The Parties Are Over, but Invitations Live On
Astroturf has its uses on the gridiron and the miniature golf course. But to Mark Friedland, it’s also the stuff of party invitations.
Friedland, who has used materials as unusual as corrugated cardboard and handmade paper with flowers pressed into it, makes party invitations for a living. And last Saturday, L.A. Nicola restaurant opened an exhibit featuring more than 40 of Friedland’s most innovative invitations. The title of the show says it all: “The Invitation as Art.”
“I get inspired a lot by architects and people who use a lot of different materials,” says the 30-year-old artist, who has founded his own company, Artafax. “It’s unexpected. The whole gist of this is perceiving commonplace materials in a completely different way. All these pieces connote a feeling in a subconscious way.”
For Pee Wee Herman, Friedland created a party invitation reminiscent of Chinese boxes: Each colorful envelope held a slightly smaller one, with the final one enclosing the tiny invitation. For an Academy Awards party at Radio City Music Hall, Friedland tucked the invitations inside real film canisters, along with popcorn and miniature Coca-Cola bottles. Other notable invitations have been designed for Elton John, the American Music Awards and the annual “Grand Splash” party at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
This is Friedland’s first exhibition of his work, encompassing invitations he has created over the last 3 1/2 years at Artafax. “Social communication is where this is all coming from,” he says. “We work with people to create an art form to help them express themselves. That’s what I’d really like people to do: recognize the art form behind all of this.”
The exhibit was the suggestion of the restaurant’s Melissa Nicola, who had commissioned the artist to create a series of all-different, 3-D menus. Constructed of industrial materials such as metal screening, plastic and Velcro, the new menus are scheduled to make their debut at the opening reception for the exhibit from 4 to 7 p.m. Dec. 16.
Mark Friedland’s “The Invitation as Art” at L.A. Nicola, 4326 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, through Jan. 20. (213) 660-7217. Call for hours.
VENICE PUBLIC ART: Two large new pieces of public art have been permanently installed at the new Venice Renaissance mixed-used development on Main Street. The block-long project, bounded by Navy Street and Rose Avenue on the north and south and Pacific Avenue and Main on the east and west, incorporates shops and restaurants, 66 condominiums and 23 low-rent, one-room apartments for senior citizens. It was designed by architects Johannes Van Tilburg & Partners.
Venice-based artists Jonathan Borofsky and Guy Dill were commissioned by developers Harlan Lee & Associates and the Anden Group, through Lonny Gans & Associates, to create sculptures designed specifically for the building’s north and south ends.
Borofsky’s sculpture, “Ballerina Clown,” is a 30-foot figure to be installed over the entrance to the new North Beach Bar and Grill at the corner of Main and Rose.
“The Harmic Arch,” created by Dill, is designed to be the gateway to the development and spans the Navy Street entrance to the building’s three-level parking structure. (The 473 spaces there will supply parking for tenants, shoppers, and beach-goers.) Constructed of painted steel and concrete, the arch, 75 feet by 25 feet, “serves as a ceremonial passageway and has a sense of grandeur,” Dill says.
Jonathan Borofsky’s “Ballerina Clown” and Guy Dill’s “Harmic Arch” at the Venice Renaissance. Main Street between Rose Avenue and Navy Street, Venice.
INDUSTRIAL CULTURE: The Karl Bornstein Gallery in Santa Monica is showing the first solo West Coast exhibit of West German artist Eberhard Bosslet. Bosslet’s work was first seen at Bornstein last year as part of the group show “BRD: Abstract Tendencies in New German Art.”
Large-scale paintings, sculpture, and site-specific installations make up the bulk of the work, modifying and juxtaposing objects used in manufacturing. One installation, “Restrisko II” (“Residual Risk II” in English) stands 14 1/2 feet high and employs concrete cinder-blocks, an office desk, plywood and rubber pads. Other materials in the sculpture and installations include steel shoring posts and filing cabinets.
The paintings, in patterns reminiscent of microchip circuitry and sand paintings, also employ industrial materials, including galvanized steel grids, cast copper, cast asphalt, and sailcloth. Bosslet’s work was recently the subject of a major retrospective at Berlin’s Nationalgalerie.
Eberhard Bosslet at the Karl Bornstein Gallery through Dec. 30, 1658 1/2 10th St., Santa Monica. Open from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. (213) 452-4210.
