Tonight! "The Pyre" Book Release and Closing Reception
Tonight, Friday, July 30 at 6PM Illiterate celebrates the culmination of Ravi Zupa's solo exhibition, "The Pyre" with the release of a collaborative book by the same name. Containing an epic poem written by Tim Holland, aka Sole, founder of Anticon records and leader of Sole and The Sky Rider Band, and illustrations by Zupa, "The Pyre" evaluates a world set in flames. At 8PM Tim Holland performs "The Pyre" in it's entirety as a spoken word piece followed by projections of video's directed by Ravi Zupa for Sole and the Skyrider Band. ...Read more
The Enchantment of Camille Vivier
Camille Vivier is a french filmmaker and photographer who studied Fine Art in Paris and at Central St Matrin’s in London. Her photography has been featured in magazines such as Purple, Dazed and Confused, i-D... Vivier constructs a reality that seems to be hidden behind a dark veil of mystery. It is as if the viewer gets a sneek peek into one of Vivier’s dreams. In an interview by Purple gallery, Vivier said, “I’m borrowing from the imagery of the unconscious and dreams, from the art of vanitas, from magic, mythology, from an inner experience having to do with the bizarre, with fear, with the irrational, with love, while ...Read more
A Ghost, or a Dream: Photographer David Ruskin
Ruskin's is a technique which is unusual and mysterious. The photographer takes black and white photo's which he then hand paints. It is a process that he says is difficult to portray with color film. The outcome is otherworldly. I think that one reason I am drawn to this work, as well as this type of work is because it is mysterious and romantic. I find myself longing to be transported to this fairy land of disorienting color and fairy like landscape. It is a form of escapism I suppose, perhaps much like the travel photo's which were taken in the beginnings of photography. Imagine that you have never left your hometown because transportation systems hadn't advanced to that point yet. Y...Read more
Tonight! Ill Film Artist Series: Ravi Zupa
In addition to his work as a painter and sculptor Ravi Zupa is also a filmmaker directing music videos for acclaimed musical acts such as Why?, Sole, cLOUDDEAD, Themselves and Ghengis Tron. Join Illiterate for a screening and discussion of a selection of Zupa’s music videos, kicking off the beginning of the Underground Music Showcase in Denver. The screening begins at 8PM FREE!...Read more
Which Cults of The Radio Age
Broadcast has released a new album along with a set of new videos in collaboration with graphic designer Julian House, the co-creator of the experimental record lable Ghost Box and also the man behind the experimental music project called The Focus Group. Julian House has worked with artists such as Stereolab and Primal Scream, designing cover art and directing music videos. The first collaborative album between Broadcast and Julian House is called Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age. This album is true Psych-pop at its best, with ethereal vocals, Ghost Box inspired “vintage electronics, haunted television sountracks,” and killer visuals. ...Read more
Alvin Gregorio is a Homesick Gypsy
Alvin Gregorio is a “homesick gypsy” who also happens to be an Assistant Professor of Painting at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His work seems to have popped straight out of a children’s TV show. The characters in his paintings remind me of human-faced Teletubbies on acid, surrounded by freaky Barney-like animals floating in a spraypaint dreamspace. Children with numb expressions in furry animal costumes exist in worlds of acid-bright color, tiny helicopters, and furbie owls. His canvases are full of geometric shapes , child-like markings, stencils, intricate patterning, life and color from top to bottom... His work is not only...Read more
Thursday July 15 its Pick the Flick Night: Burning!
In honor of Ravi Zupa's solo exhibition at Illiterate during the hottest month of the year, this Pick the Flick's theme is BURNING. Vote here by leaving a comment with the you'd like us to screen or leave a comment on the event's Facebook page.This Month's contendersRaising Arizona (picked by challenger, Scout Finch, Manager of the Mayan Theater) vsStreets on Fire (picked by last month's champ, David Coccagna) ...Read more
Paul Fusco, somber in the summer
I came across this recent exhibition in L.A. of Paul Fusco, who was present on the RFK's funeral train in the summer of 1968. Just like any good photographer would, he documented the journey from NYC to Arlington, near D.C. I find the perspective interesting, a ride along a funeral prosession for a president who never was... ...Read more
Illiterate Film Night Thursday: Stingray Sam (Official Screening)
On Thursday night, July 8, Illiterate is proud to present Cory McAbee's follow-up to his gritty, interstellar western musical, American Astronaut. Shown in six consecutive episodes, STINGRAY SAM hurtles across the galaxy as a dangerous mission reunites Stingray Sam with his long lost accomplice, The Quasar Kid. Follow these two space-convicts as they earn their freedom in exchange for the rescue of a young girl who is being held captive by the genetically designed figurehead of a very wealthy planet. $5 admission...Read more
Chen Nong, Phaintor
Firstly, an item which requires addressing: Phaintor (f-ai-nt-tor); is a new term I'm inventing here in my blog. It means an artist who embodies both a painter, and a photographer. It has been before 1860 since photographers have been fighting against painters for validation in their art making abilities. Today it seems that photographers have become a permanent fixture within the realm of Art with a capital A, and even esteemed colleagues to painters. The photo-realists are surely a result of this union between the two mediums, who are the children of the painters, who have finally accepted their mother and birthed them. I suppose that the digital arts, which I imagine t...Read more
