The Good Earth: Lita Albuquerque, Art’s Cosmic Explorer, Comes Home
THE ARTIST LITA ALBUQUERQUE’S PATH has taken her to the ends of the Earth — from a convent in Tunisia to the pyramids of Egypt; from the salt flats of Bolivia to the polar ice shelf of Antarctica, where she spent over a month in residence at a space station. In these and other far-flung... More
Like A Rainbow: Ariana Papademetropoulos and the Emerald Tablet
Ariana Papademetropoulos. “Origins” (2021). Oil on canvas. 84” x 120”. Courtesy of Ariana Papademetropoulos and Jeffrey Deitch Los Angeles. The artist Ariana Papademetropoulos moves effortlessly between dimensions. With her recent show, The Emerald Tablet, she took us over the rainbow. In this interview for Flaunt, she spoke about how she got there. The paintings of... More
A New ‘Library of Esoterica’ Brings the Occult to Your Coffee Table
Not so long ago, the discovery of esoteric knowledge was a rite unto itself, requiring research and travel, as many dead ends as discoveries. Today, these quests are as simple as a Google search, a glance at an astrology app or a scroll through Instagram, where the hashtag #witchesofinstagram will lead you to six million... More
Desert Storm: Art in Joshua Tree and the Coachella Valley
The drive from Palm Springs to Rancho Mirage isn’t what you’d describe as scenic: The landscape shifts from explosively verdant flora and palm tree colonnades to tan stucco boxes, asphalt, and scrub. But Neville Wakefield, the artistic director of the Desert X biennial, opening February 25 and on view through April, wasn’t necessarily looking for... More
A Bodhi Tree Grows in Los Angeles
Since the dawn of the 20th century, before the first movie studio staked its claim in the Southern California sun, Los Angeles has been a haven for alternative spiritual practices. With the arrival of the Theosophical Society in Hollywood in the 1910s, a procession of Hindu gurus including Paramahansa Yogananda soon followed. Yogananda compared L.A.... More
Planet Queen: Lita Albuquerque On Art and The Cosmos
Throughout a four-plus decade career, the Malibu-based artist Lita Albuquerque has engaged in an ongoing, epic dialogue between earth and sky—from early desert installations like Spine of the Earth (1980), a “terrestrial painting” invoking the four directions on a dry lakebed in the Mojave; to Sol Star (1996), which mapped the constellations over the Pyramids... More
The Rise of Guru Jagat, Kundalini Yoga’s New Star (Rest in Peace, 9/02/21)
To anyone who has walked into a Los Angeles yoga studio, the scene this Wednesday morning would be familiar: white walls hung with Tibetan silk tapestries that depict various incarnations of the Buddha; leafy plants and sparkling geodes dotting the corners of the room; shoji screens that mask a busy city street; a shiny wood... More
The Witching Hour: The Occult In An Age When There Are No Secrets
IN 1692, BARKING LIKE A DOG, pretending to fly, or erupting in a spasmodic fit was seemingly enough to get a teenage girl in Salem, Massachusetts, branded a witch and hanged, as depicted in Stacy Schiff’s new book, The Witches. Today there are an estimated one million practicing pagans — a term that includes self-identified... More
Glam Rocks: L.A.’s New Crystal Movement
Every Friday night, local artists, chefs, screenwriters, fashion designers and the odd indie celebrity like the French singer, Soko, file into the Sweat Spot, a dance studio in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, for a crystal meditation session. As they enter, Mark Phillips, co-owner of the nearby crystal shop Spellbound Sky, offers each... More
Cosmic L.A. Style: Stargazing with Miss KK & Friends
On Sunday night, in the shoe designer Jerome Rousseau’s elegant Hollywood studio, a colorful community of artists gathered to celebrate the debut of MissKK: A Sister Collaboration, a clothing line by costumer, stylist, and designer MissKK (née Kristine Karnaky) and her sister, Kat Karnaky, a textile designer and printer who lives in Oakland. Hanging on... More
Cameron, Witch of the Art World
Pale and slender, she is wrapped in a black and white shawl that once belonged to Rudolph Valentino, a Spanish comb fanning out from her fiery red hair. Slowly, she lifts the long, fringed lashes framing her blue eyes and fixes her liquid gaze on the camera. She extends her hand and opens her palm... More
Dennis Hopper’s “The Last Movie” Screens at Paris Photo
Three of Dennis Hopper’s four children — Marin, Ruthanna and Henry — gathered at Paramount Studios with Hollywood friends like Andrew and Luke Wilson and Todd Phillips (director of the “Hangover” franchise and friend of Ruthanna, Hopper’s daughter with the “Zabriskie Point” star Daria Halprin) and art-world luminaries including Bill Viola and Sophie Calle for... More