Where's Dolly?

The third of our "Dollypop" featured artists is Robert de Michiell, famed illustrator and frequent contributor to The New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, New York, the Wall Street Journal, and Time. Robert's strong abstract shapes within tightly controlled compositions suggest influences ranging from Art Deco designs of the '20s to the amoebic stylization of 1950s cartoons. And no, that's not Dolly Parton on the right – you'll have to come to the opening reception to see Robert's Dolly, Friday, September 12, at 8PM at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery.

– Steven Corfe

If Michelangelo Had Worked in Cloth

WOW producer Thairin Smothers has his name on Google Alert (shut up, so do you) and yesterday this image popped up in his email. It's Thairin's torso created by the late artist Greer Lankton around 1994. As if the work weren't stunning enough, "That's my pubic hair on the doll," Thairin tells us. "I'm glad to know it's still around."

50-Foot Spider Climbs Building in Liverpool

We thought only Beatles were a problem in Liverpool. (Telegraph; photo: Getty)

Dollypop's Easy to Remember Artist

The second of our featured "Dollypop" artists is Tom Forget, a Brooklyn-based illustrator, designer, and artist. In addition to his design and illustration work, Tom has written several non-fiction books on subjects as diverse as David Bowie, zombie movies, and Captain America. Dollypop opens at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery Friday September 12, with a complimentary pink champagne reception at 8PM.

Attwood Does Dollypop

Art for the "Dollypop" exhibition has started to arrive at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, such as this colored sand-and-gravel creation by Paul Attwood. "Dollypop" opens Friday, September 12, with a complimentary champagne reception at 8PM.

Slap!

A lost Lichtenstein?

Artsy Bartsy Banksy

A virtual album's-worth of Banksy graffiti sightings in New Orleans. Being exposed as the unhippest dude alive hasn't kept him home nights. (t/y Chris)

Kate Moss: Goldminger

On October 4, the British Museum will unveil its Marc Quinn statue of supermodel Kate Moss that cost $3 million in materials and labor alone. Called Siren, it will be part of the museum's "Statuephilia" show. Quinn, you'll remember, is the artist who created the Alison Lapper Pregnant sculpture that sat in Trafalgar Square for more than a year and a half. The Moss statue, made entirely of gold, is said to be the largest statue since the glory days of ancient Egypt, but since it's hollow it weighs only 110 pounds, a bit more than Moss herself. The museum is releasing only this wee glimpse of the mammoth piece, but it's likely to turn out to be of Moss in a rude yoga position similar to this other Moss work by Quinn. (Daily Mail; photo: PA)

High Art

The BuildingSpotter at Curbed LA has noticed the Space Invader second-story job on our building and was kind enough to post a lovely photo and detail of it today. We have a sort of endearing and enduring history with Curbed LA, which, if you're interested, you can check out here and here and now here and here.

Dollypop Art: Daveland

Over the course of approx one month, artist Dave Decaro, who goes by the name Daveland, created a portrait of Dolly Parton as the red-headed wench from The Pirates of the Caribbean exclusively for the "Dollypop" show at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, which opens on Friday September 12, with a country-fried reception from 8PM to midnight. Here, ripped from his website, is the painting's progression from drawing to as-good-as-finished-save-for-the-tweaking, a work's most important moments. To see Daveland's other gorgeousness, go here.



[Ed note: Look at which area Dave began his painting.]

Happy Convention, Mr Presidents

Billboard on Sunset Boulevard near Gower. (Photo by Thairin Smothers)

Bears, Robots, Donuts

Two wonderful retromoderne animations featuring things soft, hard, and edible. (t/y Clancy)

World of Wonder Storefront Gallery Hall Monitor

On our walk to get coffee and a sammy an hour or so ago, we peeked in the window of the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery and saw WOW's John Durkin attaching to the wall a tiny blue box with blinking lights that looked like it was designed by an apprentice of Kenny Scharf. We shrugged at him through the glass and continued walking. Upon our return, we found this photo and message from Durkin in our email:

When you saw us in the gallery, we were mounting a device created by the Black Cloud Citizen Scientist League, a collaboration between UC Berkeley scientists and students from LA's Manual Arts High School. This little blue box monitors five environmental variables: light, temperature, noise, co2, and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compouds), and once every minute it sends a text message containing current data to a server. The little box will live in our gallery collecting data for one week. You can explore the data the group has collected so far at this website. To get in, fill in these items in the drop-down list:

Light
Temp
Noise
CO2
VOCs

Still Too Soon: Kin's Space Invaded at Art Show

Douglas Edric Stanley has pulled his Space Invaders installation out of an exhibit held in Germany honoring the classic arcade game's 30th anniversary. Stanley's piece, which recreates the 9/11 attacks using images from the 1980s game, was criticized not only by families of victims of the tragedy, but also by gamers and random types offering up death threats. He decided to pull the plug on the game, perhaps not coincidentally, on the same day the Japanese maker of the game said it was "seriously considering" suing him; seems his use of Space Invaders hadn't been approved. On his blog, Stanley, who lives in France, said, "The American response to this work has been, frankly, immature, and lacking the sophistication and consideration that other parts of the world have so far shown the work. Contrary to previous reports, I am an American and it saddens me that we as a people remain so profoundly unable to process this event." (NY Daily News)

Dolly Parton Not Departed

In case you heard the rumor that country superstar Dolly Parton died on Friday of congestive heart failure in a Tennessee hospital and figured we started it to boost interest in our upcoming "Dollypop" art show at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, well, just stop it. How dare you! Dolly is "alive and well," according to David Dotson, president of the Dollywood Foundation. Apparently, Parton's only affliction is persistent rumors of her premature death. "There was something a couple of years ago – I think it started on the Web," said Dotson. "Seems to be plenty of rumor-mongers out there." Re this current one, he says "it came out of the blue on Friday night. I have no idea who or why it started or spread like it did. The most important thing is it’s a rumor." Now, if we had started the rumor, we would be telling you now that the Parton-themed show opens Friday, September 12, with a gala country-jamboree reception from 8PM to midnight. But we didn't, so we won't. (Fox News)

Snap!

That's James St James posing with Just O, Miss Myra and their pink poodle – just a couple of art patrons out buying art on this lovely Friday afternoon.

– Thairin Smothers

Paul Richmond: Dollypop Artist

Paul Richmond, one of the contributing artists in the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery's "Dollypop" show (opening September 12), was interviewed today in his local Columbus, Ohio, alternative journal, The Other Paper, and tells how his art not only helped him come out, but got him invited to the memorial service for Tammy Faye who, along with Dolly Parton, is a "diva inspiration" to him. Look carefully at his Oz-themed painting above: Dolly's the Good Witch and that's Paul in the ruby heels.

Parton Parcel

Here is a gorgeous, iconic pic of Dolly Parton with Keith Haring from back in the day (like around 1983 maybe) that I found on my computer. Just a little something to tie the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery's upcoming "Dollypop" show to the artworld. Give it a little GRAVITAS, you know.

– James St James

Deconstructing Donald

South Korean artist Hyungkoo Lee's skeleton of Donald Duck (nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie here), part of his "Animatus" show at the natural history museum in Basel, Switzerland, imagining the understructure of cartoon characters. If the works are meant to be witty, the humor is dry-bones ironic. Curious documentation after the jump.

Primer Scream

This beautiful, surreal, increasingly nightmarish, exhaustively annotated animated tale will haunt you retroactively. Even in a past life, if it has to, it's that awesome. (via IHeartChaos)

Letter to Warhol: Mmm Mmm Good

(via Warholstars; t/y Robert)

The Daily Freak Show

James gets swept away by the myriad enticements of the WOW Storefront Gallery's "I Am 8-Bit" opening-night party. Playing video games with a six-foot joystick and touch-sensitive silver spheres! Countless cute boys, sexy models playing Nintendo in their underwear, and a line wrapping around the block. Not to mention eye-popping artwork that sells so fast that it practically flies off the walls. Plus, James gets intellectual for a second with Film Threat's Chris Gore, ambushes Spike TV's journalist during her report, and gets to play "fairy godmother" when he escorts a few lucky partygoers from the endless queue directly into the party.

G4 at 8-Bit

G4tv's Blair Herber was at Thursday's "I Am 8-Bit" opening at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery and talked to a number of the contributing artists about their work. Good video.

Loose Stool

Stop us if you've turd this one. US artist Paul McCarthy's Complex Shit, a gigantic inflatable pile of dog doody, somehow freed itself from its moorings at the Paul Klee museum in Berne, Switzerland, last week and, lifted by a gust of, um, wind, floated 200 yards to a children's home where it wreaked havoc and triggered a disturbing mixture of shame and delight among the children. The fact that the work's safety device, which was meant to deflate the sculpture if such an emergency were to arise, didn't deploy, caused quite a stink. (Source)

More I Am 8-Bit Pics for the Diehard Gamer

Another look at Thursday's gala opening reception for the "I Am 8-Bit" retrotechno art show at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery on Hollywood Boulevard. All photos by Debbi Rotkowitz.

8-Bit Feedback

Gay Gamer's rep, teknomcr, was at the "I Am 8-Bit" opening at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery last night and shot 157 photos of the "amazing" show.

More Wim Delvoye

Gothic bulldozer by Wim Delvoye. After the jump, Delvoye's stained glass, S&M birdhouse, and pooh tiles.

Dolly Parton: We Will Always Love Her

While the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery's circuits are still sparking from last night's wild opening of the "I Am 8-Bit" techno art show, we'd like to announce the upcoming "Dollypop" show, devoted to beloved country star Dolly Parton in conjunction with the premiere of the Broadway adaptation of Parton's 9 to 5: The Musical, opening September 3 at the Ahmanson Theater in downtown Los Angeles. For the occasion, the WOW gallery will be transformed into a scene fit for a country jamboree, a regular Hee Haw revival, replete with bales of hay and live chickens. Highlights of the exhibition include a portrait of Dolly made entirely of chewed bubblegum, an original Dolly gouache by famed New Yorker illustrator Robert de Michiell, and a Dolly painting by Bubbles The Artist (aka famed songwriter and co-writer of the Friends theme, Allee Willis). The "Dollypop" show, co-curated by Steven Corfe and Marc Malkin, senior editor and columnist at E! Online, opens Friday, September 12, at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, with a gala reception from 8PM to midnight.

Game On: "I Am 8-Bit" Opening-Night Video

The World of Wonder Storefront Gallery's highly anticipated "I Am 8-Bit" show opened last night. See the excitement as the last preparations are made, the party begins, and a line forms all the way down the block.

What Am I?

Reveal after the jump.

Techno Prisoners: The Geek Show at World of Wonder

Last night's "I Am 8-Bit" opening reception at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery began officially at 8, but was already packed by 6:30. Scantily clad girls playing games in the window kept waiting hordes outside entertained. Inside, the over 100 techno-themed paintings, co-curated by Jon Gibson and Derek Puleson, were selling off the walls, with tiny "Game Over" stickers replacing those old-school red dots indicating a work had been bought. Other bonus points were an endless supply of Colt 45 and dollar-off vouchers for hotdogs at the famous Skooby's next door. Photos this page are by Thairin Smothers. After the jump, a kind of video arcade of pictures taken by John Durkin.

"I Am 8-Bit" Opening at World of Wonder Storefront Gallery Imminent!

Above, art terrorist Ron English's posters of Barack Obama as Abe Lincoln get plastered onto the sacred World of Wonder building in honor of tonight's gala opening reception for the "I Am 8-Bit" show (which has already sold a whopping $12,000-worth of art right off the gallery floor!) beginning in 2.5 hours (8PM). Below, anticipation grows inside the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery.

(Photos by Jim Wirt)

Art Exhibit-bit-bit-bit-bit-bit-bit-bit Opens Tomorrow

High Score! The blik crew has been hard at work getting the gallery ready for tomorrow's "I Am 8-Bit" show, and here a couple of pics to show you their progress. Super Mario would be proud! The art show, at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, kicks off tomorrow night at 8PM with a gala opening reception featuring music, liquor, and a lot of surprises. Or music, surprises, and a lot of liquor. In our opinion this could be the gallery's most pop-cultural exhibit ever!

(Photos by Thairin Smothers)

New York Artist Gets Ovation

Look who's the featured artist on the Ovation.tv website – our old pal and friend of WOW, Albert Crudo. Yay, but what does it mean? Albert, what does it mean? (Click to enlarge or go to Featured Artist at Ovation.tv)

Eggs to Go With That Bacon

If your bacon alarm clock wakes you up in time, you can still catch Henk Hofstra's "Art Eggcident" on the streets of the city of Leeuwarden in The Netherlands through the end of October.

– Fenton Bailey

I Am 40-Ounce

Oh yes, there will be beer at "I Am 8-Bit." Thursday. 8PM. World of Wonder Storefront Gallery. (Photo by Thairin Smothers)

I Am 8-Bit: Blik Pix Totally Sick

What a difference a day makes. The crew from blik are in the gallery today installing their self-adhesive removable decals for the "I Am 8-Bit" show, opening this Thursday at 8PM. As you can see from the photos, the gallery is getting quite an overhaul. It's like a game of Tetris gone wild.

– Jim Wirt; photos by Derek Puleston

Is That a Joystick in the Gallery or Are You Just Overly Excited?

The artwork for "I Am 8-Bit" keeps coming in, so we thought we would give you a sneak peek at the sheer volume of it that's arrived so far! See you at the show! Opening reception Thursday, August 14, 8PM to midnight at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, 6650 Hollywood Boulevard.

– Jim Wirt; photo by Thairin Smothers

Space Invader Invades World of Wonder

Text and photos by Thairin Smothers:

Space Invader arrives at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery masked and with a G4 film crew, and Project Runway's Santino Rice (a judge on the upcoming RuPaul's Drag Race) checks out the soles of Invader's original-design shoes.

Invader, I Am 8-Bit's Derek Puleston, Santino Rice, and I Am 8-Bit's Jon Gibson

The tag-tiling begins two stories up on the World of Wonder building on Hollywood Boulevard. This is the first time Invader has done two tiles at once in the same spot


Two floors up and a stretch for tile

Done

All good in a night's work

The "I Am 8-Bit" show opens in the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery on Thursday, August 14, with a reception starting at 8PM.

Who is Invader and what does it all mean?

Preparation 8

World of Wonder Storefront Gallery manager Jim Wirt scrapes off the orange "Crazians" paint from the storefront windows while James St James is seen doing exhausting, back-breaking manual labor for the first time in his life. All for a good cause: installing the new "I Am 8-Bit" show, opening August 14. (Photos by John Durkin)

8-Bit's in Pieces

Co-curators Jon Gibson and Derek Puleston have started unpacking "I am 8-Bit" art for the August 14 opening reception of the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery's next show. (Photo by Thairin Smothers)

Crazians Down, 8-Bit Up

James St James with 8-bit artist Parker Jacobs and his portrait of the Eggplant Wizard from the Kid Icarus game. Stay connected. (Photo: Steven Elise Corfe)

What a Hoot: Owl Tattoos

This site, Owl Tattoos, was sent to us by artist Clancy Cavnar who, legend has it, paints an owl every day.

Tweaked: Help Yourshelf

David Keeps is at it again. The host of World of Wonder's Art & The City, perennially in reruns on Ovation TV, has started a new series for the Los Angeles Times. A newly minted director of videos for the paper's website, Keeps has thrown down the gauntlet to HGTV, TLC, and the DIY network with "Tweaked," an instructional video in which Rebecca Johnson and Jeff Klarin of Bughouse Art & Design transform an Ikea shelf into works of art.

Heavy Meta

From Fenton: