Rather than meander on about whatever bizarre thoughts are currently roaming through my rather bizarre brain, be they my recent "purple dreams", my sudden interest in the philosophy behind descriptions of DMT experiences, or my recent and rather tentative steps back in to the world of commerciality, i.e commissioned pieces – instead of all that how about I bombard you with some recent images from the opening night of Bill McMullen’s latest art show at the Constant Gallery (L.A) – "Hype, Hustle, Rip-Off"?

I’ve been informed by a rather reliable source, that the night turned out to be something of a celebrity magnet, with Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys and John C. Reilly turning up for the event. Cool celebrities too, not the sort you’d be embarrassed to brag to your homies about when you got back to your turf. Anyway enough chatter, check out the pics and see more at Flickr.com. Though do expect the obligatory comments where appropriate, you know I can’t resist getting my oar in.

R2D2 Inspired Boombox

You can’t go wrong with Star Wars, the ultimate geek accessory, an R2D2 Boombox? I hope Bill’s improved the sound quality on the original, there’s only so many beeps and tweets I can take. Then again, that could’ve just been the midget inside, I’m guessing there isn’t one in this piece of work.

Corporate War

Loving this, totally. I can make out Marlboro and Coca-Cola, what’s the green one, 7-UP? Anyway great concept and nice fruition to this piece.

I can’t seem to find titles for the some of the others, so here are some pics and I will let you guess, I’d venture the first has the word "gun" in the title?

American Mix Tape

As far as I can tell the themes in Bill’s work stretch from corporate America to the Hip Hop culture to social comment. Do comment if you have titles for these works, am I that old-fashioned that I need titles? Well maybe but personally a title is half the work when creating an art object, I’m almost tempted to make up some titles to flesh out the post but I guess that would be the height of disrespect.

I love the methodology of McMullen, he seems to heavily focus on transference, and uses all kinds of materials and media to drive the message through. It’s almost a form of urban surrealism, but rather more down-to-earth than what you’d normally expect from that genre.

I took a gander through Bill’s website and found a few more honey’s worth checking out…

Drum Machine Rings

Font Wars

This one made me laugh, perhaps a comment on the battle of copyright out there, it’s happened in music, it’s happening in art, it’s getting bloody in the field of typography right now. Essentially there’s no such thing as purely original creativity, I read a recent article about Shepard Fairey attempting to fight for the right to copy what he likes in court. The truth is the legal system doesn’t recognise art, if it did it would be a far better world, instead they recognise patents, copyright and the rights of expensive lawyers to harp on in defence of the indefensible. Great piece though.

Anyway if you happen to live in the bustling vicinity of Los Angeles, it’s well worth going and seeing the exhibition in the flesh, check out Bill McMullen’s Hype Hustle Rip-Off Art Show at:-

The Constant Gallery

2673 S La Cienega Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90034 (see map).

Tags: art, Beastie Boys, Bill McMullen, conceptual, Constant Gallery, hype, L.A, Los Angeles

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