southern california artists - music art film review

Eric Beltz Artist Interview: Frozen in Transcendence

Some artists are prolific, churning out project after project at a speed that leaves onlookers wondering about their superhuman pace. Some have a much slower process — painstaking in intricate detail — and Eric Beltz is one of the latter. A drawing teacher at University of Santa Barbara, Beltz is a master renderer, and his...Read...

Sep 23

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by Vivian Hua

HOUSE MUSIC Performance Review: Jennie Liu & Andrew Gilbert Practice at The Mistake Room

Backwoods folk music plays quietly as visitors enter The Mistake Room, and they find themselves in the midst of a manufactured landscape. Pathways demarcated by rubber tires lead towards a simple architectural structure, and TV sets are strewn about the terrain, running loops of silent video clips. One set focuses on strange tales about “artists”...Read...

Apr 26

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by Vivian Hua

Death Play Performance Review: Directed by Jessica Hanna & Performed by Lisa Dring

According to Death Play writer and performer Lisa Dring, grief, in its most violent throes, can be so consuming that one who is experiencing it can hardly feel anything at all. Dring would know. Having lost her estranged father, beloved mother, and half-understood Japanese grandmother by the wee age of 25, Dring uses Death Play...Read...

Apr 4

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by Vivian Hua

BRÅVES – Dust Music Video (w/ Director Johnny What Q&A Interview)

"The human body is a beautiful thing and it should be commonplace. We all have one. They all look simultaneously similar and different. There should be no shame around it." - Johnny What, Director & Band Member of BRÅVES

Feb 12

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by Vivian Hua

Anna Homler Musician Interview: The Mythology Behind Breadwoman

"My work is all about shifting from the literal to the lyrical, and it's actually a brain shift from one hemisphere to the other." - Anna Homler, on Breadwoman and performance art

Feb 10

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by Vivian Hua

Yumi Sakugawa Artist Interview: Expansion through Meditation and the Dark Corners of the Mind

"Much of meditation is emptiness and finding so much in the emptiness... Whether it’s minimalism on a visual level – where there’s a lot of empty blank spaces, or minimalism on a narrative level, where the dialogue and the description of the characters are very, very sparse – those are the kinds of stories that...

Dec 4

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by Vivian Hua

Gardens & Villa – Maximize Music Video / Mini-Documentary (w/ Musician & Director Interviews)

"Living by the LA river automatically makes you feel sometimes (if you adventure around) like you are on the border of some forgotten part of Gotham. We occasionally look for abandoned buildings/complexes close by and then sneak in to them to explore a little. It's crazy what you find. To step in to these old...

Sep 10

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by Vivian Hua

Nathan Hayden Artist Inteview: On Nature, Ritual Dance & Induced Visions

"I'm just trying to access the possibilities of other things, and in the same way that I look at art throughout history and nature for little pieces of those other realms, I'm hoping that I can be a part of that process and for people to get a peek into other realms by looking at...

Sep 25

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by Vivian Hua

Transformational Festivals: Where Ecstatic Spirit and Sonic Celebration Unite (w/ Timeline & Preview Guide)

"We're not just trying to give people a place to go and dance and listen to music. Instead, we're trying to inspire people to gather, celebrate and learn in a responsible and healthy way so they can inspire change in the world when they leave." – Dede Flemming, Lightning in a Bottle "…Our greatest success...

Jun 18

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by Elizabeth Perry

Rob Sato Artist Interview: Fantasy and Reality Bridged by Words and Images

"Writing feels like it comes from a separate part of the brain than where imagery generates from, so when I'm having trouble on a painting, I can turn to the writing to think about things from a different angle." -- Rob Sato

Jun 11

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by Maria Schettino