Rather than meander on about whatever bizarre thoughts are currently roaming through my rather bizarre brain, be they my recent "purple dreams", my sudden interest in the philosophy behind descriptions of DMT experiences, or my recent and rather tentative steps back in to the world of commerciality, i.e commissioned pieces – instead of all that how about I bombard you with some recent images from the opening night of Bill McMullen‘s latest art show at the Constant Gallery (L.A) – "Hype, Hustle, Rip-Off"?
I’ve been informed by a rather reliable source, that the night turned out to be something of a celebrity magnet, with Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys and John C. Reilly turning up for the event. Cool celebrities too, not the sort you’d be embarrassed to brag to your homies about when you got back to your turf. Anyway enough chatter, check out the pics and see more at Flickr.com. Though do expect the obligatory comments where appropriate, you know I can’t resist getting my oar in.
R2D2 Inspired Boombox
You can’t go wrong with Star Wars, the ultimate geek accessory, an R2D2 Boombox? I hope Bill’s improved the sound quality on the original, there’s only so many beeps and tweets I can take. Then again, that could’ve just been the midget inside, I’m guessing there isn’t one in this piece of work.
Corporate War
Loving this, totally. I can make out Marlboro and Coca-Cola, what’s the green one, 7-UP? Anyway great concept and nice fruition to this piece.
I can’t seem to find titles for the some of the others, so here are some pics and I will let you guess, I’d venture the first has the word "gun" in the title?
American Mix Tape
As far as I can tell the themes in Bill’s work stretch from corporate America to the Hip Hop culture to social comment. Do comment if you have titles for these works, am I that old-fashioned that I need titles? Well maybe but personally a title is half the work when creating an art object, I’m almost tempted to make up some titles to flesh out the post but I guess that would be the height of disrespect.
I love the methodology of McMullen, he seems to heavily focus on transference, and uses all kinds of materials and media to drive the message through. It’s almost a form of urban surrealism, but rather more down-to-earth than what you’d normally expect from that genre.
I took a gander through Bill’s website and found a few more honey’s worth checking out…
Drum Machine Rings
Font Wars
This one made me laugh, perhaps a comment on the battle of copyright out there, it’s happened in music, it’s happening in art, it’s getting bloody in the field of typography right now. Essentially there’s no such thing as purely original creativity, I read a recent article about Shepard Fairey attempting to fight for the right to copy what he likes in court. The truth is the legal system doesn’t recognise art, if it did it would be a far better world, instead they recognise patents, copyright and the rights of expensive lawyers to harp on in defence of the indefensible. Great piece though.
Anyway if you happen to live in the bustling vicinity of Los Angeles, it’s well worth going and seeing the exhibition in the flesh, check out Bill McMullen’s Hype Hustle Rip-Off Art Show at:-
The Constant Gallery
2673 S La Cienega Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90034 (see map).
This post is tagged art, Beastie Boys, Bill McMullen, conceptual, Constant Gallery, hype, L.A, Los Angeles
2 Comments
I like the new blog!
I’m not to sure about the Drum Ring but Trina thinks they are cool.
Wolfbernz’s last blog post..Saturday Night Dump!
Hi, it’s Bill McMullen. Many thanks for the kind words. I bumbled across your post while Googling ‘Corporate War’ to see if in fact anyone had looked past the boombox while taking in my show and shown any interest in the Corporate War series, and thankfully, many have.
The titles for the works are now up on the gallery’s website I believe, but if not, here’s a quick list of what you’re showing in the photos, with the simplified name you might use for clarity (like say, shouting to someone during a storm), followed by the pretentious proper catalog title.
“Boombox” – “G2B2: Street Hustle Strikes Back”
“Camo Uniforms with guns” – “The Corporate War Series; Coca Cola, Starbucks, Marlboro”
“Destroy” – “Destroy”
“Wooden Gun” – “Full Battle Rattle” (This title is actually the title of the documentary that I am doing packaging for – this piece is for the cover art)
“American Mixtape” – “American Mixtape, v.2″
“Pattern of tapes” – “Mixtape Philosophy”
“Wood rack gear” – “The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection”
While I do like your interpretation as well, the ‘Font Wars’ piece was originally commenting on the daily struggle designers often face when working on a project, the effort required to keep abreast of the latest font trends (“You’re still using Cooper Bold? Hmm.”). It’s also done in the spirit of one of my common formulas: Take two things I really like and put them together.
So yeah, thanks again for the coverage, and the kind post. Let me know if you have any other questions. I’m working on getting more photos of the pieces in the show on my site this morning.
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