Getting Rad With Jon Rajkovich at THIS Los Angeles

This past Friday THIS los angeles hosted the opening night for The Sun Below The Ceiling, the new solo exhibit from conceptual sculpture artist Jon Rajkovich.

For the occasion we worked with Rajkovich and THIS gallery co-owner Justin Van Hoy to create 100 limited-edition, custom cut & colored totes. If you like collectable totes and highly abstract sculpture art, then Rajkovich’s bag and our bag will probably be your bag.

Thanks again to everyone who came out to the opening. Extra special thanks to THIS Los Angeles. The Rajkovich exhibit runs at THIS from July 20—August 18th, 2012. Enjoy the short photo recap.

Giant Artists Opening Reception

On Friday, December 2nd, Incase, in partnership with THIS los angeles and Giant Artists, is pleased to announce the opening night reception for Giant Artists COLLECTION, the new group show curated by Giant founder, Jen Jenkins and artist representative, Eleni Peters. The exhibition will feature a range of recent works by artists on Giant’s roster, and coincides with the release of the agency’s new anthology of the same title.

For this very special occasion we’ve collaborated with THIS and artist Keren Richter to create 100 limited edition hand-printed cotton canvas totes. Come early to swipe a bag, stay late to enjoy the collection and shoot the breeze with artsy pals. Guaranteed to be a beautiful night of big visions and bright ideas.

FYF Fest 2011 Gone To Heaven

This past Saturday, September 3rd, roughly 21,000 independent music fans made their way to the eighth annual FYF Fest. Featuring more than 40 performing artists and an avalanche of other wacky entertainments (i.e., 4 live music stages, one enormous stand-up comedy tent, multiple beer gardens, a plethora of tasty food trucks, two gigantic shade tents, free bottles of water, grassy knolls, leafy trees, comfy VIP lounges, and lots of weird flashing projections courtesy of videographer Michael Reich).

It was BY FAR the best organized and most fun FYF Fest in the event’s nearly decade-long history. Huge thanks to Sean Carlson, Phil Hoelting, Michael Gutierrez, Mariko Jones, GBV, Dan Deacon and The Descendents, Goldenvoice, The City of Los Angeles and the entire California State Parks Department. We’ll see you again next year.

FYF Fest Returns to LA State Historic Park

Today we’re excited to announce our sponsorship of FYF Fest for the fifth year in a row. This Saturday, September 3rd, the festival will again take place at the LA State Historic Park. Nestled between Chinatown and Downtown Los Angeles, this all-day concert will feature more than 40 independent artists on three stages, 20 stand-up comedians, a heap of local food trucks, and an expected 30K music lovers all coming out to laze the day away and celebrate the arts.

Performances not to miss: Guided By Voices, Explosions In The Sky, Broken Social Scene, Ty Segall, Descendents, Girls, Dan Deacon, Four Tet, OFF!, Avi Buffalo, No Age, and Pink Mountaintops. Bring sunscreen and a hat! Drink water! Guaranteed to be an epic experience. We look forward to having you with us.

Help Us Help Terri & Gary Help You

Last Friday night, after a whole lotta word of mouth mystery and viral video hype, Terri & Gary Burbank (a/k/a artists Sage Vaughn and Anthony Anzalone) opened their ‘A Depiction of Love and Reality’ exhibit at THIS Los Angeles.

With tongues planted firmly in one another’s cheeks (ahem), T&G treated patrons to an array of suggestive mixed media collages, “passive-aggressive weapons” (a/k/a iron-spiked baseball bats), and seizure-inducing audio-visual works. However, it was the duo’s installation of color-coded self-help books that really got the capacity crowd’s baggage brains buzzing, (everyone was encouraged to take the title that “spoke” to him or her most).

Was it a good time? Was it hilarious and entirely baffling? Yes, yes, and yes… pretty much to the max.

For the event THIS x Incase x Terri & Gary created 100 limited edition opening night tote bags. We’ll be giving away five to the first five people who can successfully name Anthony Anzalone’s teenage punk band.

Good luck! (Make sure to fill out your email address so we can contact you if you won!)

WOW! That was fast! The correct answer was “The Mean Reds”. Congrats Priscilla, Baptiste, Sam, Joshua and b0b. You guys won the Terri & Gary Tote bag! We’ll email you for your address.

Stay tuned to our FaceBook page. We will be doing more giveaways soon!

The Return of These Friends 2

Today we have a very special announcement to make: It is time again for the annual ‘THESE FRIENDS’ group show at THIS Los Angeles. Last year’s opening drew over 600 people for a celebratory night of good friends, fine art, and hectic street meat. To put it bluntly— it was fun. Really fun. For Friday night’s event we’ve again created 100 limited-edition tote bags, this time featuring the work of artist Ashely Macomber. Arrive early to snag a free one, stay late to have a lovely time. For a bit of additional info here’s THIS Los Angeles co-creator and esteemed photographer Dan Monick with a few choice words:

THIS is glad to announce part 2 of the show we kicked it all off with a year ago, These Friends 2. When the 5 of us first conceived this place we all made a list of friends we would like to show a piece and the list quickly grew to over 100 people. It turned out to be a huge success, more people showed up than we knew what to do with, and good times were had. So, let’s do it again. This Friday, February 4th, 7-10 p.m. at THIS Los Angeles, 5906 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042. The reception is free and features a DJ and an open bar.

We genuinely look forward to seeing you there.

THIS Visits: Machine Histories

L.A.’s Lincoln Heights neighborhood is home to the studio of Jason Pilarski and Steve Joyner, the duo behind the design collaborative Machine Histories.

Just what is Machine Histories? Pilarski and Joyner explore forms by humanizing technology, working with new methods to create an array of spaces, furniture, products, and more. They treat tech in a way that doesn’t try to get the most resolution out of it, but instead breaks the resolution down.

Their website says it all, “The thread that links everything together is our belief in process and production, regardless of the medium or venue. Our comprehension or even aversion to a given process is what drives the production.”

THIS Visits takes a look into the work and driving forces behind Machine Histories.

Kudos and thanks to Noe Montes , who helped interview and shoot video for this visit.

THIS Visits: Eddy Sykes

Eddy Sykes is a man of many fascinations. THIS met up with Eddy at his studio in the Frog Town section of LA, where he melds architecture, sculpture, assembly, industrial design and whimsy to craft complex kinetic chandeliers that are as beautiful as they are inspiring. Some of his past projects include house plants and ashtrays carved out of bowling balls, sculptures built entirely from ostrich eggshells, a kinetic bacon and eggs… you get the drift.

THIS Holiday faux-Needlepoint Tote Bag is Rad

On Friday, December 10th, the ‘THIS Holiday’ show kicked off at THIS Los Angeles in Highland Park, CA. For this opening we again created 100 limited-edition tote bags, this time featuring a brilliant piece of work by artist Kimberly Scola. As always, the bags were beautiful, the art was plentiful, and the vibe was nice. Check the photos.

By the way, we’re giving away six of these totes to the first six people to leave a comment on this post. Once these are gone, they’re gone forever. Enjoy. We hope to see you at the next THIS LA event in January 2011!

UPDATE: All Tote Bags have been claimed!

THIS Visits: Clyde Kusatsu

Credited in over 220 film titles, Clyde Kusatsu is one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood. After collaborating with nearly every major Hollywood A-lister, he still remains humbled and charming. THIS Visits sat with Kusatsu in his Los Angeles home to talk about the craft of acting, modern American history, the biz and his meeting with a sitting President. The man is a workhorse and true gentleman.

Enjoy a glimpse into the life of Clyde Kusatsu, one of the most recognizable faces in television and film.