5 design things to do this week

Check into a paper-thin hotel; meet the creative editor of a sumptuous new publication, Public; see (and touch) photographs of city walls; visit a large scale graffiti art showcase; Spring Shop at CAFAM; catch Shepard Fairey and Henry Rollins in conversation.

1) Public, Issue 1 Launch at Arcana Books

Celebrate highly curated publishing Thursday when Arcana: Books on the Arts hosts Alexander McWhirter for the West Coast launch of his new fashion journal, Public. McWhirter was Art Director at V Magazine before founding McWhirter Studio. He likes to work closely with distinctive collaborators — including Visionaire, Suzanne Geiss Gallery, Cultural Traffic, and most recently Raf Simons and Pieter Mulier for Calvin Klein Jeans — to “present a narrative that observes human interaction, be that with our environment or with each other.”

The large-format first issue, printed in a limited run of 250 copies, features five portfolios by photographers including Glen Luchford (who will also be present Thursday).

When: Thursday, May 3, 6-8 pm

Where: Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Boulevard, Culver City 90232

Tickets: Free and open to the public. To purchase a copy of Public, Issue 1, signed by McWhirter and Luchford, call 310-458-1499. Click here for more information.

2) Dosshaus: Paper Thin Hotel

Lovers on the run, a lonely writer/musician, and a wealthy debutante with an opioid addiction: these are characters in Dosshaus: Paper Thin Hotel, created by the art and performance duo Zoey Taylor and David Connelly. The title references the “paper-thin” walls of cheap motels, as well the partitions between the installation’s four imaginary flophouse guest rooms — both visually arresting and a searing critique of American media culture and a reality that seems more and more relative.

Made entirely of cardboard and paper and hand-painted, each room in the hotel and the objects that fill them create a narrative about the people who inhabit them and the lives for which they are searching. The artists have been building their cardboard fantasies since 2015, the paper medium itself represents the temporary nature of our aspirations and at the same time the timelessness represented by recycling.

When: Closing Saturday, May 5 – catch it before it’s gone!

Where: Corey Helford Gallery, 571 S Anderson St #1, Los Angeles 90033

Tickets: Free; click here for more information

3) Art on Walls

Art of the City Wall / berlin x new york

Jazz photographer Bill Wishner wanted to shoot another kind of composition: the dissonance and improvisation that creates a visual moment on an urban wall. In 2012 he set off on a journey through 13 countries in search of (in his own words) “unique walls that are a combination of wall, something artful on the wall – some graffiti or writing – anything that hangs from the wall or is in front of the wall – in layers or in juxtaposition to one another. It’s complex composition.”

He exhibits all his images unframed, to emphasis the tangible nature of the subject. This exhibition focuses on a selection of prints from New York and Berlin, along with two new abstract photography projects shot in the same cities.

When: Opening reception Saturday, May 5, 6-9 pm. On display through May 26

Where: Walt Girdner Photo Studio and Gallery, 27 S El Molino Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101

Tickets: Free; click here for more information.

Beyond the Streets

Graffiti art historian Roger Gastman, curator of MOCA’s 2013 Art in the Streets show, is back with a commercial art venture Beyond the Streets, a multimedia showcase of paintings, sculpture, photography, installations by over 100 artists, spread throughout 40,000+ square feet of industrial indoor and outdoor space.

Artists include a who’s who of graffiti writers and art world faves Shepard Fairey, Jason REVOK, FUTURA 2000, LADY PINK, Lee Quiñones, Guerrilla Girls, CHAZ, FAILE, Kenny Scharf, Jenny Holzer, Dennis Hopper, Takashi Murakami, Mark Mothersbaugh and many more iconic artists. You can even find an outdoor garden installation by gangster gardener Ron Finley.

When: VIP Opening Reception Saturday, May 5, 7-10 pm. Exhibition runs May 6 – July 6

Where: Werkartz, 1667 N. Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Tickets: VIP reception Saturday,$150; general admission tickets are $25. You can get tickets here.

4) Craft and Folk Art Museum Spring Marketplace

Save the spring cleaning for another time and go spring shopping instead! Jewelry, art, textiles, housewares, and other specialty handcrafted objects by local contemporary craft and design artists in Los Angeles will be on sale at the annual Spring Marketplace, all just in time for Mother’s Day.

Also at CAFAM and closing this Sunday, May 6, Melting Point: Movements in Contemporary Clay, which pushes traditional processes of working with clay and questions preconceived definitions of the ceramic object.

When: Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6, 11:30 am – 6 pm

Where: CAFAM, 5814 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets: Free with admission. GA $7; click here for more information.

5) Shepard Fairey in conversation with Henry Rollins

More street art! With Henry Rollins! Shepard Fairey, the artist, designer and onetime punk rocker perhaps best known for his OBEY street art campaign and his 2008 Barack Obama “Hope” poster, sits down with the equally famed Henry Rollins, former frontman of legendary punk band Black Flag, writer, journalist, activist, actor and KCRW host.

They will talk about OBEY: Supply and Demand, The Art of Shepard Fairy, covering 20 years of Fairey’s work, complete with illuminating stories of his travels and travails. Contributors include Carlo McCormick, Steven Heller, Henry Rollins, Rob Walker, Roger Gastman and more.

When: Sunday, May 6, 7:30 pm

Where: Moss Theater, New Roads School, 3131 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404

Tickets: $20, $65 with book and original poster. Click here for tickets.

Finally. . . in the event you are interested in the future of the automobile, the Petersen Automotive Museum and the LA World Affairs Council are co-hosting a ticketed conference on that very topic.

DnA’s Frances Anderton will moderate one of the panels, with guests including CITYFI’s Ashley Hand and Ryan Westrom of Ford Smart Mobility. Tesla chief designer Franz Von Holzhausen is a headliner.