Gelatobaby

If you can remember back, way back, almost two years ago now, before a person named Barack Obama was president, there was a little art show at the Democratic National Convention in Denver called Manifest Hope. The show eventually traveled to D.C. for the inauguration and helped make some of the pieces downright famous. This year, the same group has tapped more than 150 artists for a new show, Manifest Equality, which will be open through the weekend at a former Big Lots in Hollywood. The space was designed by Commune Design (who did the amazing Ace Hotel in Palm Springs that I wrote about at GOOD) and it will feature many of my favorite artists, including my most favorite, Keith Scharwath.

A house was getting gutted at the bottom of our street and every day a pile of architectural detritus would grow on the curb. Keith “rescued” this door, scraped it clean, and transformed it into his piece.

“This door was probably opened and closed many times, allowing or denying access to many people,” Keith says on his blog, where he has more photos. “Now it’s open forever.”

You can see Keith’s door and over 400 other pieces through Sunday. March 7 at Manifest Equality, 1341 Vine Street, in Hollywood. I took lots of photos of the show. Hope to see you there!

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m going to be co-curating my very first museum exhibition! The Pasadena Museum of California Art has just announced its fourth annual California Design Biennial and I’m curating the Industrial Design portion of the show, alongside these extremely able bodies: Frances Anderton/Architecture; Louise Sandhaus/Graphic Design; Rose Apodaca/Fashion; and Stewart Reed/Transportation.

I’ve covered the PMCA’s design biennial for the last few years and it’s always served as a great survey of the state’s design. This year, however, we decided to theme it in a way that was appropriate to these times:

“Americans today live in a world of transformation and upheaval; we are facing a national economic  crisis and worldwide political uncertainties and are becoming increasingly attuned to environmental issues. The designs in California Design Biennial: Action/Reaction will address how designers are responding to these issues and how the products they create reflect the influences of our changing world.”

So, I am looking for a range of industrial design pieces, from furniture to gadgets, which evoke these principles:

1. Visually excellent (this goes without saying)
2. Initiated or furthers positive change:  economic, political, environmental, or social (creates an Action/Reaction, if you will)
3. Designed in California between January 2008 and early 2010 (as in by now)

To help me out, add worthy products—either your firm’s, something you own and love, or maybe something you spotted in a magazine or blog—to the CA Biennial Industrial Design Flickr group (or you can email directly to me, but uploading to Flickr would be really great). And if you’ve got something in the Graphic Design, Fashion, Architecture or Transportation fields, be sure to pass it along to my cohorts. We must receive all submissions by March 1, 2010.

The opening for the show will be Saturday, July 17 (so be sure to mark your calendars!) and it will run until November 1. I’m really looking forward to the huge task and momentous honor ahead of me, and I hope that your work can be a part of it, too!