K U B R I C K

©Roberta Lannes

I had the pleasure of seeing the Kubrick exhibit for a second time with my dear friend, Robbie. After the show, I sat down to take a break and she snapped this portrait of me (my feet were hurting a little).  It was nice to have my picture taken.  I feel like I'm rarely behind the camera these days.  Right now, I'm devoting all my attention to taking photographs rather than being in them.  Underneath are some photos I took from some of my favorite moments at the exhibit. That first photograph below, I must credit to Robbie.  I watched her taking some photographs of the children playing, and I couldn't resist doing the same. 

all images ©Ava Alamshah

We also caught the Mapplethorpe exhibit, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Here is the photograph that I would've stolen if I were a museum thief. 

your friend,

ava

The Last Sitting

A little while ago I wrote about the exciting Stanley Kubrick exhibit at LACMA (still showing until June!).  I am planning on going again.  There is just so much to see and I get so involved with every detail (obsessively so), that I really need to take at least three, maybe four hours of my day to enjoy the show.  Honestly, I could spend all day there!  Another exhibit I am dying to see is Robert Mapplethorpe's.  That is going on until March 24th!

I loved those Bert Stern images for Lolita, and I cannot wait to see them up close again.  One thing I touched upon are his photographs of Marilyn Monroe entitled, The Last Sitting.  It saddens me that Stern would then recreate these beautiful and timeless images for another "troubled" actress (she will remain nameless).  To me, Marilyn had much more depth to her character.  She was found dead six weeks after these images were taken.  As a child, I remember seeing some of these photographs in my mom's copy of Norman Mailer's biography entitled Marilyn. Now it sits on my shelf along with the Andre De Dienes book about her as well. Some of the most beautiful images of her that I've ever seen.  She has always fascinated me, since early on.  All this portrait work is really inspiring me to continue my series and take it to new and exciting territories.  More on that later.

your friend,

ava

Lolita

My favorite thing at the Kubrick exhibit (at LACMA until June!), were these sun kissed, Bert Stern images from Lolita.  I still haven't seen Lolita, and I've never read the novel, but I know that it is about a man's obsession and love for a young girl (controversy).  Kubrick is one of my all time favorite directors and a visual master.  Love that he started out as a photographer.  It makes so much sense now.  Bert Stern shot these photographs of young Sue Lyon for Look Magazine. The original slide film is so vibrant and rich with warm color.  These images I found online, so you will just have to pretend they are brighter.

As for Bert Stern, while searching online I found this.  I guess they made a documentary about him which I would be really interested in seeing.  His Last Sitting with Marilyn Monroe are some of my most favorite photographs of her, ever. 

your friend,

ava

I wonder about WONDERCON

L A C M A 

This was last Thursday, after the screening of Ralph Bakshi's Wizards.  Bakshi is one of Jeaux's biggest influences, and this was to celebrate the film's 35th anniversary release (and Jeaux's birthday).  There were so many people gathered around the now, 73 year old. Until dating a cartoonist, I had no idea the magnitude of Bakshi's influence.  Jeaux introduced me to Fritz the Cat not too long ago.  When Jeaux was a little boy, his mom rented Fritz not knowing that it was x-rated.  He thought that the animals were just tickling each other. 

We took these images in this crazy rubber/rope installation.  It kind of looks like we are in some sort of golden space forest, or at a rave. Tried to find the artist's name on the lacma website, but no luck. 

W O N D E R C O N

This was Jeaux's real birthday (St. Patrick's Day).  We were in Anaheim, and so close to Disneyland.  Such a tease to drive away from the happiest place on earth, but comic book conventions are fun, too.  In the photo below, I was pretty cranky.  It wasn't raining anymore, but we had been walking around a great deal and the crowds were starting to get to me. It was good to get some fresh air.

Trying not to look annoyed.  Hey, look at the cosplayers behind us! 

This is Jeaux and Peter Mayhew, aka Chewbacca!  Such a gentle giant.  I really wish I would have captured his hands in the photo.  They are gigantic!  It was a sobering experience for me, meeting icons from my childhood. I almost cried when seeing Mr. Mayhew, an old man now. I remembered how much I loved Star Wars growing up.  Also, he is sporting my favorite Star Wars film on his sweatshirt.  We think alike, Peter and I. 

the brothers janovsky 

Seeing Wizards for a second time was well worth it for me.  I appreciated it much, much more.  Maybe because I got to see the original pen and ink backgrounds. They were so striking, with a lot of detail.  There was so much texture and depth, and it was lovely seeing them restored.  The scenes looked so crisp and brand new.  


The C O L O R S were insane!  After the screening, Bakshi spoke and Jeaux did an illustration.  

LOOK! Signed by the amazing Ralph Bakshi!

After the q & a, I knew Jeaux would be nervous to meet the man.  I decided to head over, without hesitation.  Jeaux followed and to my surprise, Wondercon was quite the mellow experience compared to Lacma.  Most of the fans had left and it was just us along with Bakshi's son's and grandkids.  Bakshi is such a New Yorker in the best way.  Really punchy and to the point.  He is also fearless, which is a great quality. It was wonderful to see Jeaux so happy, like he had just met Santa Claus!  A while back, Jeaux was interviewed about his idol here.  He's done some lovely tribute drawings of Ralph that you can see here. 

As for my experience talking to Ralph, I can say that we both really like polaroid film.  I caught myself geeking out with Mr. Bakshi about my fuji instax, and we talked about how much we miss the square polaroids of yesteryear.   


Ava: "The colors were amazing."


Ralph: "Yeah! They had that muted effect"


Ava: "Yeah, super saturated."


In my head the whole time: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Afterwards, glancing over at Jeaux, Bakshi shook my hand and said, "Take care of him." 


And we were off, so high from that awesome experience. 

The man, himself!  Pure H A P P I N E S S

We ended the night with Bob's Big Boy.  I had a chocolate malt.  They make the best chocolate malts. xoxoxxx




your friend,


ava

Tim Burton

Jeaux and I have a funny thing in common that I found out a year ago when we first started dating. Both he and I were what we call, "Half Ass Goth".  Basically, we were both into Goth culture: All black clothing,  dark ruby or black lipstick, black as midnight nail polish, The Cure, but we were too chicken to go all the way with our looks. I had the imitation Doc Martin mid-calf boots, long black sweaters, fish nets and rubber bracelets, though I worried about my parent's reaction if I even thought about wearing dark eye liner and black lipstick. I hung around some people who were in those circles, but after my freshman year, I thought about going more Granny Chic. 

Jeaux was way cooler it seems. He managed to draw a wonderful sketch of Edward Scissorhands directly onto a tee-shirt of his, never smiled in photographs and listened to much better music (while I was still growing up in the 90s and trying to get out of my awkward faze, he was already past that so I had some catching up to do I suppose).

With all that said, imagine how excited we both were to find out that Tim Burton was going to showcase his art at the LACMA!  We had tickets in advance to take a CalArts tour. We finally went this past Saturday, and it was, well, overwhelming.  We ended up losing the group, which was fine with me because we were stuck behind a middle-aged CalArts alum who kept telling us how "so & so" stole his ideas and how bitter he was. He also mentioned numerous times how he shouldn't have even said anything. 

"I've said too much already."

Yeah, it was a little awkward. Besides this guy, we had the pleasure of meeting a woman in her 70s or 80s who went to CalArts later in life. I found that inspiring (its never too late after all). She was funny and loved to talk about her installations of plungers and penises. I could respect that.

There were so many people, and heavy breathers, some of them. It was tough to catch every single piece, but I'm glad we got to see his old sketches. The ones that were very interesting were the random sketches he did while bored at his job at Disney. Another favorite were his models and original pieces from "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories".

This was all good, but the most fun I had was when Jeaux and I got to mischievously touch the Angora Sweater from Ed Wood. That was our punk rock moment of the day and made me delightfully giggle. 

By the way, it IS super soft! Towards the end of the tour, it turned into the Hardrock Cafe, Universal Studios, in a way that was completely "Hollywood".

Copyright Ava Alamshah 2011

They wouldn't let us take pictures, so this is right outside the exit. They had these crazy balloon men dancing to Danny Elfman tunes. 

Later on in the evening I wanted to take Jeaux to Pizza Fusion on Sunset. I'm starting this gluten free diet and was excited to try their gluten free pizza, and pizza is Jeaux's favorite food. I have to be honest, the pizza was alright (this is coming from someone who has had the ultimate pizza from New York & Chicago). We got half pepperoni & cheese. Each slice only had a single pepperoni on it and overall the pizza was overpriced.  I'll have to come up with a good alternative or just create my own gluten free pizza one of these days. I'll keep you'll posted once I do. 

It wasn't all a loss though. I was, after all, in good company and we came up with this cute illustration while waiting. We took turns drawing each other. I'm happy with how it turned out. I can thank my boyfriend in encouraging me to draw again.

Copyright Ava Alamshah & Jeaux Janovsky 2011

your friend,

ava