Yareli Arizmendi and Sergio Arau Carpet Interview at Ballet Premiere of Like Water for Chocolate

LRM Online's Gig Patta spoke with guests Yareli Arizmendi and Sergio Arau on the red carpet at the premiere of The American Ballet Theater's Like Water for Chocolate. Nothing could be sweeter than the U.S. Premiere of Like Water for Chocolate for American Ballet Theatre’s Spring engagement at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. This full-length ballet created by the brilliant choreographer Christopher Wheeldon brings the famous novel by Laura Esquivel to mouth-watering life. Reuniting the award-winning team of Wheeldon (fresh from his Tony Award victory for MJ: The Musical) with composer Joby Talbot, and Tony-winning costume designer Bob Crowley, you’ll journey into the captivating family saga where the central character’s emotions spill out through cooking to influence everyone around her in startling and dramatic ways. Like Water for Chocolate tells the story of Tita, a young Mexican woman whose restrictive upbringing prevents her from marrying until her mother dies. Overwhelmed by a sense of duty and family tradition, Tita’s only form of expression is through cooking, but her life takes an unexpected turn when she falls in love with her wealthy neighbor Pedro. Their forbidden passion has far-reaching—and devastating—consequences. With the superstar dancers of ABT translating the richly layered story, Center audiences will be the 1st in the country to experience this magical Mexican love story!

#MeToo- Art and Feminism Now (Full Video)

Krista Suh and Yareli Arizmendi get to the heart of the matter at #MeToo- Art and Feminism Now
photo by MarySue Heilemann

On Saturday, January 27th 2018 a vibrant panel discussion on #MeToo - Art and Feminism Now was held from 1-3pm at the Santa Monica Art Studios. 

We gathered as artists, writers, musicians, actors, filmmakers and more to help discuss ideas on how to build a path forward. 

Kathleen McHugh, Chair Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media at UCLA, Moderated the panel discussion.

The panelists included:

Actress/Writer Yareli Arizmendi (Like Water for Chocolate, A Day Without a Mexican) More at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0034976/.Artist/Activist 

Michele Pred (Represented by Nancy Hoffman Gallery) More on Michele Pred at: http://michelepred.com/home.html.“Ms Pred's work is an important offering for its relevance to the times."- Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor 

Krista Suh - Krista is a feminist, artist, Hollywood screenwriter, and co-creator of The Pussyhat Project. She's based in Los Angeles. Her new book, DIY Rules for a WTF World: How to Speak Up, Get Creative, and Change the World will be released in January. Krista will be selling and signing copies of her new book after the panel discussion. More on Krista Suh at http://kristasuh.com/.

Kim Schoenstadt Contemporary Artist "This event was an opportunity to take a snapshot of all the female and female identifying working artists in the LA contemporary art community. It was an opportunity for us to capture a moment where we stood with each other in all of our diversity." More on Kim Schoenstadt at http://www.kimschoenstadt.com/about/ and https://www.nowbeherela.com/.

Organized by contemporary artist Gregg Chadwick http://www.greggchadwick.com/.

Kathleen McHugh, Krista Suh, Yareli Arizmendi, Michelle Pred, Kim Schoenstadt with her daughter at #MeToo - Art and Feminism
photo by MarySue Heilemann

You Are Invited to a Vibrant Panel Discussion - #MeToo - Art and Feminism Now on Jan 27, 2018

Michele Pred 
#MeToo 
November 2017
Neon on Vintage Case
16" x 16" x 8"
Courtesy the Nancy Hoffman Gallery

"We stand on the precipice of a very dynamic time, and it’s up to us to decide whether this is a moment or whether it’s something that really instigates systemic change." -Ava DuVernay, speaking about the #MeToo and Time's Up movements. (InStyle, Jan 3, 2018)

Artists often use their creations as a sort of reflecting device that mirrors and focuses attention on social and political change.  Beyoncé 's powerful song  ***Flawless  features writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's fierce appreciation of feminism in the 21st century. Actresses and their allies wore black to the Golden Globes to protest sexual harassment in Hollywood. At Art Basel in Miami, Michelle Pred and Pussyhat Project founder Krista Suh led a parade against patriarchy. The Time's Up website challenges us with a call to action: "No more silence. No more waiting. No more tolerance for discrimination, harassment or abuse."

Carrying these thoughts forward, on Saturday, January 27th 2018 a vibrant panel discussion on #MeToo - Art and Feminism Now will be held from 1-3pm at the Santa Monica Art Studios. 

We will gather as artists, writers, musicians, actors, filmmakers and more to help discuss ideas on how to build a path forward. 

Krista Suh and Michele Pred at the Parade Against Patriarchy. Photo courtesy of Ventiko

Kathleen McHugh, Chair Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media at UCLA, will be moderating the panel discussion.

The panelists include:

 Actress/Writer Yareli Arizmendi (Like Water for Chocolate, A Day Without a Mexican)  More at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0034976/.Artist/Activist 

Michele Pred (Represented by Nancy Hoffman Gallery)  More on Michele Pred at: http://michelepred.com/home.html.“Ms Pred's work is an important offering for its relevance to the times."- Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor

Krista Suh Krista is a feminist, artist, Hollywood screenwriter, and co-creator of The Pussyhat Project. She's based in Los Angeles. Her new book, DIY Rules for a WTF World: How to Speak Up, Get Creative, and Change the World will be released in January. Krista will be selling and signing copies of her new book after the panel discussion. More on Krista Suh at  http://kristasuh.com/.

Kim Schoenstadt Contemporary Artist "This event was an opportunity to take a snapshot of all the female and female identifying working artists in the LA contemporary art community.  It was an opportunity for us to capture a moment where we stood with each other in all of our diversity."  More on Kim Schoenstadt at http://www.kimschoenstadt.com/about/ and https://www.nowbeherela.com/.

Organized by contemporary artist Gregg Chadwick http://www.greggchadwick.com/.

Our panel discussion #MeToo - Art and Feminism Now will be held on Saturday, January 27th from 1-3pm in the Arena 1 Gallery at the Santa Monica Art Studios, 3026 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica CA 90405.

#Me Too - Art and Feminism Now is FREE. We ask that you please RSVP at metooartandfeminismnow@gmail.com.

#Me Too - Art and Feminism Now will be part of our satellite art event MORE ART HERE running concurrently with the Art Los Angeles Contemporary art fair across the street from the Santa Monica Art Studios at Barker Hangar. A few artists planted seeds for this event last year by asking all studio mates of Santa Monica Art Studios to open their studios during Art Los Angeles Contemporary’s 2017 Art Fair. With the success of 2017, we’re back and invite visitors to this year’s weekend of MORE ART HERE.

Where: 3026 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica, CA      

When : January 25-28, 201812 pm-6 pm Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 

Panel discussion #MeToo - Art and Feminism Now will be held on Saturday, January 27th from 1-3pm in the Arena 1 Gallery at the Santa Monica Art Studios, 3026 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica CA 90405.

Cost: This event is free 

MORE ART HERE is located across the street from and concurrent with Art Los Angeles Contemporary and just a short shuttle ride away from the stART Up Fair LA in Venice.

Complimentary Shuttle between MORE ART HERE and stART Up Fair at The Kinney Hotel and will be available hourly. The shuttle stops will be located on the west side of 3026 Airport Avenue and The Kinney Hotel, Venice.

Beyoncé - ***Flawless ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Yep!

The story behind Beyoncé's Flawless here:  'Flawless': The Full Story

Your challengers are a young group from Houston
Welcome Beyonce, Lativia, Nina, Nicky, Kelly, and Ashley
The Hip-Hop Rappin' 'Girls Tyme'

I'm out that H-town, coming, coming down
I'm coming down dripping candy on the ground
H, H-town, town, I'm coming down
Coming down, dripping candy on the ground

I know when you were little girls
You dreamt of being in my world
Don't forget it, don't forget it
Respect that, bow down bitches

I took some time to live my life
But don't think I'm just his little wife
Don't get it twisted, get it twisted
This my shit, bow down bitches

Bow down bitches, bow bow down bitches (Crown)
Bow down bitches, bow bow down bitches (Crown)
H Town bitches
H, H Town bitches
I'm so crown crown, bow down bitches

I'm out that H, town, coming coming down
I'm coming down, drippin' candy on the ground
On the ground

H, H town town
I'm coming down
Coming down
Drippin' candy on the ground

(Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
We teach girls to shrink themselves
To make themselves smaller
We say to girls
"You can have ambition
But not too much
You should aim to be successful
But not too successful
Otherwise you will threaten the man"
Because I am female
I am expected to aspire to marriage
I am expected to make my life choices
Always keeping in mind that
Marriage is the most important
Now marriage can be a source of
Joy and love and mutual support
But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage
And we don't teach boys the same?
We raise girls to each other as competitors
Not for jobs or for accomplishments
Which I think can be a good thing
But for the attention of men
We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings
In the way that boys are
Feminist - the person who believes in the social
Political, and economic equality of the sexes

You wake up, flawless
Post up, flawless
Ride round in it, flawless
Flossin on that, flawless
This diamond, flawless
My diamond, flawless
This rock, flawless
My Roc, flawless
I woke up like this
I woke up like this
We flawless, ladies tell 'em
I woke up like this
I woke up like this
We flawless, ladies tell 'em
Say I, look so good tonight
God damn, God damn
Say I, look so good tonight
God damn, God damn

Momma taught me good home training
My Daddy taught me how to love my hater s
My sister taught me I should speak my mind
My man made me feel so God damn fine

You wake up, flawless
Post up, flawless
Ride round in it, flawless
Flossin on that, flawless
This diamond, flawless
My diamond, flawless
This rock, flawless
My Roc, flawless
I woke up like this
I woke up like this
We flawless, ladies tell 'em
I woke up like this
I woke up like this
We flawless, ladies tell 'em
Say I, look so good tonight
God damn, God damn
Say I, look so good tonight
God damn, God damn

The Judges give champion Skeleton Groove 4 Stars
A perfect score
And the challenger Girls Tyme receives, 3 stars
Skeleton Groove, champions once again
Congratulations, we'll see you next week



Chimamanda Ngozi , We Should All Be Feminists

What A Night!

by Gregg Chadwick

Sergio meets Sergio!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Santa Monica Art Studios last night to see my exhibit Luchador's Dream which was inspired by the incomparable Sergio Arau.

El Presidente Sergio Arau with his portrait in my studio tonight! What an evening- thanks for all who stopped by tonight.  #art #music #Mexico #Luchador

A post shared by Gregg Chadwick (@greggchadwick) on Sep 15, 2017 at 11:23pm PDT

You Are Invited - Sept 15, 2017 : Luchador’s Dream - Inspired by Sergio Arau (New Paintings by Gregg Chadwick)

by Gregg Chadwick

Gregg Chadwick
Flor De Asfalto (for Sergio Arau)
56”x86” oil on linen 2017

With his music, words and images, Sergio Arau has inspired me to create a series of paintings that feature him as the main character in my painted movies. Rock Star, actor, director, screenwriter, and artist Sergio Arau has often performed while wearing gear honoring Mexico's most famous wrestling star El Santo (The Man In the Silver Mask). Known as lucha libre, Mexican wrestlers such as El Santo are defenders of the poor and vulnerable. By taking on the persona of the Luchador (wrestler), Josh Kun writes in Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America, Sergio Arau and his bands have mixed "the traditional with the contemporary, the rural with the urban, the American with the Mexican, the charro with the rockero." 

My paintings in Luchador's Dream carry Sergio Arau into a Los Angeles seemingly pulled from the lyrics of his songs or gathered from scenes of his films that were left on the cutting room floor. 

Gracias Sergio!

The exhibition runs from September 7 - October 7, 2017

(Luchador's Dream is, in true rock n' roll fashion, a completely unaffiliated, and unofficial satellite exhibition of 2017: Año de México en Los Ángeles / Mexico in Los Angeles 2017)

What: Luchador’s Dream - Inspired by Sergio Arau (New Paintings by Gregg Chadwick)

Where: La Galería de la Cocina - Santa Monica Art Studios, 3026 Airport Ave. SM 90405 

When:  Opening - September 15, 2017, 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Website: www.greggchadwick.com

First Reveal: Ask the Dust (Sergio Arau)

First Reveal - I have been working on this large painting 4.5 feet by 7.5 feet for quite a while now. Great thanks to @SergioArau and @YareliArizmendi for their art and inspiration. In process - "Ask the Dust (Sergio Arau)" #literature #art🎨 #artistsoninstagram #losangeles

A Compassionate Lens: Art Through the Eyes of Gregg Chadwick

I enjoyed this chat with Stephanie Case. Recorded in my studio, it provides a hint of the theme of compassion that runs through my artwork.  - Thanks for listening.

You Are Cordially Invited to Gregg Chadwick's Events and Exhibitions!

Please Join Me This Upcoming Weekend for the 11th Anniversary of the Santa Monica Art Studios. 

My studio #15 will be open with a display of new paintings in process.

Saturday, October 17 from 6-9pm 
Sunday, October 18 from 1-5pm

3026 Airport Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405

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Gregg Chadwick will be speaking at The Representational Art Conference
on November 2, 2015 in Ventura, California 

From Tehran to Ferguson:
Social Justice in Contemporary Representational Art

(For more info please click here: http://trac2015.org/gregg-chadwick/)

Gregg Chadwick 
Kids Who Die: From Ferguson to Baltimore
24"x48" oil on linen 2015

(Inspired by Langston Hughes & the #BlackLivesMatter Movement)

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Gregg Chadwick's Solo Exhibition Cinema of Time
Continues at Upper West through October 24, 2015

Upper West, 3221 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405

Artist Gregg Chadwick Engages Hollywood in New Exhibition: "Cinema of Time"
Huffington Post Article published July 7, 2015 By Kathy Leonardo
"Paintings have always been a backdrop in Gregg Chadwick's life. Much like a cinematographer shapes a film with beautiful images, Chadwick creates his own stories via his art with iconic themes and striking figures with subtle subtext." 
                        
Read the Complete Article at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-leonardo-/artist-gregg-chadwick-eng_b_7740254.html

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"Buddha of Roseburg" will be available at
Art & Home: An Evening with LA Family Housing to benefit LA Family Housing.

October 21, 2015 7-9pm
    
Room & Board, Helm's Bakery Building, 8707 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232



Gregg Chadwick 
Buddha of Roseburg
8"x6" oil on panel 2015

More at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1023426074375780/
 https://www.facebook.com/lafhonline

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And a not so distant memory...


Actress and Art Collector Yareli Arizmendi
Seems to Merge with Gregg Chadwick's Ethereal Painting at LA ART Show 2015  #LAArtShow 

My artwork was featured at the LA Art Show 2015 at the LA Convention Center by the Sandra Lee Gallery and The Station Agent was illustrated in the catalog. January 14-18, 2015

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Hope to see you at one or more of these events!

Thanks for your interest in my art.

Gregg

www.greggchadwick.com

Yareli Arizmendi: The Face of Cuba, Mexico, and Los Angeles

Gregg Chadwick
Portrait of Yareli Arizmendi
40"x30" oil on linen 2012

I recently completed a portrait of the immensely talented actress Yareli Arizmendi.



“The function of art is to renew our perceptions. The role of the artist is not to say or show what we can all speak or see, but that which we are unable to reveal” –Anais Nin


Born in Mexico, raised in the United States, Yareli Arizmendi coined a word, AmeXican to describe herself:
"It is a declaration of identity for the 21st century; my own account on how I prepared to wage battle in a world spilling over its human-made borders," explains Yareli.

An Open Note to Arash Hejazi

Arash Hejazi's website has been dumped by the authorities in Iran, but I caught a screenshot of it as I wrote a comment to Dr. Hejazi. My words do not capture the true heroism of Dr. Hejazi and the citizens of Iran, but in the spirit of witness I post them here after I reprint Arash Hejazi's moving words:

Neda's Death. Eyewitness
As you might have read on Paulo Coelho's blog, I was the doctor who tried to save Neda. I am the one who sent the video of her cruel death for the world to see. I am the person in the video who tries to control her bleeding ... in vain. I was the one who looked into her eyes, right before they lost their light forever. A famous Iranian writer called Sadeq Hedayet wrote, "There are sores which slowly erode the mind in solitude like a kind of canker."

I have to live with this sore. But I am going to tell the story soon.

I wrote a comment:

Dear Dr. Hejazi,
I am but a painter and can not attempt to feel your pain or anger. But I do want you to know that the world is with you. My best friend, Phil Cousineau, is a writer like you and Paulo Coelho. And what makes the world smaller is that Phil's wife Jo Beaton did the publicity for Paulo's marvelous "The Alchemist" when it was first published in the USA. And my dear friend, Yareli Arizmendi did the first audio book version in the US as well. She was in the brilliant Mexican film "Like Water for Chocolate" where she met her husband Sergio Arau.
We are all "warriors of light" to use Paulo's term and we all defy the boundaries of clan or nationality. We feel the pain of you and your country and we are with you.
Gregg Chadwick

More at: The Full Story of Neda's Doctor and Paulo Coelho
Update: Video Interview With Dr. Arash Hejazi Who Aided Neda As She Died


Much more at:
Paulo Coelho's Blog