Art Walk It's sort of like a mini Downtown Art Walk, but it's not Thursday. Tonight is the preview night of Art Seen 3's auction gala on May 17th that will benefit the AIDS Research Alliance. Unlike this weekend's event, tonight is free and is a block party on Main St. between 3rd and 4th Streets. Some 200 pieces will be showcased along with bands playing on the street. You can also get free HIV......

See the larger version | Via eBoy's website Along with their art opening last week in London featuring the new "LA" work, pixel art group eBoy released the artwork as a poster in a series of many including Tokyo and New York City. The piece pictures Los Angeles' pop culture in a micro-condensed two to three block area. No Waldo spottings, but there's plenty of fun to spot inch by inch including a SWAT......

This past week, an international exchange called LA Goldrush brought graffiti artists from Italy to Los Angeles. Now in it's second year, organizers Raptuz (Milan) and Man One/Crewest Gallery (Los Angeles) created a series of events throughout the city, one that many witnessed on Winston St. at the Downtown Art Walk on Thursday. Over the weekend, the artists hit two spots. On Friday and Saturday, they created permanent murals at The Hollywood condo development near......

Saturday morning in the parking garage of The Hollywood | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist LA Goldrush is an international exchange of Graffiti artists from Italy visiting Los Angeles this week. Now in it's second year, organizers Raptuz (Milan) and Man One/Crewest Gallery (Los Angeles) have created a series of events throughout the city, one that many witnessed on Winston St. at the Downtown Art Walk on Thursday. Yesterday and today, in an event closed......

A cool and rather large crowd of art lovers attended last night's fun Downtown Art Walk; enjoying an evening of great works, good music & yummy food. Next month's artwalk is scheduled for Thursday, June 12th. Check out www.downtownartwalk.com for more info and if you need more reason to go, here are seven.......

Tired of the usual Mother's Day rituals that involve gifts and brunch and possibly awkward moments? Nucleus, our favorite little gallery in Alhambra, is your saving grace. La Femme opens tomorrow night and is billed as a visual celebration of mothers, daughters and sisters. The show features work from over 20 female artists including Adolie Day, Aline Yamada, Amy Sol, Catherine Campbell, Christine Hwang, Clio Chiang, Elizabeth Ito, Julie West, Junko Mizuno, Kendra Binney and......

The Downtown Art Walk is every second Thursday of the month (that means tomorrow!) and is easily a staple of those things you have to do at least once. For us, however, we prefer it to be on the list of things to do at least once a month. More than 30 galleries participate along with events happening in conjunction such as the Comedy Walk, Town Square's cocktail and networking party and Possum Saloon at......

Photo by the bumblebee via Flickr Just as Banksy was hosting the Cans Festival in a London derelict train tunnel this weekend, New England artist Caleb Neelon hit La Brea near Melrose this weekend to paint a beautiful mural of leaves against a cloudly blue sky in preparation for his West Coast debut at the Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art. Neelon uses leaves from beech trees. For Neelon, they are a symbol of strength......

It has been almost a year since the massive Griffith Park fire. In a short time, the blaze ripped through Los Angeles' beloved outdoor space, charring 800 acres and destroying popular spots such as the bird sanctuary and Dante's View. After the fire settled, the now 33-year-old photographer Colin Brown took a walk with his dog and photographed what he saw. The images are haunting, sad and unexpected. Beginning Saturday night, his photos will be......

Yes, it's Monday and with an event like LACMA's upcoming Art Book Swap there is yet another reason to look forward to the weekend. Working in conjunction with Regency Arts Press Ltd. and the New Art Dealers Alliance, the museum has arranged for art books to be donated by stores, libraries, publishing houses, galleries and many others. The fun thing is you bring your old books in and trade for the gifted items or swap......

Photo by Sundogg via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr ART Catch one of the last nights of the 3rd annual benefit art show, Power in Numbers 3. All artists have done their work on 5" x 7" cards and are donating 20% of their profits to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. So many great artists, and such a good cause, it’s worth the trip! 11 a.m. // Gallery Nucleus // 210 East Main St,......

Yesterday at four different locations around the Los Angeles area, teams built ice structures, a re-creation of performance and installation artist Allan Kaprow's "Fluids." Yesterday, Kaprow's son helped build one of the structures in Pasadena's Memorial Park. LAist Featured Photos contributor Tom Andrews was there to catch it. From Beverly Hills to San Pedro, "Fluids" structures are still being put up today and tomorrow. Below the photo gallery is a map of locations and dates.......

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Huge_iPod_Turned_into_Porta_Party_Kissing_Booth'; A couple weeks ago during LA Art Weekend, the Japanese Maid Cafe, Royal/T, opened to great success in Culver City (if you haven't seen these photos, definitely check it out, then go drink tea there and check out the art). Within the exhibit was one installation that was extremely cool, except you had to have an iPod or iPhone on you to make it work. Luckily, we had one... and then......

Fluids in Trousdale Estates, Beverly Hills - 1967 © Dennis Hopper [Yes, the actor] Since late March, performance art happenings have taken place all around Los Angeles. From students at USC dragging cement blocks in public right-of-ways to women licking jam off cars, the Allan Kaprow exhibit has extended beyond the gallery walls of the MOCA Geffen Contemporary gallery exhibit. Through the end of June, recreations from the pioneer of performance art will continue.......

Photo by kpe II via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr LAUGH USC’s improv troupe 2nd Nature hosts their 5th Annual Fracas Improv Festival at USC today. Groups from around the country perform, members of the Upright Citizens Brigade and other professional comedians host workshops all day, and several famous comedians make appearances like Ed Helms of The Office. 1 p.m. // USC // Figueroa and Expedition, Los Angeles // Free ART David......

Photo of Herakut in their process by Carmichael Gallery Germany street art duo, Herakut, is in Los Angeles this week and on Monday they hit up Melrose clothing store Barracuda's roof. Herakut's first U.S. art show opened Saturday night with great success at the Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art in West Hollywood. Also, regarding the Charlie Chaplin on Laurel Canyon Blvd. readers were asked to help identify on Monday has been revealed. In an......

On Saturday night, the German street art duo, Herakut, held their first U.S. gallery show at one of the most exciting up and coming local art spaces, the Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art in West Hollywood. Both Hera and Akut were there to meet fans and prospective buyers, who have bought several pieces and put many on hold. The show, titled Streichelzoo (“petting zoo” in German), runs through May 4. Gallery hours are Tuesday through......

Bettina Korek and her For Your Art crew did it again -- another fantastic art opening slammed with people. Actually, they have been sizzlin' hot all weekend with the first LA Art Weekend (with more events today), which has highlighted some of the city's newest gallery spaces including last night's opening of Royal/T, the nation's first Japanese "Maid Cafe," and the pop up Storefront for Architecture and Art on Friday. Royal/T is a shop, an......

As part of LA Art Weekend, which runs through Sunday, the Storefront for Art & Architecture of New York City opened their first of many worldwide temporary pop-up stores in Los Angeles last night. What are these pop-up stores? Well, they are becoming quite ubiquitous, albeit in spurts, around the city. Trendwatching.com rhetorically answers: "If new products can come and go, why can't the stores that display them do the same?" The show at Paperchase......

Like Blek le Rat, who had his first U.S. show last week at Shepard Fairey's Subliminal Projects, more European street art comes to Los Angeles for an American debut. Tonight, from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., Herakut's show, Streichelzoo (“petting zoo” in German) opens at Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art in West Hollywood and runs through through May 4. Of Frankfurt and Erfurt, Germany, respectively, Hera and Akut emerged as two of the strongest young......

Photo by kpe II via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr GRAFFITI German graffiti artists, known as Herakut, takes over the walls of Carmichael Gallery starting tonight. The artists will be there celebrating their first show stateside. Open bar. 8 p.m. // Carmichael Gallery // 1257 N. La Brea Ave, West Hollywood // (323) 969-0600 // Free DRIVE-IN Hedwig and the Angry Inch is shown tonight on a giant wall while you sit......

Parisian street artist Blek le Rat hit Subliminal Projects for his first U.S. art show this weekend and although it's been mentioned twice already on LAist, seeing Shepard Fairey's new space in action with the public inside really demonstrated Echo Park's newest arrival in a fascinating light. A line longer than the Short Stop formed outside the Gallery Saturday night as art patrons danced, drank wine and dished out conversation inside about art, Obama and......

The event has been going on for a couple years now, although a bit under the radar. Like Echo Park's First Saturdays, it's more of a neighborhood event with lots of locals. The concept: local merchants open up their doors a little later than usual for a Friday night and invite musicians and supply wine to those perusing the store -- it's all in the name of community and making the boulevard a more popular......

Photo by joddo via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr PARTY Celebrate Beauty Bar’s 8th birthday with free drinks from 9:30-10:30, and live sets from DJ’s Apollo Staar, Achilles & Matter, and Dia & Clifton. Started in New York in 1996 in an ex-beauty parlor, Beauty Bar has spread across the country with it’s 50’s inspired décor. 9:30 p.m. // Beauty Bar // 1638 N Cahuenga, Los Angeles // Free ART Today is......

Photo by K. Moriarty via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr FILM It might be hard to enjoy the recent Lindsay Lohan film I Know Who Killed Me, but the Silent Movie Theatre believes it’s possible. Tonight, filmmaker Chris Sivertson and the theatre’s Holyf*ckingshit series presents his arts-ploitation movie, and encourages viewers to take another look. How can one resist a film with a hairless cat and a rechargeable prosthetic limb? 10:30 p.m.......

Earlier this year, Shepard Fairey's design agency, Studio Number One, his company Obey Giant Art Inc. and his gallery co-owned with his wife, Subliminal Projects, moved operations into Echo Park on Sunset Blvd. (see the photos of them putting up huge Obama posters here). This Saturday, the new space's first exhibition features Parisian stencil and street art pioneer, Blek le Rat, who is an influence on street art favorite -- Banksy. The show will be......

On Saturday, LAist Featured Photos contributor Victoria Bernal found this mural in Echo Park on Morton Place. Unfortunately, it's graffitied. Bernal writes down the quote, adding "and Woman" at the end: "When we are really honest with ourselves, we must admit that our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we are...only by giving life do we find LIFE.......

Photo by kpe II via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr TALK Six of L.A.’s independent literary presses Les Figues Press, Semiotext(e), Siglio Press, Insert Press, Cloverfield Press and eohippus labs invite you to Skylight Books for a reading with the authors and a Q&A with the editors. Come out and show support for the smaller presses that usually have a more diverse and creative voice. 5 p.m. // Skylight Books // 1818......

Photo by BinaryLA via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr FILM LACMA hosts the Seventh Annual Young Directors Night featuring eight short films competing to win the Art of Film award. It's a very important night for these eight new filmmakers hoping to get their name out there and present their work to a creative audience. 5-10 p.m. // Bing Theater at LACMA // 5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles // (323) 857-6010 //......

Photo by retro traveler via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr ART OPENING & TALK Stephanie Rosenthal, exhibition curator and chief curator at the Hayward Gallery, London, discusses Allan Kaprow—Art as Life, a new show at the MOCA. The exhibit is opening today and runs until the end of June. 3-4 p.m. //The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA : Little Tokyo, Near the Japanese American National Museum // 152 North Central Avenue // FREE with......