Ford Thunderbird, WEHO
Chevy Caprice, Sherman Oaks
Volkswagen Van, Malibu
Nissan (Frontier?), Venice
Monday, October 22, 2007
Cars in the Wild
Some recently spotted vehicles that have caught my eye.
Ford Thunderbird, WEHO
Chevy Caprice, Sherman Oaks
Volkswagen Van, Malibu
Nissan (Frontier?), Venice
Ford Thunderbird, WEHO
Chevy Caprice, Sherman Oaks
Volkswagen Van, Malibu
Nissan (Frontier?), Venice
Friday, October 19, 2007
MISSING MOM
Well tonight is the opening night of my first gallery show and I'm very excited and a bit nervous. Between the Outfest screening of Nine Lives that I hosted and moderated at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood on Tues and this gallery show, it's been a very BIG week for me. I've been trying to keep the emotions at bay, but last night it hit me how sad I am that my Mom won't be there beside me to share the experience. Anyone that knew my Mom will know how proud she would have been to see me have my moments to shine. She really understood and nourished my artistic side because she was an artist in her own right whether putting together a great meal from scratch, wrapping a gift, or writing her "soul scrolls" and UCC newsletter. In that sense and truly in every other way, I couldn't have asked for a better Mom. My Mom cast a huge shadow - with her being, her presence and her earthly and spiritual gifts. But it really wasn't until my Mom died that I began to see my artistic potential truly flourish. I was able to step beyond her shadow. Everyone participating in the show is trying to bring something to eat or drink and it popped into my head that I HAD to go to Bea's Bakery in Tarzana to get rugula as my contribution. I haven't been inside Bea's Bakery in YEARS, but buying a box of rugula there just felt like something my Mom would have done. It's my little way of having a touch of my Mom with me there at the show. The only difference between my Mom and me is that I bought 2 boxes (a little over 2 pounds) of rugula and other cookies at Bea's Bakery while my Mom would have brought a platter big enough to feed a small army and STILL have leftovers. :-)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Circus Vargas 1
S took me to see Circus Vargas back in August. I hadn't been to a real circus in probably 20 years. Been mainly going to Cirque Du Soleil, but I really grew up on Barnum & Bailey's throughout my childhood. My Mom always took me to the B&B circus, the Ice Capades, really cool stuff when I was growing up. Circus Vargas is different from B&B because it's only a one ring circus. It was a really nice intimate setting for a show, and instead of Lions, Tigers, and Elephants, they had some cute doggie and kitty acts, plus all the human performers. The day we went the sky was just PERFECT, really enhancing the look of all the photos. I just printed this image at home on my Epson R1800 on Museo Silver Rag paper and OMG the colors just JUMP off the page. That was a wonderful show I will never forget.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
BIO
Lydia Marcus is an Entertainment Journalist, Film Critic, Documentary Filmmaker and Photographer. She has written extensively about queer and indie film since 1995 and has done numerous cover stories for Frontiers (where she was Senior Film critic from 1995-2005), Girlfriends, GO! and the LN (Lesbian News), where she was the “At The Movies” columnist. Her features and photographs have been published in numerous publications and websites including: The Los Angeles Times; AOL / AOL City Guide Los Angeles; The Advocate; Planetout; Gay.com; indieWIRE; Windy City Times; Logoonline; and AfterEllen.com. In 2006/2007 she toured with Sandra Bernhard as an official photographer for Bernhard’s live show “Everything Bad and Beautiful.” She is currently filming her first documentary, Desert Hearts Mon Amour.
Lydia loves to take lots of photographs with an assortment of film, digital, and Polaroid cameras. She shoots primarily with a digital Nikon D80, Polaroid SX-70 Alpha (using a dwindling stash of discontinued Time Zero Film), and a Polaroid SLR 680 SE (using 779 & 600). She’s always been the lone family shooter, but it wasn’t until she took a basic photography class in her junior year of high school that she began to develop her “eye” and interests in automotive and architectural photography. Since then, no classic car, neon sign, funky old building, cute dog, or spectacular landscape is safe from her gaze. This color shooter’s palette ranges from warm tones with a vintage feel to saturated images that absolutely pop.
Her lifelong fascination and appreciation of cars is shared through her “Curious Transport” series capturing abstract pinstripes, distressed paint, and super glossy customization. This native Los Angeleno’s “Sign Language” series reveals quintessential L.A. scenery – places that are thriving and much that is rapidly disappearing.
Lydia’s artistic nature comes from her Mom, Beverly Burton Marcus (1931-2002), a medium and spiritualist. Her love of cars and dogs comes from her Dad, Fred Marcus (1921-), an Austrian Holocaust survivor and former Urguayan swimming and diving champion.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Curious Transport Series
I’ve been in love with cars since I was a small child. I inherited my interest and appreciation of automotive beauty from my Dad. When I would drive around with him as a kid, he would always point out any vintage cars and tell me the make, model and specific year of production. At 86, he still does that today. My Dad has always been a “Buick Man” and because of that I’ve always noticed Buick’s on the road probably more than other cars. The image “Glossy #3” is a customized Buick Super Sport I spotted at a vintage GM car show in Van Nuys, CA. I grew up driving around in the family’s 1966 Buick LeSabre Convertible – a car my Dad still lovingly maintains in almost all original condition to this day. I always collected Matchbox, Hot Wheels, and on special occasions received more expensive and collectible Corgi cars as gifts. I still have every miniature car I collected throughout my life.
Six of my photos in the Photography Now show come from an ongoing series called Curious Transport. The series began as I focused on cars that have been uniquely customized. I’ve photographed vehicles that look like shoes, bottles of soda, wieners, and houses, and even ones covered in strange surfaces (like pennies and sod). Now the series has splintered off as I have begun to see the beauty in “beater” cars that are seriously distressed and have seen better days. These images are more abstract and painterly visions of peeling paint, geometric pinstripes patterns, mismatched color body panels, rust, dents, grills and headlamps. I see beauty in these beaters and I really admire people who drive them with pride, which I’m sure isn’t easy to do in a city so wrapped up in car culture. In L.A. a car isn’t just a mode of transportation, it’s a representation of a person and their station in life. In L.A. image is everything and a car is a huge part of that image. I love seeing a distressed beater parked in front of a nice building or sandwiched between two luxury cars. As a person I like standing out and moving to the beat of my own drum in terms of personal style, point of view, and interests. While I like to drive around in comfort and style (albeit in the form of a well taken care of used 1995 Audi A6), I appreciate the iconoclastic spirit of a beater car standing out against everything that is about blending in. Distressed is beautiful.
Part of the Curious Transport series focuses on pinstripes found primarily on 1970’s and 80’s Jeeps, trucks, RVs, and those conversion vans known affectionately as “Love Vans.” While you don’t see a lot of 70’s and 80’s cars on the road you do see a lot of Jeeps, trucks, RV’s and Vans because they are utilitarian vehicles that have a longer shelf life than a typical car. Plus in L.A., people actually live in those vans and RVs. While I also like shooting these relics so that you can see the whole car, lately my interest has gone more “micro” towards focusing on colors and patterns of unique pinstripes that leap across body panels from engine to trunk (or flatbed) on these types of vehicles. I’m attracted to the vintage color palette of earth tone colors that you find in these 70’s and early 80’s cars – really the eras for this type of festooning.
Ironically, one of the worst memories I have in my life was pinstriping by hand my used white 1982 Audi 5000S with black pinstripes. It was 1989, my parents and I decided to pinstripe the car ourselves instead of paying much more to have it professionally done. We stood in the driveway and attempted to put the pinstripes – a black decal pulled from a long paper roll - on straight. I remember lots of yelling, sweat, and probably a few tears. Funny how 18 years later I love to find a pinstriped car out on the street and photograph it. But personally, I never want pinstripes on my own car ever again. Now flames, that’s another thing entirely.
Sign Language Series
I’m a native Los Angeleno who has a unique perspective on this city because I grew up in both “The Valley” in Encino and “Over The Hill” in West Hollywood. I consider it my photographic and civic duty to capture quintessential L.A. – both places that are thriving and much that is rapidly disappearing. Many of these images comprise my Sign Language series.
Architecture in L.A. is very transitory – here today gone tomorrow. Aside from a few protected buildings, it seems like pretty much anything in L.A. is fair game for reinvention. Prototypical “Ranch Houses,” once the sign of having achieved success in the Post-War boom of the 1950’s, are being bulldozed at an alarming rate to make way for “McMansions” that barely leave a strip of land or grass to call one's own.
But while the suburban sprawl is mutating, wherever you go in L.A. you can still find liquor store signs and facades that haven’t changed a bit since they were put up in the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Whether found in the Valley or the city, these liquor stores have unifying features - many with neon arrows pointing you towards their front doors, positively commanding you to buy spirits and sundries. In a city where nothing is very old, liquor stores are one of the few relics of our past.
Whenever I find out a longtime business is permanently closing down, I'm racing to get a photo of the facade or signage before it's obliterated. The image “Processed By Kodak” is an example of signage that is gone forever – recently torn down after the closure of one of the Valley’s longest running businesses, Studio City Camera Exchange. It also happens to be one of the last Mom and Pop camera stores in L.A. – truly a dying breed. Even the selling point of the sign, “Processed By Kodak,” is a dinosaur in the new digital age.
Yes I'm more than a little nostalgic about my L.A. past and if all I can do is take a photo of a place that has held memories for me (even if that memory is just driving by), then I'm doing my best to get out an take a picture before the construction crews show up.
FOR SALE
Lydia Marcus’ Print List Photography Now
Julia Dean Photo Gallery, Venice CA October 19 – November 30, 2007
Curious Transport Series
Pinstripes #1 (International Harvester Scout ll)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150-
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Pinstripes #2 (Chevy Custom/10 Truck)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Pinstripes #3 (Datsun 280Z)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Distressed #1 (Ford Econoline Van)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Distressed #4 (Abandoned Jeepster Commando)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Glossy #3 (Buick Super Sport)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Sign Language Series
Liquor #1 (Time To Buy, Encino Park Liquor, Encino CA)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Liquor #2 (Surf Liquor, Santa Monica CA)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Liquor #3 (The R in Liquor, Valley Beverage Co)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Hahnemuhle German Etching Paper (Acid Free)
Liquor #4 (Liquor, Atwater Village CA)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Processed By Kodak (Studio City Camera Exchange CA)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Hattie Kay's Coiffures (Tijunga CA)
Archival Pigment Print, 11x16, Signed & Framed $150
Digital Image, Archival Pigment Print from an Epson R1800 using UltraChrome Ink,
Printed on Innova Fiba-Print Gloss Warm Tone Paper (OBA Free, Acid Free)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
DEBUT
Very exciting news, my work is being shown in my first group photography show. The show, called PHOTOGRAPHY NOW, opens Oct. 19 at the Julia Dean Photo Gallery in Venice. It's been exacty two years since I started shooting with a SLR after many years of going the tiny camera, point and shoot route. I was always into taking pictures, but it wasn't until I took photography during my junior year of high school that Iearned how to use a SLR and discovered my eye for composition and real love for photography. My camera back then was a hand me down Canon AE-1 Program (all manual focus) with a kit 50mm lens. I retired the Canon in my early 20's opting for the ease of carring a much smaller point and shoot camera. But I always missed the creative control that an SLR affords. I finally got back into SLR shooting 2 years ago when the Nikon D50 came out. Finally here was a digital SLR that wasn't crazy money to buy and that had a decent amount of pixels and photo quality. I had to go back to school to relearn how to use an SLR (you know to understand f-stops and shutter speed and metering). I took a basic intro to photography class at Valley College taught by Nancy Kaye . On the first day of class, Nancy told us that within a couple weeks we would never want to use the auto or program mode on the camera and instead would be doing everything manually. We all basically looked at each other and expressed a doubting, collective, "Yeah, right!" But Nancy was right, and I haven't looked back since. I never realized how much artistic potential buying that Nikon D50 SLR would unlock. My photography has grown 1000% since that first day of class. I'm finally producing the images I want (and without that annoying shutter lag of a point and shoot camera). Nancy still teaches that basic class (plus advanced) at Valley College through their extension program and I can't recommend her enough. She's a great teacher and all around nice person. So here I am 2 years later about to take part of my first gallery show. Pretty exciting times. There's still so much to learn when it comes to photography and I'm enjoying every aspect of the journey. Here's the postcard for the show:
Thursday, September 27, 2007
GONE
One of the ongoing photo series I'm shooting is buildings/businesses that are here today, gone tomorrow in Los Angeles, and more specifically, the San Fernando Valley where I grew up. Prototypical suburban "Ranch Houses" are getting bulldozed at an alarming rate to make way for McMansions that barely leave a strip of land or grass to call one's own. Whenever I see a longtime business put up their closed sign, I'm racing to get a photo of the facade or signage before it's obliterated. Yes I'm more than a little nostalgic about my L.A. past and if all I can do is take a photo of a place that has held memories for me (even if that memory is just driving by), then I'm doing my best to get out an take a picture before the construction crews show up.
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