Madonna,” Guy Ritchie. Totally Anglo this time–English even–and if footage of him dealing with the family and the ‘razzis is any clue, he’s teeming with hot-headedness beneath the surface. Of course, Madonna’s bro’s tell-all book even depicts him as a machismo homophobe.

Moral of the story–there’s no moral of the story, no morals even. Well, maybe you could extrapolate that Madonna is kind of like a man in her sexual/relationship proclivities. I personal find it terribly amusing because the guys I have ended up in serious relationships have been her dark, exotic wet dreams (though they are not my sexual types). However, the ones I fantasize about (the “Whores”) are her Madonnas (it doesn’t get much better than a young Warren Beatty, wow!) So, in conclusion, Guy Ritchie, if you’re interested, there’s a Eurasian journalist in L.A. who’d be willing to at least try to make an honest man out of you.

Long before we lived our breakneck-paced, edgy Millennial lifestyle, Ms. Grace Jones was singing about it and embodying it in her slick, vanguard, modernistic manner. Now the art rock/disco legend and icon is billed as part of Sónar 2009’s lineup. The Jamaican-born artiste has a new album, “hurricane” (produced by Sly & Robbie, Tricky and my own beloved Brian Eno). Looks like our era has finally caught up to Ms. Jones. The Sónar site shows the new video for one of the album’s tracks, “Corporate Cannibal.”

Sónar is the annual festival for multimedia arts and progressive music in Barcelona. This year’s takes place on June 18, 19 and 20th.

I went to a lecture by Benjamin Bratton at Sci Arc last week in which he discussed the death of architecture as we know it and suggested that building architects become software architects. He suggested that the architect incorporate subtraction into his/her work–editing and tearing down unnecessary structures instead of erecting new ones. This is all part of the wave of downsizing, nanotech and such going on–the beginning of the era of dematerialization. I’m not talking about living on a farm with just a sheep, a tunic and shoes. This is already happening thanks to MP3 technology and Kindle (2) making books and records more of a functional experience than about collecting “the object.”

Yet for every trend there is a backlash and this latest one is in the form of a Facebook meme that has been growing in popularity. It invites us to create our own album with a sort of “Exquisite Corpse” randomness. Wikipedia randomly generates a name for our band. The final graf on a random quotations page becomes the album title, and finally a random Flickr photo is the cover art. And voila! You may not be able to caress and fondle your album as the rock n’ roll objet d’art it was in the past. But you get the visual enjoyment of seeing the album (albeit digitally–this is the Internet era after all).

Below are some examples (including my own) of what some folks have come up with. Remember, these were generated randomly so there is an element of personalized web mysticism to this…

The above album is mine (and actually looks like something I’d listen to…on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic)

Totally macabre? Too Goth for words? Perhaps this could be said of New York artist Jordan Eagles, whose “sanguine” work I saw up-close and personal at the recent 14th Annual L.A. Show. Eagles’ technique involves displaying blood–with all of its translucent properties, rich color hues and textures–between multiple layers of clear resins, ultimately coated with UV to preserve its life. The blood also vibrates light illuminating sealed-in protein air bubbles. Glass of water please…I think I’m feeling faint…

In his newer work, the artist is also using old blood because of its interesting texture/tone variations. Eagles says of his pieces: “The compositions of my new works often resemble Rorschach inkblot test patterns, magnified cellular details as well as large-scale photographic images of planetary bodies, dark matter, molten lava and galactic bullet clusters.”

I love his work’s aesthetic quality (which must make me some kind of Vampire-in-training). I find it interesting that as a thirtysomething, he emerges out of this very connected (via the Internet) yet-disconnected (vis-a-vis touch and real-life) culture. So–even though the blood is encased in resin for practicality’s sake–that ‘distance’ also speaks volumes about a generation yearning for human touch, warmth, humanity…carnage if you will…but more comfortable experiencing it through a protective layer.

Wondering where he gets the blood from? Did I mention he’s a night owl who roams the streets of Manhattan looking for prey (uh, I mean, muses)? Sorry, my inner Bram Stoker was begging to come out and play.

Ok so last time I checked, Wednesday was the new Thursday, after Thursday had become the new Friday and so on. Regardless of trends–and totally regarding the current financial situ–Sunday and Monday are officially the new dining nights. Weekends are for amateurs anyway! Here is a short list of good deals to beat the recession blues and keep your cool index high–for not cavorting with the Weekend Warriors:

Sundays:

Dominick’s continutes with its long-standing tradition of “Sunday Supper.” Fifteen bucks gets you a three course (albeit heavy) Italian meal complete with dessert (a bottle of red or white Dago wine is $10 and Moretti beer is $2).

Ketchup–If you’ve ever wanted to try this snobby sans raison “haute” Americana spot near Sunset Plaza, Sundays are 50% off (check for availability; they may have changed that on a whim)

L’Opera offers bottles of wine at 50% off on Sundays.

Lucques continues with its special Sunday Supper which entails a delish 3-courser for $45

Mondays:

Dolce–the menu is 50% off on Mondays (again, check with them to make sure this is still going on–you might, after all, be getting Punk’d)

Citizen Smith in Hollywood has a 50% off offer on Mondays that lasts all day and night

Campanile has a three-course dinner menu on offer for $45 on Mondays. Be warned, it’s family-themed.

Garth Trinidad, host of KCRW’s “Chocolate City” has just announced that he’s relaunched his web site with a new blog. Apart from his thoughts on a range of topics it will include event invites, and free music dowloads (which he is aiming at posting each week).

I think the New Yorker-cartoon-meets-Surrealism work of Paris based artist Kevin McSherry kind of captures the current culturo-economic zeitgeist/backlash. I found his work on SprayGraphic, a social network for street artists. When a member joins they can create an online portfolio, join groups and go to RL events. There is also a SprayGraphic store which sells Ts designed by members of the community. I am dreaming of a particular McSherry design on a shirt: citizens storming the bastille of Citigroup.

It’s definitely torch-wielding time vis-a-vis the banking giants. In the same vein, check out my blog post featured in the Business section of today’s Huffington Post on “The New Value of a Buck.”